Benzinga Before The Bell: Executive Shakeup At Amazon, Boeing Supply Chain Warning, Apple's Tim Cook Says 'Stay Tuned' On AR/MR And Other Top Financial Stories Wednesday, June 22

CNBC

Moderna To establish New Vaccine Facility In Britain

• Moderna Inc MRNA announced an agreement with the United Kingdom government to establish an mRNA Innovation and Technology Center in the U.K.
• Additionally, Moderna plans to expand its presence in the U.K. through investments in R&D activities.
• Moderna is collaborating with the National Institute for Health Research on a Phase 3 study investigating Moderna’s bivalent Omicron-containing booster candidate (mRNA-1273.214) in the U.K.

Amazon Lost 2 Key Black Executives This Week: What You Need To Know

• Amazon.com, Inc AMZN has reportedly lost two key Black executives, including one on its core team.
• Alicia Boler-Davis, senior vice president of global customer fulfillment, and David Bozeman, vice president of Amazon Transportation Services, are leaving the retail giant, reported CNBC.
• Boler-Davis and Bozeman have decided to explore opportunities outside Amazon, according to an email from Amazon’s operations division head John Felton, seen by CNBC.

Reuters

Meta, Microsoft, Alibaba, Others Form Metaverse Governing Body; Apple’s Name Missing

• Meta Platforms Inc META, Microsoft Corp MSFT, Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA, and other tech giants striving to build the emerging metaverse concept have formed a group to foster the development of industry standards.
• Apple Inc AAPL strangely missed the members’ list.
• Interestingly, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently confirmed the iPhone maker’s foray into the domain.

Bombardier’s Workers On Key Program Vote On Contract Offer Today

• Bombardier Inc BDRBF BDRBD workers on a key program for the Canadian business jet maker will be deciding today whether to accept a new contract offer or walk off the job, reported Reuters.
• According to the letter seen by Reuters, Bombardier had offered its workers on a key jet program a new and final contract that would provide wage raises of up to 18.5 percent over five years.
• Rejection of the above deal would lead to a general strike by the 1,800 workers.

Boeing Says Supply Chain Issues To Persist Through Majority Of 2023

• Boeing Co BA expects supply chain problems to persist almost until the end of 2023, led by labor shortages at mid-tier and smaller suppliers, partly due to the faster-than-expected return of demand, reported Reuters, citing BA’s chief executive on Wednesday.
• “The shift from demand to now supply issues ... is remarkable, the speed with which it happened,” Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun said at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.
• “It’s been a real issue for both manufacturers and will probably stay that way in my view almost to the end of next year,” Calhoun added.

Wall Street Journal

How About Reducing Nicotine Levels In Tobacco Products? Biden Administration Working On Cap Plan

• The Biden administration signaled that it would develop a proposed rule to establish a maximum nicotine level to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products. The goal of the potential rule would be to reduce youth use, addiction, and death.
• “Nicotine is powerfully addictive,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in the statement.
• “Lowering nicotine levels to minimally addictive or non-addictive levels would decrease the likelihood that future generations of young people become addicted to cigarettes and help more currently addicted smokers quit,” he added.

Bloomberg

Crypto.com Receives Singapore Token Permits Approval Along With Two Other Firms

• Singapore will be issuing in-principle approvals for Crypto.com, Genesis, and Sparrow Tech to provide digital payment token services in the city-state, even as it maintains a strict cryptocurrency licensing regime.
• According to a statement published by Crypto.com on Wednesday, it has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its Major Payment Institution License.
• Once granted, this license will enable Crypto.com to offer a range of payment services within the Payment Services Act, including Digital Payment Token (DPT) services to customers in Singapore.

Financial times

Union Rejects Rolls Royce’s Inflation Bonus: All You Need To Know

• A union representing Rolls Royce Holdings plc RYCEY workers in the UK rejected the company’s offer of a £2,000 one-off payment to beat the inflation.
• The offer also included a 4% pay hike.
• The union known as Unite argued that the offer “falls far short of the real cost of living challenges which our members are experiencing.”

Athleisure Retailer JD Sports Undergoes Corporate Governance Rejig As Planned

• JD Sports Fashion PLC JDSPY appointed Helen Ashton as the interim Non-Executive Chair and Kath Smith, senior independent director, as interim CEO as Peter Cowgill departed on May 25.
• JD previously disclosed corporate governance rejig involving the split the role of CEO and Chair and conducting a search for CEO and Chair.
• Alongside its much-delayed full-year results, JD justified multiple regulatory issues behind the higher board-level experience and greater internal scrutiny and control.

New York Post

Joe Biden Calls Chevron CEO’ Sensitive,’ Invites Target Chief’s Ire Amid Gas Price Debate

• Joe Biden’s spat with American corporate executives intensified this week as he traded barbs with the CEO of Chevron Corp CVX, while Target Corp’s TGT chief executive slammed the U.S. President’s idea of a gas tax holiday.
• Biden reportedly called Chevron CEO Michael Wirth “mildly sensitive” on Tuesday, after the latter’s rebuttal to the President criticizing energy firms for high gas prices.
• “I didn’t know they’d get their feelings hurt that quickly,” The New York Post reported on Tuesday.

Benzinga

Bitcoin Hodlers Are Selling Amid Bear Market — But Adoption Keeps Growing

• Bitcoin’s BTC/USD short-term market performance has seen better times. However, on-chain data analysis revealed that even though the seven-day average of Bitcoin addresses in profit recently reached a two-year low of nearly 55.7%, it still implies most are still profiting.
• On-chain data shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least 0.01 BTC (equivalent to nearly $210 as of press time) just reached a new record high. According to data shared in a Tuesday tweet by an account of Glassnode dedicated to sharing findings of the blockchain data firm, there are current.

Meta Facing AR/VR Slowdown: Analyst Updates Expectations On Quest 2 Pro Headset Launch

• Meta Platforms, Inc. META, which changed its name and ticker to reflect its pivot toward the metaverse, is not seeing much traction on that front, according to tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
• The TFI International Securities analyst said Meta’s metaverse hardware/headset business has slowed. He noted that the social media platform had cut its shipment forecast for the category by 40% to 7 million-8 million for 2022.
• All new headset/Augmented Reality/Mixed Reality hardware projects have also been put on hold until 2024, he added.

Toyota Cuts July Production Citing Parts Shortage

• Toyota Motor Corp TM has cut its July global production plan by 50,000 vehicles due to the parts shortage resulting from the spread of COVID-19.
• The company expects the global production volume for July to be approximately 800,000 units (250,000 units in Japan and 550,000 units overseas).
• The auto major has decided to extend the previously announced operations halt in production lines as the COVID-19 outbreak at one of its suppliers raised concern.

Despite 8% Increase in Energy Investments, Rising Oil Prices Difficult To Tackle: IEA Report

• According to the International Energy Agency report, the global energy investment is expected to swell to $2.4 trillion, up 8%, with the anticipated rise coming mainly in clean energy.
• Encouraging, but the investment is still far from enough to tackle the current energy crisis, the report added.
• “A massive surge in investment to accelerate clean energy transitions is the only lasting solution. This kind of investment is rising, but we need a much faster increase to ease consumer pressure from high fossil fuel prices, secure our energy systems, and get the world on track to reach our climate goals,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

British Retailer Frasers Boosts Investment In Hugo Boss

• British retail and intellectual property group Frasers Group PLC SDIPF has increased its investment in Hugo Boss AG BOSSY, the German luxury fashion brand, to €900 million.
• Frasers noted the increased position reflects its belief in the Hugo Boss brand, strategy, and management team.

Tim Cook Opens Up At Last About Apple’s AR/MR Project: ‘Stay Tuned To See What We Have to Offer’

• Apple Inc AAPL remained tight-lipped about rumors of its augmented reality/mixed reality (AR/MR) project at its developers’ conference earlier this month. But now, CEO Tim Cook has apparently confirmed the iPhone maker’s foray into the segment.
• In an interview with China Daily last week, Cook said he was incredibly excited about AR, in response to a question about the key factors it needs to succeed with customers.
• “The critical thing to any technology, including AR, is putting humanity at the center of it. And that is what we focus on every day,” Cook said.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Surges 17%: Musk’s Dogecoin Spillover, Lead Developer Buzz And More Factors

• Shiba Inu (SHIB) shot up 17.3% over 24 hours to $0.0000096 at press time in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
• It gained alongside well-known meme coins, including bellwether Dogecoin DOGE/USD, which was up 6.1%. The global cryptocurrency market cap declined 0.9%.

Elon Musk Reacts To Prediction Of Volkswagen Overtaking Tesla By 2024

• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday dismissed a recent Bloomberg Intelligence forecast that estimates Germany’s Volkswagen Group VWAGY could become the top electric vehicle maker by 2024.
• The billionaire entrepreneur, who heads the world’s largest electric vehicle company, said he does not agree with the forecast.
• “I believe that forecast was from you,” Musk said in response to a question on competition in the EV space.

Cathie Wood Sheds Nearly All Walt Disney Exposure With $7M Sale

• Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest Management on Tuesday shed most of its exposure in Walt Disney Co DIS amid reports of a likely shareholder battle over CEO Bob Chapek’s salary.
• The popular money managing firm sold 76,387 shares, estimated to be worth $7.12 million, in the entertainment giant that owns Disney parks and resorts and other properties.
• Disney shares closed 1.1% lower at $93.3 on Tuesday and are down 40.5% year-to-date.

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