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>>> Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE:INVH) -- Average Analyst Price Target: $37.14
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/14-best-real-estate-realty-131053697.html
Upside Potential: 7.53%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 25
D1 Capital Partners was the most prominent shareholder in Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE:INVH) at the end of the fourth quarter, holding 7.5 million shares in the company.
Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE:INVH) is a single-family residential REIT based in Dallas, Texas. The company leases single-family homes to meet changing lifestyle demands and provide access to high-quality, updated homes in close proximity to good schools and workplaces.
RBC Capital reiterated an Outperform rating and a $36 price target on February 15 on Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE:INVH).
Our hedge fund data for the fourth quarter shows 25 hedge funds long Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE:INVH), with a total stake value of $497.8 million.
Here's what Baron Funds said about Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE:INVH) in its third-quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Following strong second quarter results, we modestly increased our investments in single-family rental REITs Invitation Homes, Inc. (NYSE:INVH). Demand conditions for rental homes are attractive due to the sharp decline in home affordability; the propensity to rent in order to avoid mortgage down payments, avoid higher monthly mortgage costs, and maintain flexibility; and the stronger demand for home rentals in suburbs rather than apartment rentals in cities. Rising construction costs are limiting the supply of single-family rental homes in the U.S. housing market. This limited inventory combined with strong demand is leading to robust rent growth.
Invitation Homes have an opportunity to partially offset the impact of inflation given that their in-place annual leases are significantly below market rents. Valuations are compelling at mid-5% capitalization rates, and we believe the shares are currently valued at a discount to our assessment of net asset value. We remain mindful that expense headwinds and slower top-line growth could weigh on growth later in 2023 and 2024. We will continue to closely monitor business developments and will adjust our exposures accordingly.”
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>>> Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) -- Average Analyst Price Target: $118.54
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/14-best-real-estate-realty-131053697.html
Upside Potential: 6.74%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
This January, Ari Klein at BMO Capital placed a Market Perform rating and a $110 price target on Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI).
Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) is a telecom tower REIT based in Houston, Texas. The company owns, operates, and leases over 40,000 cell towers and about 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across US markets and is among the best real estate stocks to buy.
We saw 45 hedge funds long Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) in the fourth quarter, with a total stake value of $1.6 billion.
Fisher Asset Management was the largest shareholder in Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) at the end of the fourth quarter, holding 4.6 million shares in the company.
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>>> Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) -- Average Analyst Price Target: $149.78
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/14-best-real-estate-realty-131053697.html
Upside Potential: 4.48%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 26
Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) is a self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company owns and operates 3,651 self-storage stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C.
As of this January, Goldman Sachs analyst Caitlin Burrows maintains a Buy rating and a $187 price target on Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR).
There were 26 hedge funds long Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) in the fourth quarter, with a total stake value of $330.8 million.
Diamond Hill Capital mentioned Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) in its third-quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Following a dip in share price after Q2 earnings and rising interest rates, we had an opportunity to make an initial investment in Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE:EXR). Despite facing near-term challenges like normalizing street rents and occupancy rates after two years of robust demand, as well as the recent merger with Life Storage, we believe EXR is well positioned for long-term growth of its intrinsic value. It boasts an impressive franchise and perhaps the industry’s best operating platform. The Life Storage acquisition broadens its real estate portfolio and presents more opportunities for growth. While the company faces some near-term headwinds, the recent sell-off created an opportunity for us to acquire shares in this high-quality franchise at a very reasonable price.”
Like KE Holdings Inc (NYSE:BEKE), Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI), and Realty Income Corporation (NYSE:O), Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) is among the best real estate and realty stocks to buy now.
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>>> 14 Best Real Estate and Realty Stocks To Buy According to Analysts
Insider Monkey
by Fatima Farooq
Mar 4, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/14-best-real-estate-realty-131053697.html
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 14 best real estate and realty stocks to buy according to analysts. To skip our detailed analysis of the real estate sector, you can go directly to see the 5 Best Real Estate and Realty Stocks To Buy According to Analysts.
Housing Versus Retail: Where to Invest in Real Estate?
The real estate sector has been battling with elevated mortgage rates this year, resulting in the US housing market suffering from a lack of demand among the population. However, some may expect the struggles of the real estate sector to abate as the year progresses, especially as many financial professionals begin to analyze the state of US real estate markets. Several spaces within the real estate sector are under-invested in, leaving the arena free and open for investors looking to make a real estate play.
On February 29, Carly Trip, the Head of Investments at Nuveen Real Estate, joined CNBC's "Closing Bell Overtime" to discuss the state of the US real estate markets. Here's what she had to say:
"On the residential market, it's kind of like no new news, however what's interesting is that the consumer is really starting to explain their tolerance for mortgage rates. In December we saw really strong numbers, mortgage rates had come in about 50 basis points, bouncing around six and a half. As they have suddenly come up since then and hover above 7%, consumers do not like that. And so we're seeing the results of that in pending home sales. So we expect that that is not gonna improve, inventory will remain low until rates come around 6%, in which case your cost to own versus cost to rent margin really starts to shrink."
Despite the above observations, Tripp noted that other areas in the real estate markets are doing better. Here's what she said:
"Retail's doing amazingly well. So retail has been the underdog of the last decade. And what we're seeing in our centres is increased activity, a lot of demand, increased sales. The consumer is obviously very resilient and strong. That is accomodating to retail spending, 80% of retail sales do involve a physical store which is a positive for our centres. And not only that, there's no new supply added to retail. Over the last five years, about a 130 million square feet of retail has been converted to other uses, so it's really been under-invested in. So the outlook for retail is very, very strong."
Industrial Real Estate Performs Well
Similarly, for the industrial real estate side, Tripp had positive insights to share. Here are some of the comments she made:
"Industrial's been incredible. It has performed exactly as real estate should perform. Income has outpaced inflation, right, real estate is expected to be an inflation hedge, that's why it's such a great diversifier to a portfolio. And so we continue to see incredibly strong demand for industrial. Supply has slowed, that was the concern pre-pandemic. However, due to lack of construction spending, lack of financing just generally speaking, bottlenecks in the construction system, we expect that demand is just gonna continue to flow. E-commerce spending is not going anywhere.
Considering these highlights, while the residential side of real estate seems to be still struggling in 2024, that does not mean all real estate should be avoided this year. Several other areas within the sector remain ripe for investment. As such, we have compiled a list of some of the best real estate stocks to invest in, including names such as KE Holdings Inc (NYSE:BEKE), Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI), and Realty Income Corporation (NYSE:O). These include some of the best real estate stocks with dividends and some of the best real estate stocks to buy for the long term.
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>>> Israel's Cyera triples valuation to $1.4 bln in funding led by U.S. investment firm
Reuters
Apr 9, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israels-cyera-triples-valuation-1-141755593.html?.tsrc=fin-srch
April 9 (Reuters) - Israel's data security firm Cyera has tripled its valuation to $1.4 billion in less than a year as it raised fresh capital in a series C funding led by U.S. tech-focused fund Coatue Management.
Cyera, founded in 2021 and backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, raised $300 million, taking its total funds raised so far to $460 million, the company said on Tuesday.
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has resulted in companies spending more to protect their systems from hack, leading to higher demand for firms such as Cyera that provide data security using its AI-driven platform.
The funding is a rare bright spot for Israeli startups that are facing a decline in funding over the last one year as planned judicial reform and war with Hamas in Gaza deter several investors, according to an annual report by Startup Nation Central.
The latest funding was also joined by new investors - Spark Capital, Georgian and AT&T Ventures - along with existing investors Sequoia, Accel, Redpoint and Cyberstarts.
Cyera had raised $100 million at a valuation of $500 million in June last year.
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>>> Israel's Cyera triples valuation to $1.4 bln in funding led by U.S. investment firm
Reuters
Apr 9, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israels-cyera-triples-valuation-1-141755593.html?.tsrc=fin-srch
April 9 (Reuters) - Israel's data security firm Cyera has tripled its valuation to $1.4 billion in less than a year as it raised fresh capital in a series C funding led by U.S. tech-focused fund Coatue Management.
Cyera, founded in 2021 and backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, raised $300 million, taking its total funds raised so far to $460 million, the company said on Tuesday.
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has resulted in companies spending more to protect their systems from hack, leading to higher demand for firms such as Cyera that provide data security using its AI-driven platform.
The funding is a rare bright spot for Israeli startups that are facing a decline in funding over the last one year as planned judicial reform and war with Hamas in Gaza deter several investors, according to an annual report by Startup Nation Central.
The latest funding was also joined by new investors - Spark Capital, Georgian and AT&T Ventures - along with existing investors Sequoia, Accel, Redpoint and Cyberstarts.
Cyera had raised $100 million at a valuation of $500 million in June last year.
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>>> Israel's Cyera triples valuation to $1.4 bln in funding led by U.S. investment firm
Reuters
Apr 9, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israels-cyera-triples-valuation-1-141755593.html?.tsrc=fin-srch
April 9 (Reuters) - Israel's data security firm Cyera has tripled its valuation to $1.4 billion in less than a year as it raised fresh capital in a series C funding led by U.S. tech-focused fund Coatue Management.
Cyera, founded in 2021 and backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, raised $300 million, taking its total funds raised so far to $460 million, the company said on Tuesday.
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has resulted in companies spending more to protect their systems from hack, leading to higher demand for firms such as Cyera that provide data security using its AI-driven platform.
The funding is a rare bright spot for Israeli startups that are facing a decline in funding over the last one year as planned judicial reform and war with Hamas in Gaza deter several investors, according to an annual report by Startup Nation Central.
The latest funding was also joined by new investors - Spark Capital, Georgian and AT&T Ventures - along with existing investors Sequoia, Accel, Redpoint and Cyberstarts.
Cyera had raised $100 million at a valuation of $500 million in June last year.
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Bigworld, It's great to hear the culture was negative, and that things can move ahead. While having surgery again will be an ordeal, regaining your mobility will be great, and you can resume a regular life :o)
Thanks for the stock ideas. Nuclear and Copper do seem like the logical winners in the 'electric everything' paradigm. I have some URA, but wonder how they can pay a 5.8% yield when the stocks it holds don't seem to pay much in dividends (?) Same with URNM, which yields 3.5%, so I must be missing something.
With copper COPX seems like a good way to go, and SCCO is another vehicle. I've been waiting for a pullback, but so far these keep plowing higher, so I guess some patience will be required. For dividends, RIO and PICK seem like solid vehicles. PICK also has some steel stocks (STLD, NUE), which have been doing great in recent years.
Nice to see gold and silver finally moving. Looks like silver is homing in on 30, then probably some consolidation.
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>>> Uranium ETF (URA) Hits New 52-Week High
Zacks
by Sanghamitra Saha
December 19, 2023
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uranium-etf-ura-hits-52-120000233.html
For investors seeking momentum, Global X Uranium ETF URA is probably on radar. The fund just hit a 52-week high and is up 65.4% from its 52-week low price of $18.31/share.
But are more gains in store for this ETF? Let’s take a quick look at the fund and the near-term outlook on it to get a better idea of where it might be headed:
URA in Focus
The underlying Solactive Global Uranium & Nuclear Components Total Return Index seeks to track the price movements in shares of companies which are active in the uranium industry. The fund has allocations to the energy and industrial sectors, with share of 61.8% and 18.6%, respectively. The product charges 69 bps in annual fees (See: all Materials ETFs here).
Why the Move?
The upbeat outlook in the sector results from growing interest in nuclear energy, which has led several developed nations to invest in new infrastructure projects while extending the operational life of their existing nuclear power stations. The ongoing energy issues and the requirement for dependable, environmentally friendly energy sources are helping in the sector’s upsurge.
The latest COP-28 powered the ETF. At COP28, delegates from around 200 countries reached an agreement to initiate the reduction of global fossil fuel consumption, signifying a critical step in reducing the worst effects of climate change and the ultimate departure from the era of oil dependence.
Driven by robust market demand and bright prospects, according to carbon credits, the uranium spot price hit its 15-year peak, reaching $85 per pound, supporting analyst estimates for a future market rally in the metal’s price.
More Gains Ahead?
It seems like the fund will remain strong, with a positive weighted alpha of 56.50, which gives cues of a further rally.
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>>> The Most Expensive Ferrari Ever Sold: This 1962 330 LM/250 GTO
It brought $51,705,000 at RM Sotheby's New York sale.
Car and Driver
by Joe Lorio
Nov 14, 2023
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45835118/1962-ferrari-250-gto-auction-record-price/
This car set a record for a Ferrari sale price at auction.
It's the only 1962 GTO campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari.
The auction took place at RM Sotheby's in New York on November 13, 2023.
There's a new most-expensive Ferrari and, yes, it's a 250 GTO. This 1962 example was just sold by RM Sotheby's for $51,705,000. This result eclipses former headline-making Ferrari sales, including a $48.4 million 250 GTO 2018 Monterey sale, an ex-Stirling Moss 1957 335S that brought $35.8 million in 2016, and a $38 million 250 GTO that sold in Monterey in 2014.
This latest car, which Sotheby's lists as a 330 LM/250 GTO, is the only 1962 GTO raced by Scuderia Ferrari. The car had its debut outing at the May 1962 Nürburgring 1000 KM, where it finished first in its class and second overall.
In response to a change in Le Mans rules for 1962, the original 3.0-liter engine was replaced by a 4.0-liter V-12 for the 24 Hours—and this is the only 250 GTO ever factory fitted with the larger 4.0-liter engine. Unfortunately, the car went off the track early in the race and later overheated and DNF'd.
The car was then sold to an Italian privateer, for whom Maranello swapped out the 4.0-liter engine for a 3.0-liter V-12, paired with a five-speed gearbox, and the car retains that powertrain to this day.
In 1967, the Ferrari found its way to the United States. It has been featured at events throughout the past decades while in the care of several long-term owners, including the seller, who has had the car for 38 years. All these factors no doubt worked to bolster the selling price.
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>>> For Mitek (NASDAQ:MITK), the convergence of identity and fraud offers a large market potential, especially in regulated sectors. These include financial services, iGaming, mobile operators, and healthcare.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/silent-giants-3-stocks-poised-203610696.html
For instance, there is a 20% increase in Mitek’s revenue from deposits year over year (YOY). This demonstrates the growing need for its products in the banking industry. Moreover, the considerable growth potential for resolving fraud-related concerns is reflected in the possibility of $200 million in yearly revenue from Check Fraud Defender.
Additionally, Mitek’s mobile deposit business shows the possibility of steady income streams and long-term expansion. Mitek enjoys the benefit of a steady income stream, with over 1.2 billion mobile check deposits recorded in fiscal 2023. Furthermore, analysts are projecting continuous demand for check deposit services. Looking forward, this increase in mobile check deposits highlights the resilience and scalability of Mitek’s business strategy.
Finally, Mitek has a great opportunity to develop the Check Fraud Defender (CFD). This may generate $200 million in revenue annually over the next five to seven years. Hence, statistics on market size and potential bank savings demonstrate the significant contribution of CFD to countercheck fraud and derive value for financial institutions.
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>>> Canadian National Railway Company (CNI), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and marine transportation and logistics business in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, custom brokerage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services, such as temperature controlled cargo, port partnerships, and logistics parks. It offers trucking services, such as door-to-door services, import and export dray, interline services, and specialized services, comprising flatbed trucks, on-deck mobile transport trays, expedited cargo, and permit/overweight services; and supply chain services. It serves automotive, coal, fertilizers, temperature controlled cargo, forest products, dimensional, grain, metal and minerals, petroleum and chemicals, consumer goods, and third party logistics applications. The company operates a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles of track and shipping spanning. Canadian National Railway Company was incorporated in 1919 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
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>>> BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.
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>>> Ferrari steps up battery know-how though no plans to make them
April 8, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ferrari-steps-battery-know-though-104040820.html
BOLOGNA, Italy (Reuters) - Ferrari wants to increase its expertise in battery cells given their importance in its shift to electrified vehicles, but it has no plans to manufacture them itself, its CEO Benedetto Vigna said on Monday.
The Italian luxury sports car maker has been selling hybrid-electric cars since 2019 and has promised its first-fully electric vehicle at the end of next year. Ferrari, which sold just shy of 14,000 cars last year, might not have the scale to produce its own cells profitably.
"We want to open up cells and understand what is in there," Vigna said at the opening of a research centre on battery cells in partnership with Italy's Bologna University and chipmaker NXP Semiconductors.
"Production will always be done through external manufacturers, based on the know-how we hope to acquire through this research centre," Vigna said during a presentation.
"We cannot afford to take cells as black boxes," he added.
The E-Cells Lab is focused on electrochemistry and is aimed at boosting Ferrari's long term expertise in battery cells, which it buys from external suppliers.
"We'll use more and more cells and will ... need to know the chemistry," Vigna said.
E-Cells Lab would initially focus on lithium-based, liquid-state cells, but was ready to turn to address new chemistries and technologies, although Vigna said he did not see solid-state batteries as a real option for the time being.
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>>> NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) provides graphics and compute and networking solutions in the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The Graphics segment offers GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streaming service and related infrastructure, and solutions for gaming platforms; Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics; virtual GPU or vGPU software for cloud-based visual and virtual computing; automotive platforms for infotainment systems; and Omniverse software for building and operating metaverse and 3D internet applications. The Compute & Networking segment comprises Data Center computing platforms and end-to-end networking platforms, including Quantum for InfiniBand and Spectrum for Ethernet; NVIDIA DRIVE automated-driving platform and automotive development agreements; Jetson robotics and other embedded platforms; NVIDIA AI Enterprise and other software; and DGX Cloud software and services. The company's products are used in gaming, professional visualization, data center, and automotive markets. It sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, original device manufacturers, system integrators and distributors, independent software vendors, cloud service providers, consumer internet companies, add-in board manufacturers, distributors, automotive manufacturers and tier-1 automotive suppliers, and other ecosystem participants. NVIDIA Corporation was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
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>>> Autodesk, Inc (ADSK). provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment technology solutions worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BuildingConnected, a SaaS preconstruction solution; AutoCAD, a software for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD LT, a drafting and detailing software; computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing; Fusion 360, a 3D CAD, CAM, and computer-aided engineering tool; and Industry Collections tools for professionals in architecture, engineering and construction, product design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment collection industries. It also provides Inventor tools for 3D mechanical design, simulation, analysis, tooling, visualization, and documentation; Vault, a data management software to manage data in one central location, accelerate design processes, and streamline internal/external collaboration; Maya and 3ds Max software products that offer 3D modeling, animation, effects, rendering, and compositing solutions; and ShotGrid, a cloud-based software for review and production tracking in the media and entertainment industry. It sells its products and services to customers directly, as well as through a network of resellers and distributors. Autodesk, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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>>> Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT), together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and services critical digital infrastructure technologies and life cycle services for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers AC and DC power management products, switchgear and busbar products, thermal management products, integrated rack systems, modular solutions, and management systems for monitoring and controlling digital infrastructure that are integral to the technologies used for various services, including e-commerce, online banking, file sharing, video on-demand, energy storage, wireless communications, Internet of Things, and online gaming. The company also provides lifecycle management services, predictive analytics, and professional services for deploying, maintaining, and optimizing its products and their related systems; and preventative maintenance, acceptance testing, engineering and consulting, performance assessments, remote monitoring, training, spare parts, and digital critical infrastructure software services. It offers its products primarily under the Vertiv, Liebert, NetSure, Geist, E&I, Powerbar, and Avocent brands. The company serves cloud services, financial services, healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, energy, education, government, social media, and retail industries through a network of direct sales professionals, independent sales representatives, channel partners, and original equipment manufacturers. Vertiv Holdings Co is headquartered in Westerville, Ohio.
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>>> Onto Innovation Inc. (ONTO) engages in the design, development, manufacture, and support of process control tools that performs optical metrology. The company offers lithography systems and process control analytical software. It also offers process and yield management solutions, and device packaging and test facilities through standalone systems for optical metrology, macro-defect inspection, packaging lithography, and transparent and opaque thin film measurements. In addition, the company provides process control software portfolio that includes solutions for standalone tools, groups of tools, and enterprise-or factory-wide suites. Further, it engages in systems software, spare parts, and other services, as well as offers software licensing services. The company's products are used in semiconductor and advanced packaging device manufacturers; silicon wafer; light emitting diode; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; micro-electromechanical system; CMOS image sensor; power device; analog device; RF filter; data storage; and various industrial and scientific applications. Onto Innovation Inc. was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
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>>> Solarcycle may be growing as it has formed a long-term partnership with Greenbacker Renewable Energy to recycle decommissioned solar panels, indicating an expansion of its client base and service offerings. The company has also established a new headquarters in Mesa, Arizona, which includes a research lab, suggesting an investment in innovation and an increase in operational capacity. Furthermore, Solarcycle has secured funding from leading corporations and institutions, which supports its financial stability and potential for further development.
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https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/solarcycle-inc/signals_and_news
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>>> Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) -- Average Analyst Price Target: $37.50
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/14-best-real-estate-realty-131053697.html
Upside Potential: 7.42%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30
A total of 30 hedge funds were long Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) in the fourth quarter, with a total stake value of $255.9 million.
Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) is a timber REIT based in Seatlle, Washington. The company is among the world's largest private owners of timberlands, owning and operating about 11 million acres of timberlands in the US.
On January 29, RBC Capital reiterated an Outperform rating and a $39 price target on Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY).
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>>> International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers a hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allows clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate. The Consulting segment focuses on skills integration for strategy, experience, technology, and operations by domain and industry. The Infrastructure segment provides on-premises and cloud based server, and storage solutions, as well as life-cycle services for hybrid cloud infrastructure deployment. The Financing segment offers client and commercial financing, facilitates IBM clients' acquisition of hardware, software, and services. The company has a strategic partnership to various companies including hyperscalers, service providers, global system integrators, and software and hardware vendors that includes Adobe, Amazon Web services, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Samsung Electronics and SAP, and others. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. International Business Machines Corporation was incorporated in 1911 and is headquartered in Armonk, New York.
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>>> Avery Dennison Corporation (AVY) operates as a materials science and digital identification solutions company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Latin, America, and internationally. It provides pressure-sensitive materials comprising papers, plastic films, metal foils, and fabrics; performance tapes products, including tapes for wire harnessing, as well as cable wrapping for automotive, electrical, and general industrial applications; mechanical fasteners, which are precision-extruded and injection-molded plastic devices used in various automotive, general industrial, and retail applications; and other pressure-sensitive adhesive-based materials and converted products under the Fasson, JAC, Yongle, and Avery Dennison brands.
The company also offers graphics and reflective products for the architectural, commercial sign, digital printing, and other related market segments; durable cast and reflective films to the construction, automotive, and fleet transportation market segments; reflective films for traffic and safety applications; and pressure-sensitive vinyl and specialty materials designed for digital imaging, screen printing, and sign cutting applications under the Avery Dennison and Mactac brand names.
In addition, it provides branding solutions include brand embellishments, graphic tickets, tags, and labels, and sustainable packaging; and information solutions include item-level RFID, visibility and loss prevention, price ticketing and marking, productivity and media solutions, and brand protection and security solutions, as well as care, content, and country of origin compliance solutions. It serves home and personal care, apparel, e-commerce, logistics, food and grocery, pharmaceuticals, and automotive industries. The company was formerly known as Avery International Corporation and changed its name to Avery Dennison Corporation in 1990. Avery Dennison Corporation was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio.
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>>> Nextracker Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT) is a renewable power generation company headquartered in California.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-states-produce-most-renewable-012901150.html
It provides solar energy solutions such as utility-scale solar power, solar power plant performance monitoring, and tracking systems. On February 12, the company announced that it has been selected for a repeat order to supply its solar trackers of 1.5 GW and 375 GW by Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (NSE:SWSOLAR), a leading renewable solutions provider in India. The solar trackers will be utilized for phase two and phase three solar projects at the solar park of NTPC Renewable Energy Limited in Gujarat, India. The tracker selected for the plant is Nextracker Inc.'s (NASDAQ:NXT) NX Horizon smart solar tracker, which is one of the most reliable and widely deployed trackers of the company. It boasts high speed, installation ease, and the ability to provide tracking services for challenging sites. This order marks the completion of over 5 GW of collaborative solar power generation projects by Nextracker Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT) and Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (NSE:SWSOLAR).
<<<
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>>> Axon is using technology to benefit society
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-nvidia-likely-next-once-113000380.html
Justin Pope (Axon Enterprise): Years from now, investors may look back at Axon as a generational company that hid in plain sight. The company started with Tasers but has evolved into a full-fledged technology business offering cloud-based solutions for law enforcement.
In addition to non-lethal weapons, Axon sells body cameras and cloud-based software for evidence management and law enforcement operations. These products help protect law enforcement and citizens, ensuring accountability from all parties.
Axon's revenue has grown virtually uninterrupted for years, benefiting from dependable government budgets:
Today, Axon has over 17,000 customers, and the business boasts a 122% net revenue retention rate, meaning that solid growth is baked into the business even without it acquiring new customers.
The stock has already been a big winner. Shares have returned a staggering 54,000% over their lifetime. Axon could continue to deliver. The business still does "just" $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
Management estimates that its current addressable market is $63 billion, leaving a clear opportunity for growth over the coming decade and beyond.
<<<
---
>>> Axon is using technology to benefit society
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-nvidia-likely-next-once-113000380.html
Justin Pope (Axon Enterprise): Years from now, investors may look back at Axon as a generational company that hid in plain sight. The company started with Tasers but has evolved into a full-fledged technology business offering cloud-based solutions for law enforcement.
In addition to non-lethal weapons, Axon sells body cameras and cloud-based software for evidence management and law enforcement operations. These products help protect law enforcement and citizens, ensuring accountability from all parties.
Axon's revenue has grown virtually uninterrupted for years, benefiting from dependable government budgets:
Today, Axon has over 17,000 customers, and the business boasts a 122% net revenue retention rate, meaning that solid growth is baked into the business even without it acquiring new customers.
The stock has already been a big winner. Shares have returned a staggering 54,000% over their lifetime. Axon could continue to deliver. The business still does "just" $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
Management estimates that its current addressable market is $63 billion, leaving a clear opportunity for growth over the coming decade and beyond.
<<<
---
>>> Palantir looks to have many years of growth ahead
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-nvidia-likely-next-once-113000380.html
Jake Lerch (Palantir Technologies): What makes for a once-in-a-generation stock buying opportunity? For me, the most important factor is a secular growth story. And today, nothing fits that bill better than the rise of artificial intelligence. So it should come as no surprise that my pick is an AI stock: Palantir Technologies.
Palantir specializes in AI-driven data analysis and pattern recognition. Through its software platforms, Palantir can help various organizations achieve very different ends. On the one hand, it could help law enforcement track and apprehend cybercriminals. On the other, it might assist healthcare organizations deliver better outcomes to patients.
In short, almost every organization today could benefit from its products in some capacity. Moreover, AI is only getting better. As it improves, the results it can deliver will also scale -- making Palantir's products even more appealing to organizations looking to increase revenue, cut costs, or improve customer satisfaction.
Best of all for potential investors, Palantir remains in the early stages of its life cycle. The company got its start partnering with governmental organizations -- law enforcement, national security agencies, and military branches. Recently, however, Palantir's commercial customer base has expanded.
In its most recent quarter (the three months ending on Dec. 31, 2023), Palantir reported commercial revenue of $284 million -- up 32% from a year earlier and representing 47% of its overall sales. American-based commercial revenue grew even faster -- 70% year over year.
To sum up, American companies are flocking to Palantir. Yet, the company still has ample room to grow -- a fantastic combination for investors.
<<<
---
>>> Palantir looks to have many years of growth ahead
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-nvidia-likely-next-once-113000380.html
Jake Lerch (Palantir Technologies): What makes for a once-in-a-generation stock buying opportunity? For me, the most important factor is a secular growth story. And today, nothing fits that bill better than the rise of artificial intelligence. So it should come as no surprise that my pick is an AI stock: Palantir Technologies.
Palantir specializes in AI-driven data analysis and pattern recognition. Through its software platforms, Palantir can help various organizations achieve very different ends. On the one hand, it could help law enforcement track and apprehend cybercriminals. On the other, it might assist healthcare organizations deliver better outcomes to patients.
In short, almost every organization today could benefit from its products in some capacity. Moreover, AI is only getting better. As it improves, the results it can deliver will also scale -- making Palantir's products even more appealing to organizations looking to increase revenue, cut costs, or improve customer satisfaction.
Best of all for potential investors, Palantir remains in the early stages of its life cycle. The company got its start partnering with governmental organizations -- law enforcement, national security agencies, and military branches. Recently, however, Palantir's commercial customer base has expanded.
In its most recent quarter (the three months ending on Dec. 31, 2023), Palantir reported commercial revenue of $284 million -- up 32% from a year earlier and representing 47% of its overall sales. American-based commercial revenue grew even faster -- 70% year over year.
To sum up, American companies are flocking to Palantir. Yet, the company still has ample room to grow -- a fantastic combination for investors.
<<<
---
>>> Why the death of North Sea oil is a disaster for Britain
The Telegraph
by Jonathan Leake
April 7, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-death-north-sea-oil-050000216.html
Decommissioning is the new name of the game – despite an estimated 25 billion barrels of untapped oil
Far out in the North Sea a deserted but massive oil platform awaits its fate. Brent Charlie is the last remainder of the Brent field – a resource so big it once provided a third of the UK’s daily oil needs.
Discovered in the 1970s, the Brent field at one point produced 184 million barrels of oil a year, earning billions for Shell, its owner, plus £20bn in tax revenues for the Exchequer. It was so big it needed four massive platforms to extract its riches – Brent Charlie, Alpha, Bravo and Delta.
Today Alpha, Bravo and Delta have gone, cut from their supports and taken to the scrapyards.
Later this year Brent Charlie will also have its legs cut from under it and be lifted on to Pioneering Spirit – a giant ship specially designed to rip apart decaying oil and gas installations.
Pioneering Spirit and the growing fleet of similar oil rig-slaughtering vessels are set for some busy years. In the waters around the UK, hundreds more oil and gas installations are falling silent. Fifty years after the North Sea bonanza began, the final decline is upon us.
As well as hauling the retired rigs to shore, nearly 8,000 wells that were drilled deep into the seabed must also be plugged.
The decline of the North Sea has implications not just for energy policy and tax income, but public finances more broadly.
We face a huge bill – potentially up to £60bn – to clean up the North Sea.
The energy companies are responsible for decommissioning, but tax breaks mean much of that money will be reclaimed from the Exchequer - and ultimately taxpayers.
Last year alone more than 200 oil and gas wells were plugged, eight platforms were removed and 8,000 tonnes of subsea structures were taken out of the ocean – with another 250km of seabed pipelines being decommissioned. Another 180 of the UK’s 284 oil and gas fields will close down by the end of the decade.
Mass closures are not the result of eco-protests, nor because of a lack of demand.
Supply isn’t dwindling either. Over the last five decades oil and gas equivalent to 47 billion barrels of oil have been extracted, but seismic surveys suggest another 25 billion remain.
Instead, operators blame punitive taxes for the rapid pullback, with some facing levies of more than 100pc on their profits.
Production is now in rapid decline.
Data from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the government’s regulator, shows UK oil production peaked at 150 million tonnes of oil a year in 2000 – roughly double the nation’s consumption. We also produced about 108 billion cubic metres of gas – about 20 billion more than we consumed.
Exports, jobs and taxes were all booming. The oil and gas industry was employing 500,000 people directly or in its supply chains and its products were the essential fuels powering not just our homes and vehicles but the whole UK economy.
Over the five decades to 2020 the offshore industry poured around £400bn of taxes into the Treasury’s coffers.
The contrast with now could hardly be greater. Last year the UK produced just 38 million tonnes of oil, down by 74pc from its peak and about 20 million tonnes less than we need. Gas production was 30 billion cubic metres – less than half our needs.
Employment has fallen to 130,000. So too has the tax take, to around £3bn.
Meanwhile, the UK’s reliance on oil and gas has hardly changed. We still get 75pc of our total energy from oil and gas – just like two decades ago.
Fossil fuels may be warming the climate but they are also essential to heating the 27 million homes reliant on gas or oil-powered boilers. Around 30 million vehicles still run on diesel or petrol and gas-fired power stations provide over a third of our electricity.
We still consume 77 billion cubic metres of gas a year or 1,100 cubic metres per person, the volume of 14 double-decker buses. We also consume about 60 million tonnes of oil – nearly a tonne per person. Imagine several wheelie bins of oil for each citizen, including children.
Whatever the green lobby claims and whatever politicians promise, the fact is that the UK remains a fossil-fuelled nation.
Will that change? Fossil fuel consumption has declined a little and should fall faster if the Government can persuade us to install heat pumps, buy electric cars and change our lives in all the other ways required by net zero.
But what’s becoming all too clear is that our consumption of fossil fuels will never fall as fast as the decline in our North Sea supplies.
It means that for at least the next few decades the UK will be increasingly reliant on imports – with all the vulnerability to global markets, price shocks and the whims of dictators such as Putin that this implies.
Two decades ago we were producing enough oil and gas for the nation and exporting some. Now we face energy poverty and reliance on other nations to keep our homes warm, our lights on and our vehicles moving.
How did it come to this?
Black gold
“Dear God, give us another oil boom. Next time we won’t p*** it up against the wall”.
The words of an anonymous graffiti artist scrawled on a wall some years ago in Aberdeen still resonate today.
The city’s roots as the UK’s oil and gas capital can be traced back to the mid-1960s when BP discovered the West Sole gas field, the first confirmation that more fossil fuel riches were waiting to be found in the North Sea.
Other companies soon came looking, with Philips Petroleum discovering Norway’s mighty Ekofisk field in 1969, followed by the UK’s colossal Brent field in 1971 and the Piper field in 1973.
These giant oilfields and others like them offered the potential to transform the UK’s economic landscape.
Tony Benn welcomed the first delivery from the Argyll field. A famous picture shows the then-Labour energy secretary opening a valve to release the first consignment of oil into the BP refinery on the Isle of Grain in Kent.
Tax receipts also started flowing in, hitting a record high of £12bn in the mid-1980s.
At its peak, roughly one in every £12 that the UK Government took in tax revenues came from the sector.
Today, that figure is less than £1 in every £100.
The oil boom sparked huge shifts in Britain’s economy as the pound soared in value, rendering huge swathes of British industry uncompetitive and destroying thousands of jobs.
It also helped to bankroll Thatcher’s tax-cutting drive in the late 1980s, cementing her legacy as a big reformer.
Politicians knew at the time they had a cash cow, and successive chancellors have been milking it ever since.
First came the petroleum revenue tax (PRT), introduced alongside the discovery of oil and gas. A new 20pc tax on North Sea oil was introduced in 1981 by Tory chancellor Geoffrey Howe.
Labour’s Gordon Brown introduced a 10pc “supplementary charge” on North Sea profits in 2002, effectively raising tax on the region’s production to 40pc from 30pc. He launched a second raid on profits in 2005 by doubling the supplementary charge in what the SNP branded a £2bn “smash and grab”.
George Osborne tinkered with North Sea taxes further, launching a £2bn raid in 2011 to pay for a one penny cut in fuel duty as oil prices soared above $100 a barrel.
Jeremy Hunt’s windfall levy in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine helped to plug a hole in the public finances.
Countries such as Norway have taken a very different approach to managing their oil and gas wealth.
In 1990, when the UK was using its North Sea income to fund battles against the unions and prop up day-to-day finances, Norway set up a giant savings account – now known as a sovereign wealth fund.
That fund today controls assets worth £1.5 trillion, including a stake in 113 buildings on London’s Regent Street ranging from Apple’s flagship store to Hamleys toy shop.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund today holds the equivalent of about £250,000 for each citizen – enough to make the nation comfortable for many decades to come, including long after the oil and gas runs out.
There were people advocating for a similar UK North Sea wealth fund at the time of the industry’s beginnings. Labour’s Tony Benn was one of them, as was Bruce Millan, the former Scottish secretary of state. But they were overruled by the rest of the cabinet, who were becoming wary of the growing calls for Scottish independence.
Denis Healey, the former Labour chancellor, admitted in one of his final interviews that the government did “underplay the value of the oil to the country because of the threat of nationalism”.
Sukhdev Johal, accountancy professor at Queen Mary University, London, estimates that if the UK had set up a similar fund to the Norwegian it would be worth £850bn. Given the UK’s much larger population, that would work out to £13,000 per person – a smaller haul, but still significant.
Ultimately, the North Sea income helped support tax cuts for the better-off when the Tories ousted Labour. Nigel Lawson, chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, had cut the top rate of tax from 60p to 40p by 1988.
Healey told Holyrood magazine: “Thatcher wouldn’t have been able to carry out any of her policies without that additional 5pc on GDP from oil. Incredible good luck she had from that.”
Today the North Sea isn’t the cash cow that it used to be and the money is swiftly running out.
Operators’ revenues were £10bn in 2022-23, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates, but this is projected to fall to £4bn this financial year and just £2bn by 2028-29.
Production costs are also mounting. Decades of extraction mean all the easily accessible oil has already been drilled out.
The UK’s mature fields are now one of the most expensive places in the world to extract oil from. It costs $26.20 to produce a barrel of the stuff today, compared with $5.50 in Saudi Arabia and $7.30 in Norway, according to Rystad Energy.
Scrapheap challenge
The big challenge today is decommissioning.
Six years ago the NSTA estimated that the cost of dealing with all the rusting remains of the UK’s North Sea ventures was £60bn. Its scrapheap challenge includes 320 fixed installations, 250 “subsea systems” – meaning wellheads and other kit on the seafloor – plus 20,000 miles of pipelines snaking between wells, platforms and the shore.
But the costliest challenge is dealing with the 7,800 wells, which often stretch over a mile into the bedrock. Each needs to have sections of its steel casings stripped out and plugged with cement, a process likely to consume half the entire decommissioning budget.
“Each unplugged well is a threat to the future, potentially leaking pollutant oils or methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the ocean above for decades or centuries,” says one of the industry’s most experienced engineers.
For the Treasury, however, the problem is not future pollution but cost.
The UK treats decommissioning as a business expense, meaning it can be offset against profits made in previous years to lower tax bills. Shell’s Brent clean-up alone has cost the Treasury £600m in tax rebates since 2018.
Just how much the end of the North Sea will ultimately cost taxpayers is a bone of contention.
The National Audit Office (NAO) estimated the Treasury faced a £24bn bill for such rebates in a 2019 report.
“Taxpayers are ultimately liable for the total cost of decommissioning assets that operators cannot decommission,” the NAO said.
The warning prompted the Treasury to put pressure on the NSTA to cut the cost of decommissioning. Its latest predictions show an astonishing reduction in the total cost from £60bn to £40bn, which combined with increases in oil prices and profits has reduced the Treasury’s predicted liability to £4.5bn.
Some critics suspect a politically inspired accountancy exercise, but the NSTA says the savings are genuine. It insists that knowledge-sharing and “more sophisticated” forecasting have helped, adding: “Setting cost reduction targets sharpened industry’s focus on the need to improve.”
Industry insiders beg to differ, questioning how any sector could slash costs by a third in an era of rampant inflation.
Gilad Myerson, executive director of Ithaca Energy, one of the UK’s largest offshore operators, said the NSTA’s estimates took too little account of the impact of the UK windfall tax, which has restricted investment and “will bring forward the timing of decommissioning programmes whilst reducing production from existing UK fields”.
Myerson says: “These changes to fiscal policies were designed to boost taxes, but in reality will cost the economy more as fields shut early, reducing tax payments and driving up decommissioning costs.”
More than 250 decommissioning plans have been lodged so far. Each sets out in detail what will be removed but also what will be left in place, including pipelines, concrete mattresses (used to protect pipelines) and other redundant metalwork or concrete.
In theory all such dumping is banned under the Ospar Convention on maritime pollution, an agreement between the UK and 14 other European governments, plus the EU, aimed at protecting the north-east Atlantic.
In practice, however, a relaxed approach from the regulator means the UK’s seabeds will never be put back to their natural state – a saving that will benefit companies and the Treasury, but infuriate environmentalists.
More cost savings may come from derogations, where Ospar signatories permit companies to leave massive installations in the sea forever despite official rules.
The UK has approved 10 such derogations and Ospar warns many more are likely: “There are currently 59 steel installations weighing more than 10,000 tonnes and 22 gravity-based concrete installations, for which [more] derogations from the dumping ban may yet be considered.”
Protests at Shell Brent field in the North Sea
Ageing oil rig structures left to rust in the North Sea have infuriated environmental groups - Greenpeace
Shell in particular wants derogations for the 165-metre tall legs that once supported three of its Brent platforms, claiming leaving them in place is the cleanest and safest option.
These “gravity-based structures” were built from concrete reinforced with steel bars at a time when the main thought was how to survive the 200mph winds and 80-foot waves found in the Atlantic seas north east of Shetland.
No-one thought about their eventual removal. The resulting structures each weigh 300,000 tonnes, the same as New York’s Empire State Building.
They also served as oil storage tanks and so contain thousands of tonnes of toxic oily sludge.
Shell believes leaving them in place was the best option: “Our recommendations are the result of 10 years of research, involving more than 300 scientific and technical studies.”
Others disagree. Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, an NGO that campaigns to shut down UK fossil fuel production, said: “Oil and gas companies that have profited from the basin for decades, and which are sitting on huge windfall profits today, should obviously be made to clean up after themselves, like any other business.
“It’s even more scandalous that the Government has caved to industry lobbying such that taxpayers now pick up a chunk of the clean-up bill.”
Energy insecurity
What does the future hold? For offshore contractors, pulling apart oil and gas installations is becoming the most reliable source of income.
Spending on decommissions has risen from £1.39bn in 2019 to £2bn this year and there will be far more spent in future especially if, as expected, the NSTA’s £40bn predicted total proves too optimistic.
Increased spending on decommissioning comes as investment in exploration for new oil and gas fields tumbles - from £800m in 2019 to just £330m this year.
Only a handful of new wells have gone into production in the last five years compared with the many hundreds that have shut down.
Some believe there is still money to be made in the North Sea. The NSTA has approved 51 new exploration licences in the last year with up to 60 more pending. Energy secretary Claire Coutinho has argued for more, saying the domestic oil and gas industry is vital to the UK’s energy security and economy.
However, energy companies are not impressed by such blandishments. Few are investing and some are walking away – for reasons that have nothing to do with geology and everything to do with politics.
The current government’s windfall tax has raised the levy on oil and gas production profits from 40pc to 75pc. The vagaries of the tax system mean some operators have in fact faced tax rates in excess of 100pc.
Harbour Energy, the UK’s largest oil and gas producer, blamed the tax burden for halting its investment in the UK.
The likely next government has only added to the uncertainty. Labour has pledged to halt all new licensing, add another 3pc to the windfall tax and potentially even backdate it.
The impacts of those policy swings from the UK’s two main political parties are proving disastrous for both the industry and the country, argues Chris Wheaton, an analyst with Stifel who specialises in the offshore industry.
In a recent note, he estimated that the UK Government would lose out on £20bn of tax income if investment is “effectively being shut down by higher taxes or stopping any future developments”.
Energy security would also suffer, he argues. “UK gas production would see an accelerated decline, forcing more gas to be imported… with impacts on energy costs for consumers. We estimate the UK would be importing 80pc of its gas demand as early as 2030.”
Mike Tholen, policy director at Offshore Energies UK, the oil, gas and wind industries trade body, said shutting down UK oil and gas without first building the low-carbon systems to replace them, would leave the UK exposed to global price spikes and the whims of dictators.
“Over 23 million homes rely on gas boilers for heat and hot water and gas provides 40pc to 60pc of our electricity depending on wind strength,” he says.
“We can choose an energy transition where [oil and gas] infrastructure continues to offer opportunities for UK companies and workers. Or we can choose increasing reliance on energy from other countries.”
These arguments appear to be falling on deaf ears in Westminster, with no meaningful proposals to reduce the tax burden. Instead, decommissioning is the new name of the game.
This year’s general election will roughly coincide with Brent Charlie being cut away and melted down for scrap.
<<<
---
>>> Why the death of North Sea oil is a disaster for Britain
The Telegraph
by Jonathan Leake
April 7, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-death-north-sea-oil-050000216.html
Decommissioning is the new name of the game – despite an estimated 25 billion barrels of untapped oil
Far out in the North Sea a deserted but massive oil platform awaits its fate. Brent Charlie is the last remainder of the Brent field – a resource so big it once provided a third of the UK’s daily oil needs.
Discovered in the 1970s, the Brent field at one point produced 184 million barrels of oil a year, earning billions for Shell, its owner, plus £20bn in tax revenues for the Exchequer. It was so big it needed four massive platforms to extract its riches – Brent Charlie, Alpha, Bravo and Delta.
Today Alpha, Bravo and Delta have gone, cut from their supports and taken to the scrapyards.
Later this year Brent Charlie will also have its legs cut from under it and be lifted on to Pioneering Spirit – a giant ship specially designed to rip apart decaying oil and gas installations.
Pioneering Spirit and the growing fleet of similar oil rig-slaughtering vessels are set for some busy years. In the waters around the UK, hundreds more oil and gas installations are falling silent. Fifty years after the North Sea bonanza began, the final decline is upon us.
As well as hauling the retired rigs to shore, nearly 8,000 wells that were drilled deep into the seabed must also be plugged.
The decline of the North Sea has implications not just for energy policy and tax income, but public finances more broadly.
We face a huge bill – potentially up to £60bn – to clean up the North Sea.
The energy companies are responsible for decommissioning, but tax breaks mean much of that money will be reclaimed from the Exchequer - and ultimately taxpayers.
Last year alone more than 200 oil and gas wells were plugged, eight platforms were removed and 8,000 tonnes of subsea structures were taken out of the ocean – with another 250km of seabed pipelines being decommissioned. Another 180 of the UK’s 284 oil and gas fields will close down by the end of the decade.
Mass closures are not the result of eco-protests, nor because of a lack of demand.
Supply isn’t dwindling either. Over the last five decades oil and gas equivalent to 47 billion barrels of oil have been extracted, but seismic surveys suggest another 25 billion remain.
Instead, operators blame punitive taxes for the rapid pullback, with some facing levies of more than 100pc on their profits.
Production is now in rapid decline.
Data from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the government’s regulator, shows UK oil production peaked at 150 million tonnes of oil a year in 2000 – roughly double the nation’s consumption. We also produced about 108 billion cubic metres of gas – about 20 billion more than we consumed.
Exports, jobs and taxes were all booming. The oil and gas industry was employing 500,000 people directly or in its supply chains and its products were the essential fuels powering not just our homes and vehicles but the whole UK economy.
Over the five decades to 2020 the offshore industry poured around £400bn of taxes into the Treasury’s coffers.
The contrast with now could hardly be greater. Last year the UK produced just 38 million tonnes of oil, down by 74pc from its peak and about 20 million tonnes less than we need. Gas production was 30 billion cubic metres – less than half our needs.
Employment has fallen to 130,000. So too has the tax take, to around £3bn.
Meanwhile, the UK’s reliance on oil and gas has hardly changed. We still get 75pc of our total energy from oil and gas – just like two decades ago.
Fossil fuels may be warming the climate but they are also essential to heating the 27 million homes reliant on gas or oil-powered boilers. Around 30 million vehicles still run on diesel or petrol and gas-fired power stations provide over a third of our electricity.
We still consume 77 billion cubic metres of gas a year or 1,100 cubic metres per person, the volume of 14 double-decker buses. We also consume about 60 million tonnes of oil – nearly a tonne per person. Imagine several wheelie bins of oil for each citizen, including children.
Whatever the green lobby claims and whatever politicians promise, the fact is that the UK remains a fossil-fuelled nation.
Will that change? Fossil fuel consumption has declined a little and should fall faster if the Government can persuade us to install heat pumps, buy electric cars and change our lives in all the other ways required by net zero.
But what’s becoming all too clear is that our consumption of fossil fuels will never fall as fast as the decline in our North Sea supplies.
It means that for at least the next few decades the UK will be increasingly reliant on imports – with all the vulnerability to global markets, price shocks and the whims of dictators such as Putin that this implies.
Two decades ago we were producing enough oil and gas for the nation and exporting some. Now we face energy poverty and reliance on other nations to keep our homes warm, our lights on and our vehicles moving.
How did it come to this?
Black gold
“Dear God, give us another oil boom. Next time we won’t p*** it up against the wall”.
The words of an anonymous graffiti artist scrawled on a wall some years ago in Aberdeen still resonate today.
The city’s roots as the UK’s oil and gas capital can be traced back to the mid-1960s when BP discovered the West Sole gas field, the first confirmation that more fossil fuel riches were waiting to be found in the North Sea.
Other companies soon came looking, with Philips Petroleum discovering Norway’s mighty Ekofisk field in 1969, followed by the UK’s colossal Brent field in 1971 and the Piper field in 1973.
These giant oilfields and others like them offered the potential to transform the UK’s economic landscape.
Tony Benn welcomed the first delivery from the Argyll field. A famous picture shows the then-Labour energy secretary opening a valve to release the first consignment of oil into the BP refinery on the Isle of Grain in Kent.
Tax receipts also started flowing in, hitting a record high of £12bn in the mid-1980s.
At its peak, roughly one in every £12 that the UK Government took in tax revenues came from the sector.
Today, that figure is less than £1 in every £100.
The oil boom sparked huge shifts in Britain’s economy as the pound soared in value, rendering huge swathes of British industry uncompetitive and destroying thousands of jobs.
It also helped to bankroll Thatcher’s tax-cutting drive in the late 1980s, cementing her legacy as a big reformer.
Politicians knew at the time they had a cash cow, and successive chancellors have been milking it ever since.
First came the petroleum revenue tax (PRT), introduced alongside the discovery of oil and gas. A new 20pc tax on North Sea oil was introduced in 1981 by Tory chancellor Geoffrey Howe.
Labour’s Gordon Brown introduced a 10pc “supplementary charge” on North Sea profits in 2002, effectively raising tax on the region’s production to 40pc from 30pc. He launched a second raid on profits in 2005 by doubling the supplementary charge in what the SNP branded a £2bn “smash and grab”.
George Osborne tinkered with North Sea taxes further, launching a £2bn raid in 2011 to pay for a one penny cut in fuel duty as oil prices soared above $100 a barrel.
Jeremy Hunt’s windfall levy in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine helped to plug a hole in the public finances.
Countries such as Norway have taken a very different approach to managing their oil and gas wealth.
In 1990, when the UK was using its North Sea income to fund battles against the unions and prop up day-to-day finances, Norway set up a giant savings account – now known as a sovereign wealth fund.
That fund today controls assets worth £1.5 trillion, including a stake in 113 buildings on London’s Regent Street ranging from Apple’s flagship store to Hamleys toy shop.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund today holds the equivalent of about £250,000 for each citizen – enough to make the nation comfortable for many decades to come, including long after the oil and gas runs out.
There were people advocating for a similar UK North Sea wealth fund at the time of the industry’s beginnings. Labour’s Tony Benn was one of them, as was Bruce Millan, the former Scottish secretary of state. But they were overruled by the rest of the cabinet, who were becoming wary of the growing calls for Scottish independence.
Denis Healey, the former Labour chancellor, admitted in one of his final interviews that the government did “underplay the value of the oil to the country because of the threat of nationalism”.
Sukhdev Johal, accountancy professor at Queen Mary University, London, estimates that if the UK had set up a similar fund to the Norwegian it would be worth £850bn. Given the UK’s much larger population, that would work out to £13,000 per person – a smaller haul, but still significant.
Ultimately, the North Sea income helped support tax cuts for the better-off when the Tories ousted Labour. Nigel Lawson, chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, had cut the top rate of tax from 60p to 40p by 1988.
Healey told Holyrood magazine: “Thatcher wouldn’t have been able to carry out any of her policies without that additional 5pc on GDP from oil. Incredible good luck she had from that.”
Today the North Sea isn’t the cash cow that it used to be and the money is swiftly running out.
Operators’ revenues were £10bn in 2022-23, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates, but this is projected to fall to £4bn this financial year and just £2bn by 2028-29.
Production costs are also mounting. Decades of extraction mean all the easily accessible oil has already been drilled out.
The UK’s mature fields are now one of the most expensive places in the world to extract oil from. It costs $26.20 to produce a barrel of the stuff today, compared with $5.50 in Saudi Arabia and $7.30 in Norway, according to Rystad Energy.
Scrapheap challenge
The big challenge today is decommissioning.
Six years ago the NSTA estimated that the cost of dealing with all the rusting remains of the UK’s North Sea ventures was £60bn. Its scrapheap challenge includes 320 fixed installations, 250 “subsea systems” – meaning wellheads and other kit on the seafloor – plus 20,000 miles of pipelines snaking between wells, platforms and the shore.
But the costliest challenge is dealing with the 7,800 wells, which often stretch over a mile into the bedrock. Each needs to have sections of its steel casings stripped out and plugged with cement, a process likely to consume half the entire decommissioning budget.
“Each unplugged well is a threat to the future, potentially leaking pollutant oils or methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the ocean above for decades or centuries,” says one of the industry’s most experienced engineers.
For the Treasury, however, the problem is not future pollution but cost.
The UK treats decommissioning as a business expense, meaning it can be offset against profits made in previous years to lower tax bills. Shell’s Brent clean-up alone has cost the Treasury £600m in tax rebates since 2018.
Just how much the end of the North Sea will ultimately cost taxpayers is a bone of contention.
The National Audit Office (NAO) estimated the Treasury faced a £24bn bill for such rebates in a 2019 report.
“Taxpayers are ultimately liable for the total cost of decommissioning assets that operators cannot decommission,” the NAO said.
The warning prompted the Treasury to put pressure on the NSTA to cut the cost of decommissioning. Its latest predictions show an astonishing reduction in the total cost from £60bn to £40bn, which combined with increases in oil prices and profits has reduced the Treasury’s predicted liability to £4.5bn.
Some critics suspect a politically inspired accountancy exercise, but the NSTA says the savings are genuine. It insists that knowledge-sharing and “more sophisticated” forecasting have helped, adding: “Setting cost reduction targets sharpened industry’s focus on the need to improve.”
Industry insiders beg to differ, questioning how any sector could slash costs by a third in an era of rampant inflation.
Gilad Myerson, executive director of Ithaca Energy, one of the UK’s largest offshore operators, said the NSTA’s estimates took too little account of the impact of the UK windfall tax, which has restricted investment and “will bring forward the timing of decommissioning programmes whilst reducing production from existing UK fields”.
Myerson says: “These changes to fiscal policies were designed to boost taxes, but in reality will cost the economy more as fields shut early, reducing tax payments and driving up decommissioning costs.”
More than 250 decommissioning plans have been lodged so far. Each sets out in detail what will be removed but also what will be left in place, including pipelines, concrete mattresses (used to protect pipelines) and other redundant metalwork or concrete.
In theory all such dumping is banned under the Ospar Convention on maritime pollution, an agreement between the UK and 14 other European governments, plus the EU, aimed at protecting the north-east Atlantic.
In practice, however, a relaxed approach from the regulator means the UK’s seabeds will never be put back to their natural state – a saving that will benefit companies and the Treasury, but infuriate environmentalists.
More cost savings may come from derogations, where Ospar signatories permit companies to leave massive installations in the sea forever despite official rules.
The UK has approved 10 such derogations and Ospar warns many more are likely: “There are currently 59 steel installations weighing more than 10,000 tonnes and 22 gravity-based concrete installations, for which [more] derogations from the dumping ban may yet be considered.”
Protests at Shell Brent field in the North Sea
Ageing oil rig structures left to rust in the North Sea have infuriated environmental groups - Greenpeace
Shell in particular wants derogations for the 165-metre tall legs that once supported three of its Brent platforms, claiming leaving them in place is the cleanest and safest option.
These “gravity-based structures” were built from concrete reinforced with steel bars at a time when the main thought was how to survive the 200mph winds and 80-foot waves found in the Atlantic seas north east of Shetland.
No-one thought about their eventual removal. The resulting structures each weigh 300,000 tonnes, the same as New York’s Empire State Building.
They also served as oil storage tanks and so contain thousands of tonnes of toxic oily sludge.
Shell believes leaving them in place was the best option: “Our recommendations are the result of 10 years of research, involving more than 300 scientific and technical studies.”
Others disagree. Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, an NGO that campaigns to shut down UK fossil fuel production, said: “Oil and gas companies that have profited from the basin for decades, and which are sitting on huge windfall profits today, should obviously be made to clean up after themselves, like any other business.
“It’s even more scandalous that the Government has caved to industry lobbying such that taxpayers now pick up a chunk of the clean-up bill.”
Energy insecurity
What does the future hold? For offshore contractors, pulling apart oil and gas installations is becoming the most reliable source of income.
Spending on decommissions has risen from £1.39bn in 2019 to £2bn this year and there will be far more spent in future especially if, as expected, the NSTA’s £40bn predicted total proves too optimistic.
Increased spending on decommissioning comes as investment in exploration for new oil and gas fields tumbles - from £800m in 2019 to just £330m this year.
Only a handful of new wells have gone into production in the last five years compared with the many hundreds that have shut down.
Some believe there is still money to be made in the North Sea. The NSTA has approved 51 new exploration licences in the last year with up to 60 more pending. Energy secretary Claire Coutinho has argued for more, saying the domestic oil and gas industry is vital to the UK’s energy security and economy.
However, energy companies are not impressed by such blandishments. Few are investing and some are walking away – for reasons that have nothing to do with geology and everything to do with politics.
The current government’s windfall tax has raised the levy on oil and gas production profits from 40pc to 75pc. The vagaries of the tax system mean some operators have in fact faced tax rates in excess of 100pc.
Harbour Energy, the UK’s largest oil and gas producer, blamed the tax burden for halting its investment in the UK.
The likely next government has only added to the uncertainty. Labour has pledged to halt all new licensing, add another 3pc to the windfall tax and potentially even backdate it.
The impacts of those policy swings from the UK’s two main political parties are proving disastrous for both the industry and the country, argues Chris Wheaton, an analyst with Stifel who specialises in the offshore industry.
In a recent note, he estimated that the UK Government would lose out on £20bn of tax income if investment is “effectively being shut down by higher taxes or stopping any future developments”.
Energy security would also suffer, he argues. “UK gas production would see an accelerated decline, forcing more gas to be imported… with impacts on energy costs for consumers. We estimate the UK would be importing 80pc of its gas demand as early as 2030.”
Mike Tholen, policy director at Offshore Energies UK, the oil, gas and wind industries trade body, said shutting down UK oil and gas without first building the low-carbon systems to replace them, would leave the UK exposed to global price spikes and the whims of dictators.
“Over 23 million homes rely on gas boilers for heat and hot water and gas provides 40pc to 60pc of our electricity depending on wind strength,” he says.
“We can choose an energy transition where [oil and gas] infrastructure continues to offer opportunities for UK companies and workers. Or we can choose increasing reliance on energy from other countries.”
These arguments appear to be falling on deaf ears in Westminster, with no meaningful proposals to reduce the tax burden. Instead, decommissioning is the new name of the game.
This year’s general election will roughly coincide with Brent Charlie being cut away and melted down for scrap.
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>>> Blackstone to take Apartment Income REIT private in $10 billion deal
Reuters
Apr 8, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-apartment-income-reit-private-122428050.html
(Reuters) -Asset manager Blackstone said on Monday it would take private rental housing firm Apartment Income REIT, known as AIR Communities, for $10 billion in cash, including debt, in what analysts see as a bet on easing pressure within the commercial real estate market.
Under the deal, Blackstone will pay $39.12 for each share of the real estate investment trust, representing a premium of about 25% to its closing price on Friday. Shares of the REIT jumped about 23%.
Elevated interest rates have put pressure on landlords with loans on rental housing and other commercial real estate properties. Monday's deal was seen by some analysts as a vote of confidence that this pressure has begun easing.
"With this transaction, we believe Blackstone is messaging they view interest rates as stabilizing and access to capital as improved, acting as a positive read-through for the sub-sector," Jefferies analysts wrote.
A top real estate investor, Blackstone has been sharpening its focus on rental housing, betting on its revival as the supply of apartments in the U.S. is expected to decline due to a slowdown in construction.
This was likely to lift rental growth, which has over the past few months remained flat or declined modestly due to fresh supply in many U.S. markets.
AIR Communities, which has a relatively diversified portfolio with apartments in both Eastern and Western coastal markets, has been largely insulated from such pressures.
"(It) represents the highest quality, large scale apartment portfolio we have ever acquired, and is located in markets where multifamily fundamentals are strong," said Nadeem Meghji, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate.
The rental housing provider reported a 6.2% rise in same-store rental revenue in the fourth quarter, higher than the 2%-4% growth by other publicly listed REITs such as Mid-America Apartments and Equity Residential.
Blackstone plans to invest another $400 million to improve the firm's 76 rental housing communities. Its flagship Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, which stabilized after some turbulence in late 2022, has outperformed non-listed peers by 600 basis points in 2023.
The company, whose real estate portfolio is valued at $586 billion, had in January agreed to take private Canadian single-family rental housing firm Tricon Residential.
<<<
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>>> Blackstone to take Apartment Income REIT private in $10 billion deal
Reuters
Apr 8, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-apartment-income-reit-private-122428050.html
(Reuters) -Asset manager Blackstone said on Monday it would take private rental housing firm Apartment Income REIT, known as AIR Communities, for $10 billion in cash, including debt, in what analysts see as a bet on easing pressure within the commercial real estate market.
Under the deal, Blackstone will pay $39.12 for each share of the real estate investment trust, representing a premium of about 25% to its closing price on Friday. Shares of the REIT jumped about 23%.
Elevated interest rates have put pressure on landlords with loans on rental housing and other commercial real estate properties. Monday's deal was seen by some analysts as a vote of confidence that this pressure has begun easing.
"With this transaction, we believe Blackstone is messaging they view interest rates as stabilizing and access to capital as improved, acting as a positive read-through for the sub-sector," Jefferies analysts wrote.
A top real estate investor, Blackstone has been sharpening its focus on rental housing, betting on its revival as the supply of apartments in the U.S. is expected to decline due to a slowdown in construction.
This was likely to lift rental growth, which has over the past few months remained flat or declined modestly due to fresh supply in many U.S. markets.
AIR Communities, which has a relatively diversified portfolio with apartments in both Eastern and Western coastal markets, has been largely insulated from such pressures.
"(It) represents the highest quality, large scale apartment portfolio we have ever acquired, and is located in markets where multifamily fundamentals are strong," said Nadeem Meghji, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate.
The rental housing provider reported a 6.2% rise in same-store rental revenue in the fourth quarter, higher than the 2%-4% growth by other publicly listed REITs such as Mid-America Apartments and Equity Residential.
Blackstone plans to invest another $400 million to improve the firm's 76 rental housing communities. Its flagship Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, which stabilized after some turbulence in late 2022, has outperformed non-listed peers by 600 basis points in 2023.
The company, whose real estate portfolio is valued at $586 billion, had in January agreed to take private Canadian single-family rental housing firm Tricon Residential.
<<<
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>>> Blackstone to take Apartment Income REIT private in $10 billion deal
Reuters
Apr 8, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-apartment-income-reit-private-122428050.html
(Reuters) -Asset manager Blackstone said on Monday it would take private rental housing firm Apartment Income REIT, known as AIR Communities, for $10 billion in cash, including debt, in what analysts see as a bet on easing pressure within the commercial real estate market.
Under the deal, Blackstone will pay $39.12 for each share of the real estate investment trust, representing a premium of about 25% to its closing price on Friday. Shares of the REIT jumped about 23%.
Elevated interest rates have put pressure on landlords with loans on rental housing and other commercial real estate properties. Monday's deal was seen by some analysts as a vote of confidence that this pressure has begun easing.
"With this transaction, we believe Blackstone is messaging they view interest rates as stabilizing and access to capital as improved, acting as a positive read-through for the sub-sector," Jefferies analysts wrote.
A top real estate investor, Blackstone has been sharpening its focus on rental housing, betting on its revival as the supply of apartments in the U.S. is expected to decline due to a slowdown in construction.
This was likely to lift rental growth, which has over the past few months remained flat or declined modestly due to fresh supply in many U.S. markets.
AIR Communities, which has a relatively diversified portfolio with apartments in both Eastern and Western coastal markets, has been largely insulated from such pressures.
"(It) represents the highest quality, large scale apartment portfolio we have ever acquired, and is located in markets where multifamily fundamentals are strong," said Nadeem Meghji, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate.
The rental housing provider reported a 6.2% rise in same-store rental revenue in the fourth quarter, higher than the 2%-4% growth by other publicly listed REITs such as Mid-America Apartments and Equity Residential.
Blackstone plans to invest another $400 million to improve the firm's 76 rental housing communities. Its flagship Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, which stabilized after some turbulence in late 2022, has outperformed non-listed peers by 600 basis points in 2023.
The company, whose real estate portfolio is valued at $586 billion, had in January agreed to take private Canadian single-family rental housing firm Tricon Residential.
<<<
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Ukraine attacks nuclear power plant -
(mad bomber Zelensky strikes again)
>>> What are the risks at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after drone attack?
Reuters
By Guy Faulconbridge and Francois Murphy
April 8, 2024
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nuclear-power-plant-eye-ukraine-war-2024-04-08/
MOSCOW/VIENNA, April 8 (Reuters) - Russia said Ukraine struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station controlled by Russian forces three times on Sunday and demanded the West respond, though Kyiv said it had nothing to do with the attacks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long warned of the risks of a disaster at Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant, and urged an end to fighting in the area. The plant is just 500 km (300 miles) from the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.
What nuclear material is at the Zaporizhzhia plant, what are the risks and why are Russia and Ukraine fighting over it?
WHAT IS IT AND WHAT WAS ITS CAPACITY?
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235. They were all built in the 1980s, though the sixth only came online in the mid-1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All but one of the reactors are in cold shutdown. Reactor unit 4 is in "hot shutdown", mainly for heating purposes. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi says that fighting a war around a nuclear plant has put nuclear safety and security in "constant jeopardy".
WHAT HAPPENED ON APRIL 7?
Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said Ukraine attacked the plant three times on Sunday with drones, first injuring three near a canteen, then attacking a cargo area and then the dome above reactor No. 6.
IAEA experts at the site went to the three locations of the attacks and confirmed there had been an attack. "Russian troops engaged what appeared to be an approaching drone," the IAEA said. "This was followed by an explosion near the reactor building."
"While the team so far has not observed any structural damage to systems, structures, and components important to nuclear safety or security of the plant, they reported observing minor superficial scorching to the top of the reactor dome roof of Unit 6 and scoring of a concrete slab supporting the primary make-up water storage tanks," the IAEA said.
The IAEA did not say directly who was to blame for the attacks. A Ukrainian intelligence official said Kyiv had nothing to do with any strikes on the station and suggested they were the work of Russians themselves. (lol)
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
Russian forces took control of the plant in early March 2022, weeks after invading Ukraine. Special Russian military units guard the facility and a unit of Russia's state nuclear company, Rosatom, runs the plant. Nuclear reactors' containment structures like Zaporizhzhia's are made of steel-lined reinforced concrete designed to withstand the impact of a small plane crash so there is little immediate risk from a minor attack on those structures. A 1989 study by the U.S. Department of Energy found that the model of containment structure used in Zaporizhzia "exhibits vulnerabilities to the effects of an aircraft crash" and a fighter jet crashing downwards into the dome, where the structure is thinner, could penetrate it, causing concrete chunks and aircraft engine parts to fall inside.
External power lines essential to cooling nuclear fuel in the reactors are a softer potential target. Cooling fuel even in reactors in cold shutdown is necessary to prevent a nuclear meltdown. Since the war began the plant has lost all external power eight times, most recently in December last year, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators for power. Water is also needed to cool fuel. Pressurised water is used to transfer heat away from the reactors even when they are shut down, and pumped water is also used to cool down removed spent nuclear fuel from the reactors. Without enough water, or power to pump the water, the fuel could melt down and the zirconium cladding could release hydrogen, which can explode.
WHAT ABOUT THE SPENT FUEL?
Besides the reactors, there is also a dry spent fuel storage facility at the site for used nuclear fuel assemblies, and spent fuel pools at each reactor site that are used to cool down the used nuclear fuel. Without water supply to the pools, the water evaporates and the temperatures increase, risking a fire that could release a number of radioactive isotopes. An emission of hydrogen from a spent fuel pool caused an explosion at reactor 4 in Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A MELTDOWN?
A meltdown of the fuel could trigger a fire or explosion that could release a plume of radionuclides into the air which could then spread over a large area. The Chornobyl accident spread Iodine-131, Caesium-134, Strontium-90 and Caesium-137 across parts of northern Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, northern and central Europe. Nearly 8.4 million people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation, according to the United Nations. Around 50 deaths are directly attributed to the disaster itself.
But 600,000 "liquidators", involved in fire-fighting and clean-up operations, were exposed to high doses of radiation. Hundreds of thousands were resettled. There is mounting evidence that the health impact of the Chornobyl disaster was much more serious than initially presented at the time and in the years following the accident. Incidence of thyroid cancer in children across swathes of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine increased after the accident. There was a much higher incidence of endocrine disorders, anaemia and respiratory diseases among children in contaminated areas.
<<<
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Ukraine attacks nuclear power plant -
(mad bomber Zelensky strikes again)
>>> What are the risks at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after drone attack?
Reuters
By Guy Faulconbridge and Francois Murphy
April 8, 2024
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nuclear-power-plant-eye-ukraine-war-2024-04-08/
MOSCOW/VIENNA, April 8 (Reuters) - Russia said Ukraine struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station controlled by Russian forces three times on Sunday and demanded the West respond, though Kyiv said it had nothing to do with the attacks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long warned of the risks of a disaster at Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant, and urged an end to fighting in the area. The plant is just 500 km (300 miles) from the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.
What nuclear material is at the Zaporizhzhia plant, what are the risks and why are Russia and Ukraine fighting over it?
WHAT IS IT AND WHAT WAS ITS CAPACITY?
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235. They were all built in the 1980s, though the sixth only came online in the mid-1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All but one of the reactors are in cold shutdown. Reactor unit 4 is in "hot shutdown", mainly for heating purposes. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi says that fighting a war around a nuclear plant has put nuclear safety and security in "constant jeopardy".
WHAT HAPPENED ON APRIL 7?
Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said Ukraine attacked the plant three times on Sunday with drones, first injuring three near a canteen, then attacking a cargo area and then the dome above reactor No. 6.
IAEA experts at the site went to the three locations of the attacks and confirmed there had been an attack. "Russian troops engaged what appeared to be an approaching drone," the IAEA said. "This was followed by an explosion near the reactor building."
"While the team so far has not observed any structural damage to systems, structures, and components important to nuclear safety or security of the plant, they reported observing minor superficial scorching to the top of the reactor dome roof of Unit 6 and scoring of a concrete slab supporting the primary make-up water storage tanks," the IAEA said.
The IAEA did not say directly who was to blame for the attacks. A Ukrainian intelligence official said Kyiv had nothing to do with any strikes on the station and suggested they were the work of Russians themselves. (lol)
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
Russian forces took control of the plant in early March 2022, weeks after invading Ukraine. Special Russian military units guard the facility and a unit of Russia's state nuclear company, Rosatom, runs the plant. Nuclear reactors' containment structures like Zaporizhzhia's are made of steel-lined reinforced concrete designed to withstand the impact of a small plane crash so there is little immediate risk from a minor attack on those structures. A 1989 study by the U.S. Department of Energy found that the model of containment structure used in Zaporizhzia "exhibits vulnerabilities to the effects of an aircraft crash" and a fighter jet crashing downwards into the dome, where the structure is thinner, could penetrate it, causing concrete chunks and aircraft engine parts to fall inside.
External power lines essential to cooling nuclear fuel in the reactors are a softer potential target. Cooling fuel even in reactors in cold shutdown is necessary to prevent a nuclear meltdown. Since the war began the plant has lost all external power eight times, most recently in December last year, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators for power. Water is also needed to cool fuel. Pressurised water is used to transfer heat away from the reactors even when they are shut down, and pumped water is also used to cool down removed spent nuclear fuel from the reactors. Without enough water, or power to pump the water, the fuel could melt down and the zirconium cladding could release hydrogen, which can explode.
WHAT ABOUT THE SPENT FUEL?
Besides the reactors, there is also a dry spent fuel storage facility at the site for used nuclear fuel assemblies, and spent fuel pools at each reactor site that are used to cool down the used nuclear fuel. Without water supply to the pools, the water evaporates and the temperatures increase, risking a fire that could release a number of radioactive isotopes. An emission of hydrogen from a spent fuel pool caused an explosion at reactor 4 in Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A MELTDOWN?
A meltdown of the fuel could trigger a fire or explosion that could release a plume of radionuclides into the air which could then spread over a large area. The Chornobyl accident spread Iodine-131, Caesium-134, Strontium-90 and Caesium-137 across parts of northern Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, northern and central Europe. Nearly 8.4 million people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation, according to the United Nations. Around 50 deaths are directly attributed to the disaster itself.
But 600,000 "liquidators", involved in fire-fighting and clean-up operations, were exposed to high doses of radiation. Hundreds of thousands were resettled. There is mounting evidence that the health impact of the Chornobyl disaster was much more serious than initially presented at the time and in the years following the accident. Incidence of thyroid cancer in children across swathes of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine increased after the accident. There was a much higher incidence of endocrine disorders, anaemia and respiratory diseases among children in contaminated areas.
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Bigworld, Silver futures over 28, and gold up also (2371), so nice to see the metals finally getting some long overdue upside :o) Looking at the silver chart, it looks like a run to 30 is underway.(2020-21 highs) :o)
For gold it's tougher to pick an upside target since it's in uncharted territory, but an old rule of thumb with a Cup + Handle breakout is that the upside move will match the size (depth) of the Cup, so that would suggest an eventual upside target of around 3000.
These TA / chart rules may sound fanciful, but they are very useful since everyone on Wall Street uses these same rules, so they become self fulfilling. Chart patterns also accurately reflect the human 'herd behavior' aspects (greed, fear) that are repeated over and over, even in computerized trading since the algorithms that determine buy / sell points are designed by humans.
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Bigworld. Speaking of nuclear energy, there's been some wild activity among some US utility stocks with nuclear exposure. Check out the charts for CEG, VST, and TLNE --> straight up for months, mostly based on the idea that the rapid growth of AI / data centers will require the steadiness of nuclear power (article excerpt below).
Btw, just curious which stocks / ETFs you are using for nuclear exposure? Thanks. I have URA and NLR, and also got a small amount BWXT on Friday. BWXT has both US Navy exposure as well as the commercial side. It's had a big run, but has consolidated somewhat over the last month, although still not anything close to cheap.
CCJ seems like an obvious choice, though the broad ETF (URA) has over 20% in CCJ, so I figure that's one way to go, and URNM is another ETF. Both URA and URNM have high expense ratios though (0.69%, 0.75% respectively), but also pay a nice dividend (5.8% and 3.5%). Likewise with NLR, and it has some exposure to the nuclear utilities.
Fwiw, I had all these last Fall but then decided to exit, so missed out on much of the move. Now back in with small amounts (URA, NLR, BWXT). On the regular mining side I have RIO and PICK. Thanks for any additional ideas :o)
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174146014
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Bigworld, Here are Blinken's statements on Ukraine, from the State Dept website (below). It doesn't sound nearly as imminent as Kunstler said (NATO membership 'ASAP'), but more ambiguous -- to 'build a bridge to that membership, create a clear pathway'.
Fwiw, I think the idea has been to isolate and wear down Russia with an extended war, similar to the US strategy back in the 1980s with the 10 year Russia / Afghanistan war, which was originally cooked up by Zbigniew Brzezinski, and culminated in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The US/West presumably believe a similar approach could work again, using Ukraine as the battleground for the proxy war. An extremely dangerous strategy, to say the least -
>>> Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Before Their Meeting
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-and-ukrainian-foreign-minister-dmytro-kuleba-before-their-meeting-10/
REMARKS
ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE
NATO HEADQUARTERS
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
APRIL 4, 2024
SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s very good to be with my friend and colleague Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine. We just came from a session with all NATO Allies and Foreign Minister Kuleba, and I think it’s safe to say that the support for Ukraine, the determination of every country represented here at NATO remains rock solid. We will do everything we can; Allies will do everything that they can to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to continue to deal with Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, an aggression that gets worse with every passing day. And we’ve seen that just in the month of March with thousands of missiles, rockets, projectiles launched at Ukrainians and Ukraine’s cities and towns, its electricity grid – and that continues.
We’re also here at NATO to talk about the summit that’s upcoming in the summer in Washington, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Alliance. Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our purpose of the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership and to create a clear pathway for Ukraine moving forward. We’ve done a lot of work on that over the last couple of days here in Brussels, a lot more work to be done between now and the summit, but we will see, I think, at the summit very strong support for Ukraine going forward and its relationship with NATO.
But we’re equally focused, as I said, on the immediate and on Ukraine’s needs today, tomorrow, the day after to help it withstand this ongoing aggression from Russia. We’ll talk about all of that and the work that our two countries continue to do together.
The final point is this: The fight that Ukraine has on its hands is not only Ukraine’s fight; it’s everyone’s fight. Because the aggression being committed by Russia is not only an aggression against Ukraine and its people, it’s an aggression against the very principles that lie at the heart of the international system. If Russia were somehow to succeed in Ukraine, if we did not continue to stand with Ukraine, the message to would-be aggressors everywhere is it’s open season; you can get away with it too.
And so it’s imperative that Congress move forward with a supplemental budget request that President Biden made for additional assistance to Ukraine. It’s not only in Ukraine’s interest; it’s profoundly in our own. And we have dozens of allies as well who feel the same way, who are more than picking up their share of the burden. And the supplemental will help ensure that we can continue to deliver for Ukraine because Ukraine is delivering for us, fighting the fight every day to uphold these principles that Russia’s aggressing and that matter to the United States and matter to every country in NATO.
FOREIGN MINISTER KULEBA: Thank you for the kind and strong words that you said just now, but also in the meeting behind the closed doors. I didn’t want to spoil the birthday party for NATO, but I felt compelled to deliver a very sobering message on behalf of Ukrainians about the state of Russian air attacks on my country, destroying our energy system, our economy, killing civilians. And I urged Allies today to provide Ukraine with new additional air defense systems, the best of which is Patriot. This is the only system that effectively intercepts ballistic missiles. In March only, Ukraine suffered from 94 ballistic missiles – 94 ballistic missiles were shot at Ukraine.
As a result of the discussions that we had and these strong encouraging messages from Secretary Blinken, Allies will undertake an exercise of allocating, of finding this – identifying this additional air defense systems in order to bring them to Ukraine, to provide them to Ukraine, and help defend our skies.
Of course, I also listened carefully to the discussion, to the comments related to the upcoming Washington Summit. It is up for – up to Allies themselves to decide on the form and the content of the next step towards Ukraine’s membership in NATO. I understand the decision has been taken today to task the military – military part of the Alliance with designing what that step could be. And we will be looking forward to the outcome, but, of course, we believe that Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO and that this should happen sooner – rather sooner – sooner rather than later. So we will be looking forward to the outcome of these deliberations.
Finally, I would like to thank the people of the United States, the Biden administration, and those forces in Congress who work tirelessly on finding a solution to a very – to a problem that seems to be very simple; just put something to the vote, put the law to the vote. No one has doubts that the law will be voted by overwhelming majority, but overcoming this last obstacle is crucial. It has to happen as soon as possible. We heard the latest messages coming from Washington, and we hope that this will be delivered. Thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks.
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>>> All eyes on inflation print as Q1 earnings season kicks off: What to know this week
Yahoo Finance
by Josh Schafer
April 7, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/all-eyes-on-inflation-print-as-q1-earnings-season-kicks-off-what-to-know-this-week-115748545.html
A robust jobs report couldn't save stocks from weekly losses as a spike in oil prices amid tensions in the Middle East and worries over the Federal Reserve's rate cut path put a damper on the market's hot start to the year.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the losses, falling nearly 2.3%, or more than 900 points. This marked the Dow's worst weekly performance in more than a year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell nearly 1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped 0.8%.
In the week ahead, a fresh reading on inflation and the start of first quarter earnings season will greet investors.
On the corporate front, JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), BlackRock (BLK), and Citi (C) are set to report earnings along with Delta Air Lines (DAL).
Elsewhere in economic news, minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting and an update on consumer sentiment are on the schedule.
The rate debate
While the Fed maintained its forecast for lowering interest rates three times this year at its last meeting, there's growing discussion about whether the central bank will make fewer cuts — or even hold off on them altogether.
On Thursday, Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari suggested the Fed may not cut interest rates at all this year if inflation progress stalls. And after the March jobs report showed the labor market remains remarkably resilient, Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Sløk said the report is in line with his previous call for no cuts this year. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)
"We are sticking to our view that the Fed will not cut interest rates this year," Sløk wrote in a note to clients.
Others believe Friday's data showed some positive developments on the supply side of the labor market, helping bolster the case that a strong labor market and wage growth won't necessarily fuel inflation.
"We see the report as supporting Chair Powell's view that the Fed can start a cautious and gradual easing cycle later this year — as long as the incoming data on inflation show improvement," Bank of America US economist Michael Gapen wrote in a research note on Friday.
Price check
The week ahead will provide another update on the inflation story with the release of the March Consumer Price Index on Wednesday. After some have noted seasonal effects could have caused sticky inflation readings to start the year, economists will be closely watching to see if inflation returned to its downward trend in March.
Wall Street expects an annual gain of 3.5% for headline CPI, which includes the price of food and energy, a noted increase from the 3.2% headline number in February. Prices are set to rise 0.4% on a month-over-month basis, in line with February's rise.
On a "core" basis, which strips out the food and energy prices, inflation is expected to have risen 3.7% year over year, a slowdown from the 3.8% increase seen in February. Monthly core price increases are expected to clock in at 0.3%, slower than the 0.4% increases seen in January and February.
"The March CPI report will be a key indication of whether the pickup in inflation at the start of 2024 was a function of early-year noise or if inflation's journey back to the Fed's target has been drawn out materially," Wells Fargo senior economist Sarah House wrote in a note to clients. "We believe it will show hints of both dynamics at play."
A new earnings season kicks off
Delta is set to report earnings on Wednesday before the bell, an appetizer for investors before a slew of the nation's largest financial institutions, including JPMorgan, officially usher in the first quarter reporting season on Friday.
Broadly, Wall Street expects the first quarter to set the tone for a robust year of earnings growth among S&P 500 companies. Consensus expects first quarter growth for S&P 500 companies of 3.2% compared to the year prior. For the full year, Wall Street sees S&P 500 earnings growing 10.9%.
From a broad perspective, two key themes to watch will be which sectors are seeing earnings growth and, as always, how company executives think the current economic environment will impact the rest of their year.
Within the sector action, Wall Street strategists will be closely following whether earnings pick up in areas outside of technology, as they've recently helped lead a broadening of the stock market rally.
Part of that rally has been backed by an expectation that earnings will begin to grow among the 493 S&P companies that weren't a part of the Magnificent Seven-led rally in 2023. Deutsche Bank chief equity strategist Binky Chadha believes signs of that earnings rotation will begin this quarter with megacap growth and tech seeing slower year-over-year earnings growth than the prior quarter.
"We can always talk about price action and whether, you know, the rally is widening but at the end it's about earnings and fundamentals," Chadha told Yahoo Finance. "We think outside megacap tech, you'll see a pickup in earnings growth, whereas for megacap tech you'll see the beginning of a slowdown basically in earnings growth."
While Chadha isn't predicting a moment where the floor falls out during tech earnings this quarter, slower sequential growth in that sector met with a pickup in earnings in other sectors should "encourage" further rotation in the market, he said.
Weekly calendar
Monday
Economic data: New York Fed one-year inflation expectations, March (3.04% previously)
Earnings: No notable earnings.
Tuesday
Economic data: NFIB Small Business Optimism, March (90.0 expected, 89.4 previously)
Earnings: WD-40 (WDFC), Tilray (TLRY)
Wednesday
Economic data: Consumer Price Index, month-over-month, March (+0.4% expected, +0.4% previously); Core CPI, month-over-month, March (+0.3% expected, +0.4% previously); CPI, year-over-year, March (+3.5% expected, +3.2% previously); Core CPI, year-over-year, March (+3.7% expected, +3.8% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-over-year, March (+1.1% previously) MBA M
Mortgage Applications, week ending April 5 (-0.6%); FOMC meeting minutes
Earnings: Delta Air Lines (DAL), Rent the Runway (RENT)
Thursday
Economic data: Initial jobless claims, week ending April 6 (221,000 previously); Producer Price Index, month-over-month, March (+0.3% expected, +0.6% previously); PPI, year-over-year, March (+1.6% previously)
Earnings: CarMax (KMX), Constellation Brands (STZ)
Friday
Economic data: Import prices, month-over-month, March (+0.4% expected, +0.3% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, March (+0.1% expected, +0.8 previously); University of Michigan consumer sentiment, April preliminary (80.0 expected, 79.4 previously);
Earnings: BlackRock (BLK), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan (JPM), Progressive (PGR), State Street (STT), Wells Fargo (WFC)
<<<
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>>> All eyes on inflation print as Q1 earnings season kicks off: What to know this week
Yahoo Finance
by Josh Schafer
April 7, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/all-eyes-on-inflation-print-as-q1-earnings-season-kicks-off-what-to-know-this-week-115748545.html
A robust jobs report couldn't save stocks from weekly losses as a spike in oil prices amid tensions in the Middle East and worries over the Federal Reserve's rate cut path put a damper on the market's hot start to the year.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the losses, falling nearly 2.3%, or more than 900 points. This marked the Dow's worst weekly performance in more than a year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell nearly 1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped 0.8%.
In the week ahead, a fresh reading on inflation and the start of first quarter earnings season will greet investors.
On the corporate front, JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), BlackRock (BLK), and Citi (C) are set to report earnings along with Delta Air Lines (DAL).
Elsewhere in economic news, minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting and an update on consumer sentiment are on the schedule.
The rate debate
While the Fed maintained its forecast for lowering interest rates three times this year at its last meeting, there's growing discussion about whether the central bank will make fewer cuts — or even hold off on them altogether.
On Thursday, Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari suggested the Fed may not cut interest rates at all this year if inflation progress stalls. And after the March jobs report showed the labor market remains remarkably resilient, Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Sløk said the report is in line with his previous call for no cuts this year. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)
"We are sticking to our view that the Fed will not cut interest rates this year," Sløk wrote in a note to clients.
Others believe Friday's data showed some positive developments on the supply side of the labor market, helping bolster the case that a strong labor market and wage growth won't necessarily fuel inflation.
"We see the report as supporting Chair Powell's view that the Fed can start a cautious and gradual easing cycle later this year — as long as the incoming data on inflation show improvement," Bank of America US economist Michael Gapen wrote in a research note on Friday.
Price check
The week ahead will provide another update on the inflation story with the release of the March Consumer Price Index on Wednesday. After some have noted seasonal effects could have caused sticky inflation readings to start the year, economists will be closely watching to see if inflation returned to its downward trend in March.
Wall Street expects an annual gain of 3.5% for headline CPI, which includes the price of food and energy, a noted increase from the 3.2% headline number in February. Prices are set to rise 0.4% on a month-over-month basis, in line with February's rise.
On a "core" basis, which strips out the food and energy prices, inflation is expected to have risen 3.7% year over year, a slowdown from the 3.8% increase seen in February. Monthly core price increases are expected to clock in at 0.3%, slower than the 0.4% increases seen in January and February.
"The March CPI report will be a key indication of whether the pickup in inflation at the start of 2024 was a function of early-year noise or if inflation's journey back to the Fed's target has been drawn out materially," Wells Fargo senior economist Sarah House wrote in a note to clients. "We believe it will show hints of both dynamics at play."
A new earnings season kicks off
Delta is set to report earnings on Wednesday before the bell, an appetizer for investors before a slew of the nation's largest financial institutions, including JPMorgan, officially usher in the first quarter reporting season on Friday.
Broadly, Wall Street expects the first quarter to set the tone for a robust year of earnings growth among S&P 500 companies. Consensus expects first quarter growth for S&P 500 companies of 3.2% compared to the year prior. For the full year, Wall Street sees S&P 500 earnings growing 10.9%.
From a broad perspective, two key themes to watch will be which sectors are seeing earnings growth and, as always, how company executives think the current economic environment will impact the rest of their year.
Within the sector action, Wall Street strategists will be closely following whether earnings pick up in areas outside of technology, as they've recently helped lead a broadening of the stock market rally.
Part of that rally has been backed by an expectation that earnings will begin to grow among the 493 S&P companies that weren't a part of the Magnificent Seven-led rally in 2023. Deutsche Bank chief equity strategist Binky Chadha believes signs of that earnings rotation will begin this quarter with megacap growth and tech seeing slower year-over-year earnings growth than the prior quarter.
"We can always talk about price action and whether, you know, the rally is widening but at the end it's about earnings and fundamentals," Chadha told Yahoo Finance. "We think outside megacap tech, you'll see a pickup in earnings growth, whereas for megacap tech you'll see the beginning of a slowdown basically in earnings growth."
While Chadha isn't predicting a moment where the floor falls out during tech earnings this quarter, slower sequential growth in that sector met with a pickup in earnings in other sectors should "encourage" further rotation in the market, he said.
Weekly calendar
Monday
Economic data: New York Fed one-year inflation expectations, March (3.04% previously)
Earnings: No notable earnings.
Tuesday
Economic data: NFIB Small Business Optimism, March (90.0 expected, 89.4 previously)
Earnings: WD-40 (WDFC), Tilray (TLRY)
Wednesday
Economic data: Consumer Price Index, month-over-month, March (+0.4% expected, +0.4% previously); Core CPI, month-over-month, March (+0.3% expected, +0.4% previously); CPI, year-over-year, March (+3.5% expected, +3.2% previously); Core CPI, year-over-year, March (+3.7% expected, +3.8% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-over-year, March (+1.1% previously) MBA M
Mortgage Applications, week ending April 5 (-0.6%); FOMC meeting minutes
Earnings: Delta Air Lines (DAL), Rent the Runway (RENT)
Thursday
Economic data: Initial jobless claims, week ending April 6 (221,000 previously); Producer Price Index, month-over-month, March (+0.3% expected, +0.6% previously); PPI, year-over-year, March (+1.6% previously)
Earnings: CarMax (KMX), Constellation Brands (STZ)
Friday
Economic data: Import prices, month-over-month, March (+0.4% expected, +0.3% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, March (+0.1% expected, +0.8 previously); University of Michigan consumer sentiment, April preliminary (80.0 expected, 79.4 previously);
Earnings: BlackRock (BLK), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan (JPM), Progressive (PGR), State Street (STT), Wells Fargo (WFC)
<<<
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>>> Tesla to unveil robotaxi self-driving car in August, Elon Musk says
by Anthony Robledo
USA TODAY
4-5-24
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/tesla-to-unveil-robotaxi-self-driving-car-in-august-elon-musk-says/ar-BB1l9DpE?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Elon Musk announced that Tesla will unveil its robotaxi this summer.
The X owner and Tesla CEO unveiled the Aug. 8 release date on a post Friday.
The entrepreneur has previously discussed efforts to create Tesla cars without human controls and for existing vehicles to gradually improve its Full Self-Driving Capability, which are not fully autonomous.
The technological feat has been a longtime goal for Musk, who has said autonomous taxis could revolutionize modern transportation by becoming more popular than human-driven cars and that automaker would be "worth basically zero."
Musk wanted to release robotaxis in 2020
In April 2019, Musk revealed that he expected Tesla robotaxis to be fully operating by 2020.
The company predicted that driverless vehicles would withstand 11 years and 1 million miles, earning the company $30,000 in annual profit. He also shared that the cars would would be accompanied by a ride-share app similar to both Uber and Airbnb.
U.S. and Chinese regulators have currently only approved self-driving cars in limited and experimental instances on public roads.
The automotive company faces lawsuits and investigations related to crashes with its existing autopilot and Full Self-Driving driver-assistance systems, which the company has Tesla has explained were the result of inattentive drivers.
Tesla shares down after low-cost EV plans are scrapped
Musk's announcement comes after a Reuters report revealed that Tesla has scrapped plans for its long-promised inexpensive car, according to three sources familiar with the matter and company messages.
Investors have been relying on the project to drive its growth into a mass-market automaker, according to Reuters.
Musk has often described affordable electric cars for the masses as a primary mission. In 2006, he said his "master plan" had to prioritize manufacturing luxury models before financing a "low cost family car."
Tesla shares closed down $6.21, or 3.63%, at $164.90 on Friday.
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