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Kamis, 02 Mei 2019

Beyond Meat surges 135% in its market debut - CNBC

Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown speaks before ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq MarketSite, May 2, 2019 in New York City.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Beyond Meat shares surged 135% in their market debut, giving the maker of plant-based meat substitutes a market value of $3.52 billion.

The company's opening trade of $46.00 was later than expected, hitting after noon Thursday. Then, after shares soared 125%, trading was paused due to volatility. When trading resumed, the stock rocketed even higher. The company is trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol "BYND."

On Wednesday night, Beyond priced its initial public offering at $25 per share, for an implied market value of $1.46 billion. Its IPO price is on the high end of its expected range of $23 and $25 per share. The El Segunda, California-based company first set the range between $19 to $21 a share.

As more Americans embrace a flexitarian diet, cutting down their meat consumption for health and environmental reasons, plant-based meat substitutes are growing in popularity. Beyond's meat alternatives, which range from fake ground beef to burger patties, are designed to more closely mimic the texture and taste of traditional meat. The gluten- and soy-free products use proteins from peas and faba beans and can be found at grocery stores, as well as restaurants like TGI Fridays, Del Taco and White Castle.

In 2018, Beyond reported revenue of $87.9 million, up 170% from the previous year's net sales of $32.6 million. The company plans to use the proceeds from going public to invest in manufacturing facilities, research and development, and sales and marketing.

Meanwhile, Big Food has taken notice of the trend. In the fall, Nestle will start selling its own plant-based burger to American consumers, branding it the Awesome Burger. Tyson Foods sold its minority stake in Beyond because it wants to sell its own plant-based proteins, according to Axios.

Beyond is the latest company to make its debut on the stock market this year. While some, like Levi Strauss & Co. and Zoom, have thrived since their IPOs, others — such as ride-share giant Lyft — have seen their stock tumble.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/02/beyond-meat-ipo.html

2019-05-02 16:34:07Z
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Mortgage rates tumble as one economist waves the white flag - MarketWatch

Rates for home loans slumped, another reminder of the “lower for longer” conditions that have dogged financial markets since the 2008 financial crisis.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.14% in the May 2 week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. That was down 6 basis points during the week. It snapped a four-week streak of increases for the popular product, the first time it had sustained such a long stretch of gains since last September.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.60%, down from 3.64%. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.68%, down 9 basis points.

Those rates don’t include fees associated with obtaining mortgage loans.

Fixed-rate mortgages follow the trajectory of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, +1.26% . The yield on it and other bonds swooned earlier in the year after the Federal Reserve surprised investors by saying that the case for interest-rate increases had “weakened” because of soft inflation, slower growth, and policy uncertainty.

Then government bonds slid again in March, as fears about slow global growth pushed investors into safe havens. Bond yields fall as price rise.

Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Sam Khater, was a willing participant in MarketWatch’s year-ahead predictions for mortgage rates published last December. Like many analysts, Khater fully expected that 2019 would be the year that financial markets finally returned to “normal,” after years of post-crisis clean-up and unusual one-time events, like political turmoil in 2016 and tax-law changes in 2017.

But earlier this week, Khater threw in the towel and slashed his rate forecast. He now expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to average 4.30% throughout the year, down from his earlier forecast of 5.1% – and also down from the 4.54% averaged during 2018.

In an interview, Khater told MarketWatch that his low-rate view is hard to square with a nagging sense that we’re not at the end of the current economic expansion, as many pundits have believed for some time, but in fact closer to the middle, with room to run.

Between a strong consumer sector, healthy corporate balance sheets, market indicators like the yield curve mostly pointing in the right direction, and supportive policy, “when you wrap it all together it looks good,” Khater said.

See: As mortgage rates hold near 14-month lows, what’s a yield curve anyway?

“This been the most unloved economic expansion and bull market,” Khater added. “Because of all the negative headlines, it sometimes clouds our ability to look at the data. I think the ghosts of the Great Recession are lingering in our minds. We’re overly cautious and we keep looking for what’s going to wreck this thing.”

Despite all that, the official Freddie forecast is for no Fed rate changes, up or down, in 2019 or in 2020, which is the furthest out Khater and his team have forecast.

The Fed on Wednesday held interest rates steady and gave no indication it was in a hurry to move rates in either direction.

Read: Fed holds interest rates steady as economy grows at ‘solid rate’ and inflation stays low

(Economists at Freddie’s sister company, Fannie Mae, have forecast one rate increase in 2019, but haven’t looked ahead to 2020 yet.)

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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mortgage-rates-tumble-as-one-economist-waves-the-white-flag-2019-05-02

2019-05-02 14:08:00Z
CAIiEKmYE_QaJ9wO3UqYgGvT-FgqGAgEKg8IACoHCAowjujJATDXzBUw2JS0AQ

Tesla Raises ~$2 Billion - CleanTechnica

Clean Power

Published on May 2nd, 2019 | by Zachary Shahan

May 2nd, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

Doing what Ross Gerber (and others) expected, Tesla has announced it is raising approximately $2 billion to boost its balance sheet. Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemed to hint recently that the company would do that. Some of our authors may comment on this topic further in the coming hours and days, but in the interest of covering the news in a timely manner, below is Tesla’s press release on this topic.

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Tesla, Inc. today announced offerings of $650 million of common stock and $1,350 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due in 2024 in concurrent underwritten registered public offerings. In addition, Tesla has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of each offering. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, will participate by purchasing $10 million of common stock.

The aggregate gross proceeds of the offerings, assuming full exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional securities, would be approximately $2.3 billion before discounts and expenses. Tesla intends to use the net proceeds from the offerings to further strengthen its balance sheet, as well as for general corporate purposes.

The notes in this offering will be convertible into cash and/or shares of Tesla’s common stock at Tesla’s election. The interest rate, conversion price and other terms of the notes are to be determined. With respect to the notes, Tesla intends to enter into convertible note hedge transactions and warrant transactions to limit dilution of its common stock. In connection with establishing their initial hedge of the convertible note hedge and warrant transactions, the hedge counterparties or their affiliates expect to enter into various derivative transactions with respect to Tesla’s common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the notes, including with certain investors in the notes.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Citigroup are acting as lead joint book-running managers for the offering, with BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse acting as additional book-running managers, and Societe Generale and Wells Fargo Securities acting as co-managers.

An effective registration statement relating to the securities was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 2, 2019. The offering of these securities will be made only by means of prospectus supplements and the accompanying prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplements and the accompanying prospectus may be obtained from (i) Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316 or email: prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com or (ii) Citigroup Global Markets Inc. c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 800-831-9146.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The securities being offered have not been approved or disapproved by any regulatory authority, nor has any such authority passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the registration statement, the prospectus contained therein or the prospectus supplements.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding the proposed public offerings of common stock and notes, the convertible note hedge and warrant transactions, and Tesla’s intended use for the proceeds of the offerings, are “forward-looking statements” that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, and as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, actual events or results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the registration statement on Form S-3 on file with the SEC and the prospectus and prospectus supplements included or incorporated by reference therein, as well as the other documents Tesla files on a consolidated basis from time to time with the SEC, specifically Tesla’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. These documents contain and identify important factors that could cause the actual results for Tesla on a consolidated basis to differ materially from those contained in Tesla’s forward-looking statements. Tesla disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements.

Tags: BofA Merrill Lynch, citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale, Tesla, Tesla financials, Tesla stock, Wells Fargo Securities

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species). He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and Solar Love. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada. Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.

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May 02, 2019 at 08:18PM

Bombardier to sell Belfast, Morocco factories in bid to consolidate aerospace business - The Globe and Mail

Bombardier Inc. said it will sell its aircraft component manufacturing factories in Morocco and Northern Ireland as the Canadian plane-and-train maker pushes ahead with a bumpy turnaround effort now in its fourth year.

Bombardier will seek buyers for the businesses as it moves to consolidate its broader aerospace activities under one group called Bombardier Aviation, the Montreal-based company said Thursday in a news release detailing first quarter earnings. That means all of its current aerospace businesses, including the units that build luxury jets and regional jets as well the remaining component manufacturing operations in Montreal, Mexico and Texas, will fall under one umbrella led by current luxury jet head David Coleal.

“[This] is the right next step in our transformation,” Bombardier Chief Executive Alain Bellemare said in a statement. “The consolidation will simplify and better focus our organization on our leading brands, Global, Challenger, Learjet and the CRJ. It will also allow us to better support our customers and generate value for shareholders.”

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The move highlights Mr. Bellemare’s effort to reduce costs and position Bombardier for the future by selling parts of the business he sees as having the least growth potential. The component manufacturing unit is a profitable business for Bombardier but continued uncertainty surrounding the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has possibly weighed in his thinking.

The Northern Ireland plant is located in Belfast and employs about 3,600 people. The plant in 2017 won a contract to build new thrust reversers for engine nacelles for Airbus’s A320 airliner.

The decision to sell the Belfast factory stunned the city.

“Today’s announcement will come as a shock to the entire Bombardier workforce in Northern Ireland,” the Unite Trade Union said in a statement. “The U.K. government must stand ready to ensure the retention of jobs and skills at these sites. Bombardier is simply too important to the Northern Ireland economy to allow anything less.”

The development comes as Bombardier prepares to meet investors at its annual meeting in Montreal Thursday morning. Shareholders have in recent days expressed concern that Mr. Bellemare can keep his five-year plan to fix the company on track given trouble with deliveries on big rail contracts.

Several institutional investors have also come out in favour of a proposal to end the company’s dual class share structure, which has been in place for 40 years. The company has said it has no intention to drop the system.

Bombardier shares fell sharply last week after the plane maker issued a surprise profit warning, slashing both first-quarter and full-year financial targets because of the rail trouble. It remains unclear whether the company is sticking with its previous goal to build a multinational that will generate US$750-million in free cash flow and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$2.25-billion on revenue of US$20-billion by 2020.

The train business is key to Mr. Bellemare’s turnaround effort, making up most of current revenue. The company was nearly driven into bankruptcy under the weight of heavy investment costs for new plane development programs including the C Series airliner. That plane program has since been sold to Airbus.

Bombardier reported first quarter earnings that are largely in line with preliminary results announced last week.

Adjusted core earnings climbed by US$1-million to US$266-million in the three months ending March 31, while revenue fell 13 per cent to US$3.5-billion. Free cash flow usage was $1-billion for the quarter.

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May 02, 2019 at 06:37PM

This is what cigarette packages will have to look like in Canada soon - Daily Hive

The government is always finding new and fun ways to make cigarette smoking less appealing to Canadians.

Since including pictures of people dying of cancer, children with respiratory diseases, and that generally awful picture of a tongue on packs of smokes isn’t enough, Health Canada has released updated regulations for tobacco packaging yet again.

#Tobacco packages are powerful promotional vehicles. Reducing the appeal of tobacco products is an important initiative under Canada’s Tobacco Strategy. Learn more: https://t.co/R0vrnDLKxD pic.twitter.com/7diImilSif

— GovCanHealth (@GovCanHealth) May 1, 2019

The warning labels will stay the same, however, the rest of the package will be required to meet the agency’s new plain packaging regulations — and when the Canadian government says plain, they know what they’re talking about.

“We have fulfilled our commitment to implement plain packaging requirements for tobacco products,” said Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor. “The evidence is overwhelming that plain packaging is an effective way to drive down tobacco use, especially among young people. Reducing the rate of smoking among Canadians is a top priority for us.”

The new regulations are part of Canada’s Tobacco Strategy. Health Canada estimates that over 4 million Canadians (17%) use tobacco and a majority of smokers picked up the habit during adolescence or young adulthood — the best time to make decisions. The government’s strategy aims to lower tobacco use to 5% of the population by 2035.

“Canada is demonstrating global leadership by adopting the best tobacco plain packaging requirements in the world,” said Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, in the release. “We strongly support these regulations. Tobacco plain packaging will protect youth, reduce tobacco use, and save lives.”

Plain package legislation has been introduced into 11 other countries, according to the press release.

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May 02, 2019 at 06:23AM

US launches plan to choke off Iran's energy exports, casting uncertainty over oil prices - CNBC

A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf.

Raheb Homavandi | Reuters

The United States sharply tightened energy sanctions against Iran on Thursday, seeking to cut the Islamic Republic's exports to zero and ushering in a new era of uncertainty for the oil market.

President Donald Trump restored Obama-era sanctions against Iran last year but granted waivers to eight nations, allowing them to import limited quantities of Iranian crude. Last week, his administration surprised the market by announcing it would not extend the waivers.

Investors and analysts expected Trump to tighten the waivers every six months, allowing China, India, Turkey and other importers to gradually wind down purchases of Iranian crude.

The sudden move to cut off Iran's exports threatens to wipe out much of the shipments, which have recently totaled more than 1 million barrels per day, or roughly 1% of global consumption. To fill that gap and prevent fuel costs from spiking, Trump has turned to his allies in Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

Iran's oil buyers, source: S&P Global Platts

But the Saudis have not made firm commitments and continue to consider extending a six-month deal to limit output with OPEC and other producers. That is raising concerns about a period of tighter supply and higher oil prices.

"President Trump's decision to zero out waivers for importers of Iranian oil on May 2 represents an audacious act of oil brinkmanship as the strategy of keeping prices contained now rests almost exclusively on Saudi Arabia's willingness to open the taps amid accelerating global supply outages," Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said in a recent research note.

Oil prices initially jumped to six-month highs after Trump revoked the waivers, with international benchmark Brent crude hitting $75.60 and U.S. crude rising to $66.60. Prices were trading around $71 and $62, respectively, on Thursday.

Tight oil market creates risk

Analysts say the tighter sanctions alone will not cause a supply shock, but they make the oil market more vulnerable to a shortage that sends fuel costs higher.

That is in part because oversupply in the oil market is draining, and supply and demand are coming into balance. Some analysts even think the market is slightly undersupplied.

At the same time, supply disruptions and threats of further outages are widespread.

U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA have accelerated a plunge in the country's oil output. In Libya, renewed conflict between rival leaders has put the OPEC nation's oil supplies at risk. Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, has also suffered one of its periodic outages.

In Europe, contaminated oil sent by pipeline from Russia has disrupted supplies to refineries in several nations.

Meanwhile, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, are still trying to keep 1.2 million bpd off the market.

The Saudi factor

Trump is putting pressure on the Saudis and OPEC to reverse course, but many analysts are skeptical the so-called OPEC+ alliance will comply.

The group hiked output ahead of U.S. sanctions on Iran in November, only to be surprised when Trump granted the import waivers. The flood of OPEC oil and weaker-than-anticipated sanctions contributed to a collapse in Brent from $86 to $50 a barrel and prompted producers to agree in December to cut output.

Saudi Arabia needs oil prices around $80 a barrel to balance its budget. The country's influential oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, has hedged his statements since Trump's announcement on sanctions waivers, stressing that the kingdom will respond to shortages.

That signals the Saudis are wary of another pre-emptive supply hike, says Bill Farren-Price, a geopolitical risk analyst at RS Energy Group.

"Saudi Arabia feels that the cuts deal of December was hard fought and quite an achievement and they don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and lose those price gains in the pursuit of policy that frankly could work badly against them, as it did last year," he said.

Still, the country is pumping about 500,000 bpd below its quota under the OPEC deal, so the Saudis could raise production and still keep the OPEC+ deal in place. The group meets June 25-26 to discuss extending the agreement.

Sanctions beaters

Also offsetting the oil price impact, few analysts expect Iran's exports to actually fall to zero.

Some of Iran's oil will probably be smuggled through neighboring Iraq or sold in non-dollar-denominated transactions to skirt U.S. sanctions, says Tamar Essner, director of energy and utilities at Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. She estimates 800,000-900,000 bpd of Iran's 1.3 million bpd in exports could come off the market.

But the biggest challenge will be securing buy-in from China, Iran's biggest customer, says RBC's Croft. Beijing fiercely opposes the U.S. sanctions.

She believes Chinese refiners will cut purchases by a couple thousand barrels per day, but will keep importing some Iranian crude. Turkey is also a wildcard, and could maintain about half of its current purchases, she says.

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May 02, 2019 at 07:15PM

Powell Stands Pat As Patience Guides The Fed - Kitco News

The May FOMC meeting has concluded today and as anticipated the Federal Reserve has left interest rates alone. According to the statement released immediately following the conclusion of today’s meeting the Fed “will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate.” In a unanimous vote of 10 – 0 voting Federal Reserve members decided to leave the target range for benchmark federal funds rates at 2.25% - 2.5%.

“Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 percent. The Committee continues to view sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near the Committee’s symmetric 2 percent objective as the most likely outcomes. In light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures, the Committee will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate to support these outcomes.”

The initial reaction in the financial markets ran in tandem with recent strong economic data, with U.S. equities and gold prices moving higher. Noteworthy data included a robust 3.2% annualized pace of GDP from January to March. However, both U.S. equities and gold pricing would take 180° turn as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell began his press conference. Within the first five minutes of Powell’s press conference U.S. equities and gold both began to selloff dramatically and the U.S. dollar firmed.

Within five minutes after the release of today’s statement gold futures traded from a low of $1283 to a high of $1289.40. Over the next 25 minutes the time between the release of the statement and Chairman Powell’s press conference gold prices remained steady trading in a narrow and defined range of $1286-$1289.40, the high of the day.

At 2:30 PM Eastern standard time as Powell began to speak gold would drop from $1288.02 to $1274.50 in the span of 15 minutes. Market participants reacted quickly to statements made by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as he said U.S. inflation is possibly being dragged down by “transitory” forces and there is no bias to either tighten or ease monetary policy.

The entire precious metals complex closed lower on the day with gold sustaining the least percentage drawdown. Gold futures lost .63%, and closed just off of its daily low at $1277.70, an $8.00 decline. Palladium experienced the greatest percentage drawdown today losing 3.10%, and after factoring in today’s $42.80 decline palladium futures are currently fixed at $1339.90. Both silver and platinum gave up over 2% in trading today. Silver lost $0.30 and is currently fixed at $14.68, while platinum futures closed at $869.50 a $22.50 decline.

For those who would like more information, use this link.

Wishing you, as always, good trading,

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May 02, 2019 at 05:19AM