Business

President-elect Donald Trump 's picks for top regulators may not lead to a total free-for-all of corporate dealmaking, but they should be more than enough to unleash the pent-up demand for mergers and acquisitions, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Ryan Kenny said in a note to clients that the second Trump administration — including the choices of Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission and Gail Slater to head the Department of Justice's antitrust arm — will be a welcome change for Wall Street investment bankers and CEOs after an aggressive approach to antitrust under the Biden administration. "New Trump appointments at FTC and DOJ likely come with a more traditional, lighter touch antitrust framework. This should drive up animal spirits and improve corporate clarity in an ...

GM's decision to integrate Cruise into its operations and pivot away from the development of robotaxis could have significant implications for the company and competitors and collaborators like Lyft, Uber, Waymo (Alphabet), and Tesla. I'll discuss it and lay out how to trade it with options. GM's move appears to prioritize scalable, near-term technologies over speculative long-term projects like robotaxis. A few years ago, when Meta focused massive resources toward building virtual reality at Mark Zuckerberg's direction, equity investors revolted. The stock fell sharply, and despite Zuckerberg's voting control of the company, the punishment of the stock's significant declines eventually contributed to a course correction by management, which reduced their investment in speculative endeavor...

Investors are betting that shares of the fintech company Block Inc. will rally further in the new year. Analysts at three separate Wall Street firms recently named Block, a provider of financial services through technology platforms, as one of their top ideas heading into 2025. Block is the parent company of the Square point-of-sale system for businesses, Cash App for peer-to-peer payments by consumers and the buy now, pay later company Afterpay. Shares of Block have surged almost 27% in 2024 through Wednesday, lagging behind the 27.6% gain the S & P 500. But that's not deterring the Street. Bernstein, for example, which has the lowest price target of the three firms that recently touted Square, still sees Block rising to $120 next year, almost 22% above Wednesday's close. Analyst Hars...

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is launched on its sixth test at the company's Boca Chica launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024.Joe Skipper | ReutersThe valuation of Elon Musk's SpaceX hit $350 billion based on a secondary share sale, CNBC confirmed Wednesday.SpaceX, as well as investors, agreed to buy stock from insiders in a $1.25 billion purchase offer at $185 a share, according to copies of the offer obtained by CNBC. The round does not include raising new capital, as the purchase offer represents a secondary sale of existing shares.Notably, SpaceX is buying as much as $500 million in common stock as part of the offer, in a rare share buyback that demonstrates the strength of the privately held company's financial position....

Nike football shoes are seen in a store in Krakow, Poland, on Aug. 29, 2024.Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesNike has renewed its partnership with the National Football League for another 10 years after the league briefly opened the bidding process to competitors and held talks with other companies. Under the terms of the deal, Nike will continue to be the exclusive provider of uniforms and sideline, practice and base layer apparel for all 32 NFL teams through 2038. Nike has been the NFL's exclusive apparel provider since 2012. "This partnership renewal is a testament to the strength and success of our collaboration with the NFL," Nike's newly appointed CEO Elliott Hill said in a news release. "As we embark on this new chapter, we're committed to co-creating cutting-edge solutions t...

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024.Brandon Bell | Via ReutersTesla shares jumped to an all-time high on Wednesday, surpassing their prior record reached in 2021, sparked by a post-election rally and Wall Street's increased enthusiasm for Elon Musk's electric vehicle company.The stock rose to a closing high of $424.77, which is about $15 above its previous peak of $409.97 on Nov. 4, 2021.Tesla's market value has swelled by about 71% this year, with almost all of those gains coming since Donald Trump's election victory early last month. The stock's 38% rally in November marked its best monthly performance since January 2023 and its 10th best on record.Musk poured $277 ...

Investors looking for the next big technology trend may want to keep an eye on quantum computing stocks. The group skyrocketed Tuesday after Google announced Willow , a chip it said "can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits" and performed better than its 2019 predecessor. A qubit, or quantum bit, is a unit used to encode data in such computers. GOOGL 5D mountain Alphabet pops for a second day after Willow launch As parent company Alphabet touted the news as a big win for quantum computing, shares of the search giant rose 4% Wednesday, building on a nearly 6% gain in the previous session. The breakthrough from Google lifted other quantum computing stocks , including little-known contender Rigetti Computing . Shares surged to new highs during Wednesday's session after...

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Broadcom — Shares added 7% following a report from The Information that the semiconductor manufacturer was assisting Apple in creating an artificial intelligence chip. Shares of Apple traded less than 1% higher. C3.ai — The enterprise artificial intelligence software company shed 9% following a downgrade to underweight from neutral at JPMorgan. Analyst Pinjalim Bora cited a stretched valuation as the catalyst behind the change, adding that he now expects the stock to underperform in 2025. Macy's — Shares shed less than 1% after the department store chain cut its fiscal-year forecast . Macy's now expects adjusted earnings per share between $2.25 and $2.50, compared to its previous outlook of between $2.34 and $2.69. GE Vernova — Sh...

A man holds an American flag depicting president-elect Donald Trump at Parliament Square in London.Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesAs U.K. and EU leaders seek to reset relations ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, public sentiment also appears to be shifting in favor of closer ties across the continent, according to a new survey.The majority of Britons (55%) think the U.K. should realign with the EU under a second Trump term, and prioritize stronger relations with Brussels over the U.S. (17%), research from the European Council on Foreign Relations showed Thursday. There was also reluctance for Britain to follow Trump's lead on major foreign policy issues such as China and Ukraine.On the continent, the feeling is mutual, with pluralities of ...

People walk inside the Korea Exchange (KRX) building, as stock markets in Asia as a whole have been affected by the intensifying political turmoil over president Yoon Suk Yeol's role in martial law, in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 9, 2024.Daniel Ceng | Anadolu | Getty ImagesSouth Korean markets have had a dismal 2024, with the so-called "Korea discount" in its stock markets widening compared to other global peers. The recent political upheaval is expected to entrench this phenomenon.The country's benchmark stock index, Kospi, has lost over 7% this year and the underperformance of the South Korean market signals its "Corporate Value-Up" program, announced in February this year, has failed to address the "Korea discount."The "Korea discount" refers to South Korean securities trading at lower ...