Trading in dozens of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange was briefly halted shortly after the market opened Tuesday due to an apparent technical issue.
The major stocks impacted included Morgan Stanley, Verizon, AT&T, Nike and McDonald’s, according to the NYSE’s website. Many stocks were shown to have abnormally large moves when the market opened, which may have triggered volatility halts.
CNBC’s Bob Pisani said on “Squawk on the Street” that the issue appears to be a technical one and not something that happened on the trading floor.
Many of the companies impacted resumed trading before 9:45 a.m. ET. The NYSE said at roughly 9:50 a.m. that all of its systems were operational. CNBC has reached out to the NYSE for more details about the issue.
The exchange said in a statement at 10:21 a.m. ET that it is still investigating the issue with the opening auction.
The NYSE, like some other exchanges, has automatic halts in place for stocks that move dramatically in one direction or another. On a normal trading day, few if any stocks are halted for volatility on the NYSE.
The other major U.S. stock exchange, the Nasdaq, did not appear to be impacted by the technical issue.
Correction: The NYSE technical issue took place Tuesday. A previous version misstated the day of the week.
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Five Chinese state-owned firms including China Life Insurance (601628.SS) and oil giant Sinopec (600028.SS) said Friday they would delist from the New York Stock Exchange, amid heightened diplomatic and economic tensions with the United States.
The companies, which also include Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco) (601600.SS), PetroChina (601857.SS) and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co (600688.SS), said in separate statements that they would apply for delistings of their American Depository Shares from later this month.
The five, which were added to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) list in May after they were identified as not meeting U.S regulators’ auditing standards, will keep their listings in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets.
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There was no mention of the auditing row in separate statements by the Chinese companies outlining their moves, which come amid heightened tensions after last week’s visit to Taiwan by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Beijing and Washington have been in talks to resolve a long-running dispute that could mean Chinese firms being kicked off U.S. exchanges if they do not comply with U.S. audit rules.
“These companies have strictly complied with the rules and regulatory requirements of the U.S. capital market since their listing in the U.S. and made the delisting choice for their own business considerations,” the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement.
Some of China’s largest companies including Alibaba Group Holdings , J.D Com Inc and Baidu Inc are among almost 270 on the list and at threat of being delisted.
Alibaba said last week it would convert its Hong Kong secondary listing into a dual primary listing which analysts indicated could ease the way for the Chinese ecommerce giant to switch primary listing venues in the future. read more
In premarket trade Friday, U.S.-listed shares of China Life Insurance and oil giant Sinopec fell 5.7% about 4.3% respectively. Aluminium Corporation of China dropped 1.7%, while PetroChina shed 4.3%. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co shed 4.1%.
“China is sending a message that its patience is wearing thin in the audit talks,” said Kai Zhan, senior counsel at Chinese law firm Yuanda, who specialises in areas including U.S. capital markets and U.S. sanction compliance.
Washington has long demanded complete access to the books of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, but Beijing bars foreign inspection of audit documents from local accounting firms, citing national security concerns.
The companies said their U.S. traded share volume was small compared with those on their other major listing venues.
PetroChina said it had never raised follow-on capital from its U.S listing and its Hong Kong and Shangai bases “can satisfy the company’s fundraising requirements” as well as providing “better protection of the interests of the investors.”
China Life and Chalco said they would file for delisting on Aug. 22, with it taking effect 10 days later. Sinopec and PetroChina said their applications would be made on Aug. 29.
China Telecom (0728.HK), China Mobile (0941.HK) and China Unicom (0762.HK) were delisted from the United States in 2021 after a Trump-era decision to restrict investment in Chinese technology firms. That ruling has been left unchanged by the Biden administration amid continuing tensions.
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Reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai, Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson, David Goodman and Alexander Smith
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
FOX Business’ Cheryl Casone reports on June’s Consumer Price Index released Wednesday, which revealed inflation now sits at a fresh 40-year high.
New York Stock Exchange Senior Market Strategist Michael Reinking argued on Wednesday that markets were “well-prepared” for the headline inflation number released earlier, but stressed the data was “bad.”
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Reinking also noted what the latest inflation data, which sits at a fresh 40-year high, means for the next moves of the Federal Reserve as central bank officials try to tame soaring inflation.
On Wednesday morning, the Labor Department said that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 9.1% in June from a year ago. Prices jumped 1.3% in the one-month period from May. Both figures were far higher than the 8.8% headline figure and 1% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists.
The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, July 13, the day the June inflation data was released by the Labor Department. (FOX Business/Talia Kaplan )
The data marks the fastest pace of inflation since December 1981.
INFLATION SURGES 9.1% IN JUNE, ACCELERATING MORE THAN EXPECTED TO NEW 40-YEAR HIGH
“I think markets were pretty well-prepared for the headline number to be hotter than expected,” Reinking told Fox News Digital, pointing to the price of gas in the middle of June, which he said was at its peak at the time.
“We have seen gasoline prices come in over the last month,” he noted.
Last month, gas prices hit records with the national average above $5 a gallon.
On Wednesday, the national average for a gallon of gas was $4.63, about 40 cents lower compared to the month before when it was more than $5 dollars, according to AAA.
Reinking argued that the so-called core prices data, which exclude more volatile measurements of food and energy, presented a bit of a surprise.
The Labor Department said that core prices climbed 5.9% from the previous year. Core prices also rose 0.7% on a monthly basis – higher than in April and May – suggesting that underlying inflationary pressures remain strong and widespread.
“The core CPI was really where the issue was because we didn’t see any sort of deceleration within that data,” Reinking said. “When you look at all of the different components, we were hoping to see some easing in used car pricing, the automobiles, potentially apparel given what we’ve heard from retail companies and we didn’t see any of that.”
The worse-than-expected report is expected to have major implications for the Federal Reserve and will likely solidify a series of aggressive rate hikes in an effort to curb prices. Policymakers already raised the benchmark interest rate by 75-basis points last month for the first time since 1994 and have confirmed that a similarly sized increase is on the table in July.
Reinking argued that with inflation running even hotter than economists expected in June, Wall Street is now ramping up the odds of a mega-sized, 100-basis point hike in July.
The market strategist noted that the Fed had indicated that it wants to see inflation data “significantly come down for multiple months” before taking “their foot off the accelerator.”
He argued that the data released on Wednesday “resets the clock” because it revealed there was no “deceleration.”
Reinking went on to argue that while Wall Street “had widely expected the Fed to go another 75-basis points at the end of July,” Wednesday’s data opens the door to a potential 100-basis point rate increase.
Raphael Bostic, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, speaks during the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) economic policy conference in Washington, D.C, U.S., on Monday, March 21, 2022. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
He pointed to the comment from Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic earlier on Wednesday, saying that “everything is in play” when asked about the prospect of the central bank raising interest rates by a full percentage point later this month.
About 38% of traders are now pricing in the chances of a 100-basis point increase later this month, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which tracks trading.
Still, the Fed is in a precarious situation as it walks the line between cooling consumer demand and bringing inflation closer to its 2% target without inadvertently dragging the economy into a recession. Hiking rates tends to create higher rates on consumer and business loans, which slows the economy by forcing employers to cut back on spending.
When asked if he believes the Fed can successfully engineer an elusive soft landing, Reinking told Fox News Digital “it’s threading a needle.”
LARRY SUMMERS WARNS INFLATION UNLIKELY TO FALL WITHOUT ‘SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC DOWNTURN’
“I think there is a possibility,” he continued. “We’re coming from a pretty good place from an economic perspective, especially relative to the rest of the globe… so there is a possibility, but it’s going to be a tight squeeze.”
Reinking also noted that “there is a possibility” that the data released on Wednesday “was the peak inflation print,” especially when looking at “what commodities markets have done over the last few months.”
He also warned that investors are likely “going to continue to see quite a bit of volatility as the markets kind of deal with this ebb and flow of economic data and the path of Fed policy going forward.”
Hennion & Walsh Asset Management president and CIO Kevin Mahn analyzes Wall Street’s volatile day on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Reinking noted that the U.S. is “clearly in an economic slowdown.”
“The bigger question from here is how deep and how prolonged is that slowdown going to be and inflation and the Federal Reserve and their reaction to inflation is going to play a big part in how long that protraction is,” he continued.
Reinking also revealed what he believes is the “big concern” in markets right now.
“The concern that markets have is that the Fed is going to magnify an initial policy mistake by not reacting to inflation data early enough and then are now going to have to tighten into an already slowing economy hence magnifying that and creating a bigger slowdown,” he explained.
Odeon Capital Group financial strategist previews the second quarter earnings of Wall Street’s financial titans on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Reinking spoke with Fox News Digital as second quarter earnings season kicks off with JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, First Republic Bank, Cintas and Conagra Brands leading earnings before the market open on Thursday.
He argued that financials “sit at a very good spot to understand kind of what’s happening from a macro perspective.”
“One of the big keys, I think, that we are going to see in this quarter is whether banks actually start to increase provisions and reserves for loan losses going forward,” he added.
“As we’re expecting a slowdown, we are kind of reversing that course of reserve runoff that we’ve seen over the last year,” Reinking went on to note. “Now they [banks] are going to have to start building those reserves again to prepare for a more difficult credit environment.”
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On a more general note, Reinking argued that if management teams start to cut guidance “and the market can get comfortable with that guidance being somewhat more conservative, that could help things stabilize here in the near-term.”
FOX Business’ Megan Henney and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
The New York Stock Exchange is withdrawing its mask mandate for fully vaccinated people effective immediately, a source said on Friday, after several large U.S. banks also dropped their mask requirements at their U.S. offices.
The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), is now making masks optional on the trading floor and other public areas for fully vaccinated personnel and visitors, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, adding that the existing COVID-19 policies would still remain in place.
The exchange joins investment banks such as Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), which also said on Friday that they were dropping the requirement for staff to wear masks in the office.
Goldman Sachs will no longer require masks to be worn by employees at its U.S. offices from Monday and will leave it to individuals to decide if they want to mask up, a spokeswoman at the bank said.
Masks will now be optional on the trading floor and other public areas for fully vaccinated personnel and visitors.EPA
For fully vaccinated employees of JPMorgan working out of their U.S. offices, masks have been made completely voluntary, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
A large percentage of JPMorgan’s staff has been vaccinated, the memo sent to all U.S. employees said, adding that contact tracing and mandatory bi-weekly testing will be carried out for unvaccinated staff entering the offices.
The NYSE joins investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley in dropping their mask mandates for fully vaccinated people.REUTERS
Staff at Morgan Stanley’s offices will not be required to wear masks, a spokeswoman for the bank said, as only vaccinated employees are allowed into their buildings.
Major U.S. banks have rolled out plans to bring their staff back to office in recent weeks after the number of COVID-19 cases registered a drop.
Just five months after its debut, ride-hailing giant Didi Global said it plans to withdraw from the New York Stock Exchange and pursue a Hong Kong listing, a stunning reversal as it bends to Chinese regulators angered by its US IPO.
The company’s shares were down around 15% after swinging between gains and losses in premarket trading as investors initially bet the move would appease Beijing and serve as a catalyst for a revival of its business prospects at home. Shares of the company plunged by day’s end, closing down 22%..
“Following careful research, the company will immediately start delisting on the New York stock exchange and start preparations for listing in Hong Kong,” Didi said on its Twitter-like Weibo account on Friday.
Didi did not explain its reasons for the plan but said in a separate statement it would organize a shareholder vote at an appropriate time and ensure its New York-listed stock would be convertible into “freely tradable shares” on another internationally recognized stock exchange.
Sources told Reuters last month that Chinese regulators had pressed Didi’s top executives to devise a plan to delist from the New York Stock Exchange due to concerns about data security.
Didi shares plunged 22 percent on news the company was delisting from NYSE.Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Didi’s board convened on Thursday and approved the US delisting and HK listing plans, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Didi pushed ahead with a $4.4 billion U.S. initial public offering in June despite being asked to put it on hold while a review of its data practices was conducted.
The powerful Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) then quickly ordered app stores to remove 25 of Didi’s mobile apps and told the company to stop registering new users, citing national security and the public interest.
Didi, led by CEO Cheng Wei, did not explain its reasons for deciding to delist from the NYSE but said in a separate statement it would organize a shareholder vote at an appropriate time.Visual China Group via Getty Images
Didi, whose apps, in addition to ride-hailing, offer products such as delivery and financial services, remains under investigation.
Redex Research analyst Kirk Boodry, who publishes on Smartkarma, said there is an expectation Didi may need to buy shares at the $14 IPO price to avoid legal issues and at the very least will pay more than the shares current trading price.
However, there was still uncertainty over what the delisting means for investors. “There may also be some hope that by doing this, Didi management will improve its regulatory relations, but I am less confident on that,” Boodry added.
Didi is not alone in its dealings with China. Billionaire Jack Ma also ran afoul of Chinese authorities, leading to the dramatic scuppering of a mega-IPO for Ant Group last year.Visual China Group via Getty Images
The upending of Didi’s New York listing – likely to be a difficult and messy process – illustrates both the huge clout that Chinese regulators possess and their emboldened approach to wielding it.
Billionaire Jack Ma also ran afoul of Chinese authorities after blasting the country’s regulatory system, leading to the dramatic scuppering of a mega-IPO for Ant Group last year.
Did’s move will likely further discourage Chinese firms from listing in the United States and could prompt some to reconsider their status as U.S. publicly traded companies.
The upending of Didi’s New York listing illustrates both the huge clout that regulators in China — led by President Xi Jinping — possess and their emboldened approach to wielding it.Getty Images
“Chinese ADRs face increasing regulatory challenges from both U.S. and Chinese authorities. For most companies, it will be like walking on eggshells trying to please both sides. Delisting will only make things simpler,” said Wang Qi, CEO at fund manager MegaTrust Investment (HK).
Didi is planning to proceed with a Hong Kong listing soon and is not looking at being taken private, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
It aims to complete a dual primary listing in Hong Kong in the next three months and delist from New York by June 2022, said one of the sources.
Didi provided 25 million rides a day in China in the first quarter, according to its IPO prospectus. It made its New York debut on June 30.South China Morning Post via Getty Images
The sources were not authorized to talk to the media and declined to be identified. Didi did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, and the CAC has yet to comment on its announcement.
“Not long after the IPO U.S. investors had been trying to sue DiDi for failing to disclose its ongoing talks with the Chinese authorities. This is unlikely to be taken any better,” said William Mileham, an equity analyst at Mirabaud. “It appears that DiDi are not waiting to be dual-listed, but could well be de-listed from the U.S. before it starts trading on the HK stock exchange.”
Listing in Hong Kong, however, might prove complicated, particularly in a tight three-month timeframe, given Didi’s history of compliance problems and the scrutiny it has faced over unlicensed vehicles and part-time drivers.
Didi may be eyeing listing in Hong Kong, but that might prove complicated given Didi’s history of compliance problems and the scrutiny it has faced over unlicensed vehicles and part-time drivers.AFP via Getty Images
The Hong Kong bourse does not comment on individual companies, a spokesperson said. Shares on the exchange however jumped 4% on prospects of a Didi listing.
Didi provided 25 million rides a day in China in the first quarter, according to its IPO prospectus. It made its New York debut on June 30 at $14 per American Depositary Share, but those shares had slid 44% by Thursday’s close, valuing it at $37.6 billion.
Its main shareholders are SoftBank’s Vision Fund, with a 21.5% stake, and Uber Technologies Inc, with 12.8%, according to a filing in June by Didi.
Sources have also told Reuters that Didi is preparing to relaunch its apps in China by the end of the year in anticipation that Beijing’s cybersecurity investigation of the company would be wrapped up by then.
The New York Stock Exchange welcomes Coursera, (NYSE: COUR), today, Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in celebration of its Initial Public Offering. To honor the occasion, Coursera Founders Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller and Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda virtually ring The Opening Bell®.
NYSE
Shares of education tech company Coursera opened at $39 apiece in its market debut Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
On Tuesday, Coursera priced its 15.73 million shares at $33 apiece — the high end of its initial $30 to $33 target range. In its offering, the company raised nearly $520 million at an implied $4.3 billion valuation.
Shares were up about 18% after it opened, giving the company a market cap of about $5.13 billion. Coursera was last valued in the private market at $3.6 billion, according to PitchBook.
Founded in 2012 by former Stanford University computer science professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, the Mountain View, California-based company offers individuals access to online courses and degrees from top universities, a business that has boomed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Revenue last year jumped 59% to $293 million. Still, Coursera’s net losses widened to $66.8 million from $46.7 million in 2019 as the company said it added over 12,000 new degrees for students over the last two years. Total registered users grew 65% year over year in 2020.
“[When] we started back in 2012 with Andrew and Daphne, it was sort of B2C — put some courses up and see who from around the world wants to come … [since then] 77 million individuals came to Coursera.org; 30 million during the pandemic,” CEO Jeff Maggioncalda said on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” Wednesday morning before shares started trading.
“We do see a post-pandemic world that’s going to have a whole lot more online learning as part of it,” he added. “Almost every student was forced to learn online. Almost every teacher was forced to teach online. This huge forced experiment was tough in some regards, but it also introduced a new way of learning that’s being embraced for the affordability, the quality, and the convenience.”
Maggioncalda joined the company as CEO in 2017 after 18 years at Financial Engines, an investment advisory firm he founded and took public in 2010 before its 2018 merger with Edelman Financial Services.
“That institutional learning, where people are learning at work and even earning fully accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees while they’re working … we think that’s what the future really looks like,” Maggioncalda said.
The New York Stock Exchange welcomes Coursera, (NYSE: COUR), today, Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in celebration of its Initial Public Offering. To honor the occasion, Coursera Founders Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller and Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda virtually ring The Opening Bell®.
NYSE
According to the company’s IPO prospectus, as of December 31, 2020, more than 150 universities offered upwards of 4,000 courses through the Coursera platform, which features over two dozen degree programs.
A bachelor’s or master’s degree completed through Coursera can range in cost from $9,000 to $45,000. The company also offers a wide variety of education certificates and professional skills courses that range in price from as low as $9.99 to $99.
During the pandemic, Coursera has also partnered with more than 330 government agencies across 70 countries and 30 U.S. states and cities as part of the Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative, which helps governments offer unemployed workers free access to thousands of courses for business, technology and data science skills from companies including Amazon and Google.
“We see education as a lifelong opportunity and a lifelong obligation for most people,” Maggioncalda said. “What has happened with industry after industry is now happening with education. Technology can lower cost and increase access and affordability, and that’s precisely what we see happening with degrees on Coursera.”
Coursera has made the CNBC Disruptor 50 list multiple times and most recently ranked No. 4 on the 2020 list.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were the lead underwriters for Coursera’s offering. The stock trades under the ticker symbol “COUR.”
FOX Business anchor Larry Kudrow reacts to a proposed tax hike on the NYSE, which may cause the company to leave New York State.
FOX Business host Larry Kudlow slammed New York on Wednesday for proposing a “phony policy” that could cause the New York Stock Exchange to leave for another state with better tax incentives.
During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom”, Kudlow explained that adding transaction or trading taxes on the NYSE deters investment, which will impact hedge funds as well as retail investors, and increase prices for consumers.
Kudlow said the presence of the Stock Exchange within New York creates numerous jobs for apartments, restaurants, and small businesses.
“It’s not just the folks that directly work there,” Kudlow said. “It’s the knock-on effects, it would be a really bad blow to the New York City economy.”
Kudlow added that if the policy were to be implemented, the increased cost on the NYSE would likely cause them to pack up and leave for another city, such as Chicago or Charlotte.
FOX BUSINESS TO DEBUT LARRY KUDLOW’S NEW PROGRAM THIS MONTH
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published yesterday by Stacey Cunningham, the President of the NYSE, she explained that the newly revived stock-transfer tax gaining support in New York may force the business to find a new location.
“On Wednesday, with more than 25 other representatives of New York’s securities industry, I sent a letter to state legislative leaders cautioning against the unintended consequences of imposing a transfer tax on stock sales,” Cunningham wrote. “History’s lesson is clear: If you try to squeeze more revenue from financial firms, the business goes elsewhere.”
Cunningham explained that many employees of Wall Street firms have moved out of the state and relocated to places such as Florida and Texas for more favorable tax policies.
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In 1981, the state’s stock transfer tax was wiped out by state leaders, who offered a 100% rebate to investors. Cunningham said that with the crippling effects of COVID-19 on the economy, and the historical consequences of trading taxes on capital markets, relocation may be the NYSE’s only option.
