Morning Brief: Top Financial Stories Dominating on Monday, April 25

CNBC

Crypto Exchange Kraken Expands Into UAE

• Major U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken is expanding into the Middle East and will open its regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi after getting a full license to operate a regulated trading platform in the UAE.
• “We’re incredibly excited to be able to set up our operations right in the ADGM [Abu Dhabi Global Market] itself to operate a virtual asset platform that finally offers Dirham pairs for investors in the region,” Curtis Ting, Kraken’s managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.

Reuters

Nissan Shares Fall On Renault’s Probable Stake Sale Report

• Shares of the Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd NSANY slid about 5% on Tokyo Stock Exchange, its biggest fall in one month after reports of Renault SA RNLSY exploring a stake sale, Reuters reported.
• Last week, Bloomberg reported that Renault might consider lowering its Nissan shareholding as part of plans to separate its electric vehicle business.
• Nissan’s French partner is considering all options to detach its electric vehicle business to race up against rivals.

Softbank-Backed Indian EV Maker To Recall 1,441 Electric Bikes

• SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY SFTBF backed Ola Electric looked to recall 1,441 of its electric scooters weeks after one of its vehicles caught fire, prompting a government inquiry.
• Ola looked to a detailed diagnostics and health check of the scooters in that batch acknowledging the recalls as a “pre-emptive measure.”
• India targeted electric scooters and motorbikes to make up 80% of total two-wheeler sales by 2030, compared with about 2% currently.

Amazon Workers Gear Up For Second NYC Union Elections

• Amazon.com Inc AMZN workers will vote on whether to unionize a second warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, Reuters reports.
• Employees at the LDJ5 sortation center explored joining the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) led by current and former warehouse workers.
• Associates at a larger facility, JFK8, recently voted to join the ALU and create Amazon’s first organized workplace in the U.S.

US Refiners Expect Robust Q1 Performance On Fuel Price Surge

• U.S. oil refiners expect first-quarter solid earnings on boosted margins on gasoline and diesel due to a steep dropoff in refining capacity and tightened crude oil supplies because of Russia’s war with Ukraine.
• During the coronavirus pandemic, refining capacity worldwide has dropped, with several less profitable oil refineries closing.
• However, the worldwide fuel demand has rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, boosting profits for facilities that are still operating.

WSJ

Credit Suisse Gets Ready For Another Round Of Management Shakeup

• Credit Suisse Group AG CS is preparing for another management shuffle after a year of crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter said.
• The chief financial officer, general counsel, and Asia’s head could be shifted. According to the people, a search was underway last fall for a new general counsel.

Elon Musk’s Purchase Of Twitter Could Be Finalized This Week

• The sale of Twitter Inc TWTR to Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk could be finalized this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• The two parties met Sunday and continued to hash out specifics of a deal, as per the report. It’s not certain that an agreement will be reached.
• The change in Twitter’s stance took place after Musk met privately with several of the company’s shareholders on Friday, according to the Journal.

Bloomberg

Mizuho Financial Plans To Expand US Capital Markets Business

• Mizuho Financial Group Inc’s MFG new CEO says that the company is doubling down on bets in U.S. capital markets by aiming to expand into more lucrative areas, reported Bloomberg.
• The report quoted Masahiro Kihara, CEO of Japan’s third-largest bank, stating that the company wants to hire bankers to build its businesses with non-investment grade companies and leveraged buyout financing, where returns are expected to be higher. He stated that proper risk management will be undertaken for these initiatives.
• The U.S. is “a super-important market. It’s the second-biggest revenue and profit generator after Japan,” Kihara added. “There is more room for what we can do in America.

Indonesia’s Cooking Oil Export Ban Could Further Raise Costs For Likes of Nestle, Mondelez, Unilever

• Indonesia’s move to ban cooking oil export will resonate worldwide, threatening to drive up costs for Nestle SA NSRGY, Mondelez International MDLZ, and Unilever PLC UL and food inflation.
• The country accounting for a third of global edible oil exports looked to halt cooking oil exports from April 28 after a domestic shortage led to protests over high food costs.
• Indonesia’s domestic oil shortage would tighten the supplies of vegetable oils and exacerbate the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The crisis had already wreaked havoc on the sunflower oil trade, boosting demand for alternatives like palm and soybean oil and sending prices to record highs affecting oil-importing countries like India, Malaysia, and China.

Scaramucci Thinks Crypto Focus Can Help SkyBridge Triple Assets To $10B

• Anthony Scaramucci says he has repositioned SkyBridge Capital to eventually be a leader in cryptocurrency asset management.
• In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Scaramucci said that close to half of SkyBridge’s $3.5 billion assets under management are linked to cryptocurrencies and crypto-related stocks.
• These include Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD, Algorand ALGO/USD, and crypto-mining stocks like Marathon Digital Holdings MARA and Riot Blockchain RIOT.

Financial Times

Corporates and Investors Go In Opposite Directions Over SEC Proposal On Shareholder Reporting

• Corporates and their most prominent investors are at odds over new regulations meant to “modernize” how shareholders report their holdings.
• In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules to increase transparency in stock markets by shortening the 10-day window to 5 days for investors to reveal when they have built a stake of over 5% in a company.
• The rules would also clarify the definition of an investor “group.” Currently, the regulatory framework does not require proof of an agreement between two or more persons as a prerequisite to establishing the existence of a group.

Benzinga

Why Apple May Skip Issuing Guidance On Q2 Earnings Call — And Not Talk About China Risks

• Apple Inc APPL is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings Thursday after the close.
• To Be Thin On Details? If there is no significant improvement in the resumption of production in China before the earnings call, Cupertino may not release third-quarter guidance, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a tweet.
• Neither will the company explain how to diversify the risk of concentration of production in China, the TFI Securities analyst said. He is of the view the company cannot adequately explain it, given the limited time on the earnings call.

‘The Fly Can Hurt A Larger Animal:’ Axie Infinity Founder Slams Facebook Parent Over 50% Metaverse Tax

• Axie Infinity (AXS) co-founder Jeff Zirlin, also known as “The Jiho,” is picking up a battle with Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc FB.
• Zirlin decried the “50% tax” on digital goods transactions imposed by the Mark Zuckerberg-led social-media goliath on Sunday.
• Zirlin said he would keep tweeting about Meta “until they fight back. I’m punching up and ignoring the buzzing gnats.”

Elon Musk Causes Frenzy With ‘Moving On...’ Tweet — Offers Clarification Hours Later

• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk declared that he is now moving on from making fun of Bill Gates after tweeting memes at the latter’ expense over the weekend.
• “Moving on…” said Musk in a post on Twitter sparking speculations among his fanbase on what he meant and whether he was referring to his bid to purchase Twitter Inc TWTR.
• The Tesla CEO clarified nearly three hours later that he was referring to “making fun of Gates for shorting Tesla while claiming to support climate change action.”

Apple Supplier Foxconn Halts Operations At 2 Chinese Plants On Rising COVID-19 Cases

• Apple Inc’s AAPL premier supplier Foxconn Technology halted operations at two of its factories in Kunshan, located in China’s Jiangsu province, after a recent surge in COVID-19 cases was reported on-site, according to SCMP.
• The report about the halt comes as the world’s second-largest economy continues to battle spiking COVID-19 cases despite stringent restrictions in Beijing and Shanghai.
• The two Foxconn plants, located in Kunshan’s Dianfa and Fuhong, are among its four manufacturing units operating in the city.

‘It’s Only Going To Get Worse:’ Apple Privacy Changes Taking Toll On Netflix, Says Palihapitiya

• Netflix Inc NFLX is grappling with the impact of Apple Inc’s AAPL “broad sweeping” privacy changes, according to Social Capital owner and “SPAC King” Chamath Palihapitiya.
• Palihapitiya made his comments about the streaming giant on the “All-In” podcast, hosted by popular angel investor Jason Calacanis.
• The venture capitalist said the impact of Apple’s privacy changes was first seen in the earnings of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc FB.

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