Morning Brief: Top Financial Stories Dominating on Tuesday, June 7

Reuters

Paramount Sued Over’ Top Gun: Maverick’ For Copyright Infringement

• The heirs of author Ehud Yonay, whose article inspired Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” movie, have sued production company Paramount Global PARA Paramount Pictures over copyright infringement.
• A complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court stated that Paramount did not reacquire rights to Ehud’s 1983 article Top Guns from his family before releasing the sequel.
• The lawsuit was filed by Ehud’s widow Shosh Yonay and son Yuval Yonay, who said Paramount deliberately infringed federal copyright law.

Jane Street Global Sues London Metal Exchange Related For Canceled Nickel Trades

• London Metal Exchange faces its second lawsuit in a week for $15.3 million from U.S.-based Jane Street Global Trading, following the cancellation of nickel trades in March.
• A Jane Street representative stated that canceling nickel trades “at a period of heightened volatility severely undermines the integrity of the markets and sets a dangerous precedent that calls future contracts into question.”

Michigan Expands Investigation Of Voting Systems Breach By Trump’s Supporters

• Supporters of former President Donald Trump tried to gain unauthorized access to voting equipment across Michigan, Reuters reported, citing state police documents.
• The investigation has widened, and the Michigan state police have obtained warrants to seize voting equipment and records in three towns and one county, per Reuters.
• The documents reveal several efforts by state authorities to secure voting machines, poll books, data-storage devices, and phone records as evidence in a probe launched in mid-February.

Citi Aggressively Chases Growth In Asia, Especially China Amid Odds

• In an interview with Reuters, Citigroup, Inc C Asia chief shared plans to appoint 3,000 new employees for its Asia institutional business in the next few years.
• Asia became a battlefield for global banks chasing its vast economies, growing wealth, and relative growth beat most other places.
• Peter Babej saw the accumulated wealth grow significantly in China despite macroeconomic headwinds, growth policy uncertainties, and COVID control measures.

‘Rife With Falsehoods:’ Binance Slams Reuters Report On Money Laundering Allegations

• Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has denied the allegations from a Monday Reuters report stating that $2.4 billion in stolen crypto was laundered through its platform.
• In a blog titled “The Crypto Money Laundering Myth and the Machine Working Overtime to Sell a False Narrative,” Binance called the Reuters report “rife with falsehoods” which relied on massive leaps to conclusions and poor data.
• “We highly suggest you ignore those authors and pundits who cherry-pick data, rely on conveniently unverifiable ‘leaks’ from regulators, and feed into the cult of crypto paranoia for fame or financial gain. Instead, just look at the facts,” stated Binance in the blog.

Wall Street Journal

After Meme Stock Frenzy, SEC About To Change Stock Market’s Rules To Ensure More Transparent Operations

• The SEC looks to propose significant changes to the stock market’s mode of operation by this fall, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• The SEC initiated its review of the market structure after frenzied trading in GameStop Corp GME and other meme stocks in early 2021, triggering scrutiny in handling individual investors’ trades.
• The SEC weighed creating a more rigid version of the so-called best-execution rule, allowing stock exchanges to quote shares in less than $0.01 increments and reducing the maximum fee that exchanges can charge brokers to access their quotes.

J&J Serves Notice To Emergent For Terminating COVID-19 Shot Contract As Two Accuse Each Other Of Breach Of Agreement

• Johnson & Johnson JNJ has made another move towards severing its Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing ties with contract manufacturer Emergent Biosolutions, Inc. EBS.
• J&J has served a formal notice of termination and breach to Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Emergent, the former said in a statement, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The disclosure from the U.S. pharma giant came close on the heels of Emergent’s announcement that it has provided the company a notice of material breach of the agreement by deciding not to purchase the required minimum quantity of the shot as agreed upon. Emergent said J&J owes it about $125 million to $420 million if the agreement were to be terminated.

Bloomberg

Binance Under SEC Probe Over Unregistered Securities Offering: Report

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into whether the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange issued unlicensed securities by way of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2017.
• According to a Monday report from Bloomberg, confidential sources revealed that the SEC was investigating Binance for the issuance of its cryptocurrency token Binance Coin BNB/USD.
• BNB currently has a market cap of $46 billion, making it the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD, excluding stablecoins USDT and USDC.

US Issues Stern Warning To Kim Jong-Un Over Nuclear Threat

• The Biden administration has warned North Korea of stronger action if it continues to conduct nuclear tests.
• What Happened: According to Washington and a United Nations watchdog agency, Pyongyang is preparing to soon set off its first atomic device since 2017, Bloomberg reported.
• U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, in Seoul on Tuesday, in a meeting with her South Korean counterpart, said, “there would be a swift and forceful response to such a test.”

Benzinga

Apple Is Reinventing CarPlay: Here’s How It Will Change Drivers’ Experience

• Apple Inc AAPL revealed on Monday it is making key changes to its CarPlay software that will significantly lift its capabilities, including accessing real-time vehicle-related features such as temperature control, speed, fuel level, and more.
• The tech giant said it is reinventing the CarPlay offering and is in talks with at least 14 automakers, including Ford Motor Co F and Honda Motor Co HMC for the in-car integration.
• The list did not name Tesla Inc TSLA, as it has shown reluctance to adopt Apple technology for its electric vehicles in the past.

Crypto Liquidations Top $218M In A Day As Bitcoin Loses $30K Level Again

• More than 74,000 crypto traders saw liquidations worth $218.4 million over the last 24 hours.
• Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD, and Dogecoin DOGE/USD saw some momentary relief on Sunday evening before recording another sharp decline during the early hours of Monday morning.
• ETH traders were the worst hit, seeing $76.46 million worth of liquidations over the last day, as per data from CoinGlass. The single largest liquidation order took place on crypto exchange OKX where the trader in question lost $2.32 million on an ETH-USDT perpetual swap.

Why Kohl’s Shares Are Surging Today

• Kohl’s Corp KSS Board of Directors has entered into exclusive negotiations with Franchise Group Inc FRG over the potential sale.
• Franchise’s bid of $60 per share constitutes a 42.5% premium to Kohl’s closing price of $42.12 on June 6.
• The discussion will go on for three weeks to allow the parties time to agree on binding documentation and for the Franchise Group to finalize financing arrangements.

Peloton Taps Ex-Amazon Executive Liz Coddington As CFO

• Peloton Interactive Inc PTON has appointed Liz Coddington as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, effective June 13, 2022.
• She succeeds Jill Woodworth, who has decided to step down as Peloton’s Chief Financial Officer after serving the company since 2018.

Pfizer To Boost Production Of Oral COVID-19 Pill With $120M Michigan Investment

• Pfizer, Inc. PFE is upping its commitment to manufacture its oral COVID-19 pill Paxlovid in the United States.
• Pfizer will invest an incremental $120 million at its Kalamazoo, Michigan facility to augment production of Paxlovid, the pharma giant said in a statement late Monday.
• The spending will be used for expanding the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and registered starting materials used for the manufacture of nirmatrelvir, one of the two components of Paxlovid.

Chances Of Elon Musk Completing Twitter Deal Down To This Number, Says Munster

• Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster said on Monday he believes investor confidence in Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk’s bid to take-private Twitter Inc TWTR is diminishing.
• The Tesla-bull and tech analyst lowered his expectation for the $44 billion deal to go through to 50% from a prior 70%.
• “The odds are going down,” Munster said on CNBC’s Fast Money.

Nio Folds To Customer Protests On Selling Mobile EV Chargers

• U.S. listed Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc NIO on Monday walked back on its offer to only rent its mobile charger that can power other electric vehicles after facing backlash over the lack of choice to buy it instead, CnEVpost reported, citing the company.
• Nio on Monday launched a mobile charger for home use that can power other vehicles or appliances, with only a rent option.
• It sparked outrage among Nio owners who felt there should be an option to buy the device.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons