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Tag Archives: weaker
Tesla shares see worst day in two years on weaker than expected sales
New York
CNN
—
Tesla shares plunged more than 12% in trading Tuesday, as weaker than expected global sales caused the company’s massive slide in its share price that began last year to continue.
Tesla reported record 2022 sales of 1.3 million vehicles, up 40% from the 2021 total, but well below the 50% growth target the company set early in the year. While it had already warned it would miss that aggressive full-year target, its fourth quarter sales of 405,278 cars was far weaker than feared. It represented growth of only 31% from a year earlier, and was well below the median estimate of 431,000 according to analysts polled by Refinitiv.
The 12.2% drop in Tesla
(TSLA) shares in Tuesday trading was the worst day for Tesla
(TSLA) shares in more than two years. The company’s shares ended 2022 down 65% for the year, greatly cutting into Musk’s net worth and knocking him out of his position as the world’s richest person. It was the worst year ever for Tesla
(TSLA) shares, which gained 743% in 2020 and another 50% in 2021.
The drop in sales came despite the company’s two price cuts in December for US buyers who completed their purchase by year end. The fact that global sales were well short of the 439,000 cars it built in the period raised new concerns about weakening demand for Tesla cars in the face of numerous headwinds. These include higher interest rates, increased EV competition from established automakers along with upstart EV makers, and backlash against Tesla CEO Elon Musk since his controversial takeover of Twitter early in the quarter.
“Demand overall is starting to crack a bit for Tesla and the company will need to adjust and cut prices more especially in China, which remains the key to the growth story,” said Dan Ives, tech analyst for Wedbush Securities. “The Cinderella ride is over for Tesla.”
– CNN’s David Goldman contributed to this report
Russia Likely Lost Half Its Main Battle Tanks in Ukraine, Will Be Weaker: Pentagon
- Russia has likely lost half its main battle tanks in Ukraine, a senior US defense official said.
- Putin has also lost tens of thousands of troops, the Pentagon’s Colin Kahl told reporters this week.
- Because of this, “Russia will emerge from this war weaker than it went in,” he said.
Russia has likely lost half of its main battle tanks while fighting in Ukraine, a senior US defense official said Tuesday, adding that the Russian military will end up being weaker than it was before the war began.
Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “suffered a massive strategic failure” during his ongoing and unprovoked war in Ukraine.
Highlighting Putin’s military setbacks, Kahl said that Russian forces have “probably lost half of their main battle tanks” and tens of thousands of troops in Ukraine, according to a Department of Defense report published Wednesday.
Kahl did not specify exactly how many tanks the Pentagon estimates Russia has lost, but according to open-source intelligence analysis by Oryx, at least 1,450 Russian tanks have been destroyed, captured, abandoned, or damaged over the course of the war. Notably, Russian troops fleeing Ukrainian battlefield advances have left behind modern T-90 tanks that Moscow considers to be among the most advanced in its arsenal.
Russia has, in turn, been forced to pull old and obsolete tanks from storage — like the Soviet-era T-62 main battle tank. This type of tank is decades old, can even be seen in some museums, and has long since been replaced by newer, more capable systems.
In addition to armor losses, Russian forces have also lost mountains of other high-value and heavy weaponry, much of which. like Russian tanks, has been repurposed by Ukraine even as it continues to enjoy considerable security assistance and military aid from Western countries.
It’s also unclear exactly how many casualties Russia has sustained in Ukraine, but losses are believed to be substantial.
No updated casualty figures have been provided since the Pentagon reported in August that as many as 80,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. That figure was presented before Ukrainian forces launched two counteroffensives along the war’s northeastern and southern fronts, moves which have seen Russian lines shatter and Kyiv liberate thousands of square miles of territory over the last two months.
Among the Russian war dead have been Russian conscripts and reservists who were recently rushed to the battlefield to reinforce crumbling Russian lines and stem Russian losses.
“Russia will emerge from this war weaker than it went in,” Kahl said in reflection on Putin’s overall war efforts in Ukraine.
In the latest battlefield humiliation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered his forces to retreat in the southern city of Kherson, the first major city and only regional capital that Moscow managed to capture after it invaded in late February. As Ukrainian forces continued to advance toward the city, a full Russian withdrawal would mark a significant victory for Kyiv.
“I don’t know what winning looks like,” Kahl said during his remarks this week. “But I do know that Russia will not have achieved the objectives that Vladimir Putin set out. And that’s pretty much a guarantee.”
Goldman profit hit by weaker trading, rising expenses; shares tumble
Jan 18 (Reuters) – Shares in Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) fell as much as 8% Tuesday after Wall Street’s premier investment bank missed quarterly profit expectations, hampered by weaker trading revenues and rising expenses.
The share decline put Goldman on course for its worst single-day showing since June 2020, shedding about $10 billion off its market valuation since Friday’s close, although it recovered to trade down 6.5% towards the close.
Bank earnings in the fourth quarter have taken a hit from lower trading volumes as the Federal Reserve slowed the pace of its asset purchases after 18 months of pumping liquidity into capital markets to ease the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Fed’s intervention had fueled trading activity as clients bought and sold more stocks and bonds, repositioning their portfolios to match the changing economic environment. But fourth-quarter earnings from large U.S. banks have showed the market backdrop returning to more normal levels. read more
With its capital markets focus, Goldman had been one of the main beneficiaries of market volatility since March 2020, enabling its fixed income and equities traders to enjoy their best period since the 2007-09 financial crisis.
However, revenue from global markets fell 7% in the fourth quarter to nearly $4 billion, owing to declines in both equities and fixed income trading revenues compared with a year ago.
“Goldman Sachs had an impressive record year, but a thud of a quarter,” said Viola Risk Advisers analyst David Hendler.
Since taking over the reins from Lloyd Blankfein in 2018, Goldman’s Chief Executive David Solomon has looked to diversify the bank’s revenue with an aim to focus more on predictable revenue streams like consumer banking, wealth and asset management. The strategy aims to reduce the bank’s reliance on unpredictable capital markets-focused businesses.
However, the bank’s global markets division, which houses its trading businesses, still accounted for more than a third of its revenues last year.
Aside from the trading slowdown, Goldman was also handicapped by a 23% rise in operating expenses, mainly reflecting higher compensation and benefits costs.
Wage inflation has crimped banks’ profits as top Wall Street banks have raised salaries for junior bankers, in particular, over the past year to attract and retain top talent.
Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski expressed surprise that Goldman’s compensation ratio, which measures the proportion of a bank’s revenues set aside to pay staff, had risen during the quarter.
“This is the first time we’ve been covering the stock where the ratio increased 3Q to 4Q,” he said.
Goldman has traditionally been one of the best-paying banks.
“Our philosophy remains to pay for performance, and we are committed to rewarding top talent in a competitive labor environment,” Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman told analysts on a conference call.
For the year as a whole, Goldman’s compensation ratio was 200 basis points lower at 30% than it was the year previously.
Last week, top executives at JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), the country’s largest bank, flagged similarly high fourth quarter expenses and saw its shares fall 6%. read more
TRADING PAIN
Like its rivals, Goldman’s trading slowdown overshadowed a 45% jump in investment banking revenue to $3.8 billion as its top rainmakers raked in record fees from advising on some of the largest mergers and initial public offerings.
The bank’s investment banking pipeline remained strong heading into 2022, Solomon told analysts.
Solomon acknowledged last year was exceptional in terms of client’s trading activity but said he anticipates more market volatility than usual in 2022.
“Activity levels, given we’re in a very, very unusual macro environment, are going to continue to be reasonable as we start into this year,” he told analysts. “You’ve still got a lot of volatility around the pandemic.”
The bank expects to hold on to market share gains made by its trading business even as the market environment returns to normal, executives said.
Goldman’s profit fell to $3.8 billion in the quarter $4.4 billion a year earlier.
Earnings per share fell to $10.81 from $12.08 a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $11.76 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
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Additional reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Matt Scuffham in New York; Writing by Anirban Sen and Matt Scuffham; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Nick Zieminski
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Sinopharm COVID-19 booster weaker against Omicron – study
A logo of Sinopharm is pictured during a government-organised visit to the production line of COVID-19 vaccine by Beijing Institute of Biological Products of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG), in Beijing, China February 26, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
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BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) – A COVID-19 booster shot produced by China’s Sinopharm had “significantly lower” neutralising activity against the Omicron variant, Chinese researchers said in a paper, although they added the vaccine’s efficacy against Omicron remained unclear.
The study – conducted by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Shanghai-based lab specializing in respiratory infectious diseases – compared the activity of Sinopharm’s booster vaccine against an older coronavirus strainfrom Wuhan.
The neutralising antibody activity of a Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV booster against Omicron showed a 20.1-fold reduction, compared with its activity against a Wuhan strain, according to the paper published on Saturday.
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Sinopharm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine and Sinovac Biotech’s (SVA.O) CoronaVac are the two most used vaccines in China and are the leading COVID-19 vaccines exported by the country. Sinopharm also has a second vaccine in use in China.
The study analysed samples from 292 healthcare workers who received a third dose, or booster shot, about eight to nine months after their second dose. After a further four weeks, serum samples from 78.1% participants retained neutralising activity against Omicron, researchers said in a paper that has not been peer reviewed.
However, the study authors cautioned the results were not equal to how well a Sinopharm booster could shield recipients from diseases caused by Omicron, as neutralisation is only part of the human immune response.
The testing against the earlier Wuhan strain showed that about eight to nine months after the second BBIBP-CorV shot, the neutralizing activity “could hardly be detected”, while the booster lifted the response significantly, according to the paper.
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Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; editing by Jane Wardell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Markets jolted as Moderna says COVID shots weaker against Omicron
HONG KONG/SYDNEY, Nov 30 (Reuters) – The chief executive of drugmaker Moderna (MRNA.O) set off fresh alarm bells in financial markets on Tuesday with a warning that existing COVID-19 vaccines would be less effective against the Omicron variant than they have been against the Delta variant.
Major European stock markets fell around 1.5% in early trade, Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed down 1.6%, crude oil futures shed more than 3%, and the Australian dollar hit a one-year low as Stephane Bancel’s comments spurred fears that vaccine resistance may prolong the pandemic.
“There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level . . . we had with Delta,” Bancel told the Financial Times.
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“I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to . . . are like ‘this is not going to be good’,” Bancel said. read more
Balancing that, however, European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke told the European Parliament that even if the new variant becomes more widespread, existing vaccines will continue to provide protection. read more
Moderna did not reply to a Reuters request for comment, or say when it expects to have data on the effectiveness of its vaccine on Omicron, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says carries a very high risk of infection surges.
Bancel had earlier said on broadcaster CNBC that it could take months to begin shipping a vaccine designed for the new variant.
The WHO and scientists have also said it could take weeks to understand whether Omicron is likely to cause severe illness or escape protection against immunity induced by vaccines. read more
Cooke said that lab tests for “cross neutralisation” would take about two weeks. If there were a need to change COVID-19 vaccines, new ones could be approved within three or four months, she added.
“Vaccination will likely still keep you out of the hospital,” said John Wherry, director of the Penn Institute for Immunology in Philadelphia.
Moderna and fellow drugmakers BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are working on vaccines that specifically target Omicron in case existing shots are not effective against it. Moderna has also been testing a higher dose of its existing booster. read more
Uncertainty about the new variant has triggered global alarm, with border closures casting a shadow over a nascent economic recovery from the two-year-old pandemic. read more
News of its emergence wiped roughly $2 trillion off global stocks on Friday, but some calm had returned on Monday.
First detected in southern Africa a week ago, Omicron is known to have spread to over a dozen countries.
Japan, the world’s third largest economy, confirmed its first case on Tuesday, in a traveller from Namibia. Australia found that a person with Omicron had visited a busy shopping centre in Sydney while probably infectious.
BORDER CONTROLS
Countries around the world have tightened border controls in an attempt to prevent a recurrence of last year’s strict lockdowns and steep economic downturns. read more
Britain and the United States have both pushed their booster programmes.
England also made face masks compulsory once again on Tuesday in shops and on public transport. International arrivals will have to self-isolate until they get a negative result in a PCR test for viral DNA.
Australia has delayed the reopening of its international borders by two weeks, less than 36 hours before foreign students and skilled migrants were to be allowed back.
In Germany, a hotspot, the average seven-day infection rate fell slightly for the first time in three weeks as officials considered imposing tougher measures.
In a boost for authorities, the Constitutional Court ruled that earlier lockdown measures had not violated children’s rights to schooling or other protected freedoms.
The global curbs on travellers from southern Africa, where the virus was first identified, have highlighted the inequality of vaccine distribution, which may have given the virus more opportunities to mutate.
“The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa – and they should not be penalised for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. read more
The passenger liner Europa was docking in Cape Town on Tuesday in what was meant to be the official start of the first cruise ship season in South Africa’s top tourist hub since the pandemic.
After Omicron was discovered while they were at sea, many passengers were expected to fly straight home.
India, home to the world’s largest vaccine maker, has approved supplies of COVID-19 vaccines to many African countries and said it stands ready to “expeditiously” send more. China too has pledged 1 billion doses to the continent. read more
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Reporting by Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong, Renju Jose in Sydney, Tom Westbrook in Singapore and Reuters bureaux worldwide; Writing by Himani Sarkar and Kevin Liffey; Editing by Shri Navratnam and Andrew Cawthorne
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.