Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Uber Technologies Inc. will offer consumers delivery within minutes on orders from frozen-grocery chain Iceland Foods, in its first “quick commerce” partnership in the UK.

Customers on the Uber Eats mobile app will be able to order more than 1,000 items from Iceland via the new initiative, known as Uber Eats Market, the company said. The move marks Uber’s latest step in tapping growing demand for rapid grocery services.

Iceland shops in London neighborhoods including South Bank, Poplar and Walworth Road will participate initially, with dedicated staff to pick and pack orders. Shoppers in the UK are increasingly turning to frozen foods at outlets such as Iceland as soaring costs squeeze household budgets. Delivery times to customers’ doors will be as low as 20 minutes.

While Uber has previously partnered with France’s Carrefour SA to offer rapid delivery of groceries, that service used small-scale storage facilities, known as micro-fulfillment centers, to process orders. Iceland will deliver from existing stores. 

Rivals such as Deliveroo Plc also use micro-fulfillment centers, including one recently opened on London’s New Oxford Street for walk-in customers.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Stocks saw big gains Monday, with the S&P 500 closing above a key technical level and another giant bank coming out with solid results. A reversal of the UK’s vast fiscal stimulus also bolstered trader sentiment.

The breadth of the rally was so strong that at one point over 99% of the companies in the US equity benchmark were up, with the gauge pushing away from its 200-week moving average. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 outperformed, notching its biggest gain since July.

A rout in the S&P 500 has left the index testing a “serious floor of support,” which could lead to a technical recovery, Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson wrote. The strategist, who’s one of Wall Street’s most-prominent bearish voices, said he “would not rule out” the measure rising to about 4,150. That’s 13% above current levels.

“Stocks may be ripe for a near-term bounce,” wrote BCA Research strategists led by Roukaya Ibrahim. “While economic conditions have not changed — and therefore do not warrant a shift in the cyclical outlook — technical conditions are pointing to a potential rebound.” 

The arrival of earnings has historically served as a remedy for ailing equities, lifting the S&P 500 roughly 76% of the time since 2013. Cut-to-bone profit estimates are making the hurdles easy to clear. 

To Jeffrey Buchbinder at LPL Financial, while expectations are indeed very low for the current earnings season, forecasts for 2023 still remain elevated. 

“The tough part is figuring out how far estimates need to fall and how much of a headwind that haircut will be for stocks as they try to dig their way out of this bear market,” he added.

Markets have historically bottomed out when investors began to contemplate materially looser policy over the next six to 12 months, when a trough for economic activity was in sight or when valuations reflected a “bear case” scenario, according to Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management.

“We do not believe these conditions have been fulfilled,” Haefele added. “Despite the increased risks to growth and the rise in volatility, equity markets have neither become cheaper relative to bonds, nor yet priced in a material slowdown in growth and earnings.”

Some 86% of respondents in the latest MLIV Pulse survey expect US markets to recover first, with investors slightly favoring stocks over bonds. The result suggests the longstanding premium for equities will remain in place — and as the Federal Reserve’s peak hawkishness becomes apparent, traders will be prepared to return to Treasury markets in droves.

The latest US recession probability models by Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Eliza Winger forecast a higher probability of such an event across all time frames — with the 12-month estimate of a downturn by October 2023 hitting 100%. That’s up from 65% for the comparable period in the previous update.

Data Monday showed a measure of New York state manufacturing contracted for a third month in October, and a larger share of factories were more downbeat about business conditions in early 2023. The prices-paid measure rose for the first time since June.

“This isn’t a Pollyanna moment,” said Robert Teeter, a managing director of Silvercrest Asset Management. “Inflation clearly remains a problem until proven otherwise, and disappointing earnings, particularly from consumer facing-companies, could trigger another rough stretch, with recession fears at the fore.”

Key events this week:

• US industrial production, NAHB housing market index, Tuesday
• Fed’s Neel Kashkari speaks, Tuesday
• Euro area CPI, Wednesday
• EIA crude oil inventory report, Wednesday
• US MBA mortgage applications, building permits, housing starts, Fed Beige Book, Wednesday
• Fed’s Neel Kashkari, Charles Evans, James Bullard speak, Wednesday
• US existing home sales, initial jobless claims, Conference Board leading index, Thursday
• Euro area consumer confidence, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 2.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.5%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.9%
• The MSCI World index rose 2.1%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.7%
• The euro rose 1.2% to $0.9837
• The British pound rose 1.6% to $1.1352
• The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 149.04 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 1% to $19,527.35
• Ether rose 1.1% to $1,325.63

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.02%
• Germany’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 2.27%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined 36 basis points to 3.98%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $85.40 a barrel
• Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,653.70 an ounce

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed gratitude to troops who have shot down attacking drones, saying “every destroyed drone is a life saved.”  

Russia attacked Kyiv for the second time since last Monday, striking the city center with Iranian-made drones that are essentially winged missiles, capable of loitering until they lock onto a target. Four people were killed and residential buildings damaged, local authorities said.

Foreign ministers of the European Union agreed to the training of about 15,000 Ukrainians, including for combat, as soon as mid-November and signed off on an additional €500 million ($487 million) in weapons financing. They were also to discuss reports about Iran’s military support for Russia’s invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans a security council meeting this week, state media reported. The group last met on Oct. 10, the day Moscow launched dozens of missile strikes across Ukraine. 

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.) 

Key Developments

• EU Discusses Possible Iran Sanctions Over Arms Exports to Russia
• What Are Iranian Drones Russia Is Using in Ukraine?: QuickTake
• Russia Hits Ukrainian Capital Kyiv With Kamikaze Drones
• How Russian Ships Are Laundering Grain Stolen From Occupied Ukraine
• Europe Gas Drops to 3-Month Low as EU Plans More Crisis Measures

On the Ground

Apart from the attack on Kyiv, an X-59 missile was fired from a Russian Su-35 aircraft from the direction of the Black Sea and hit an infrastructure facility in the Odesa region, Southern operational command said on Facebook. On Sunday, 14 Ukrainian civilians were killed by Russian attacks and another 15 were injured, according to the deputy head of the president’s staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko. Russia attacked the Mykolaiv region with explosive-laden drones late Sunday, hitting industrial infrastructure and a pharmaceutical warehouse, Ukraine’s southern operational command said on Facebook. 

(All times CET)

 

Zelenskiy Thanks Troops Who Shot Down Drones (11:45 p.m.) 

Zelenskiy, in his Monday night address, praised his nation’s troops for shooting down drones, as “every destroyed drone is a life saved.” 

The Ukrainian president went on thank everyone who involved in mitigating the consequences of the the latest Russian attacks on Kyiv and other cities, including police officers, doctors, energy workers, utility workers, government officials and business representatives.

EU To Disburse 2 Billion Euros to Ukraine as Soon as Tuesday (9:31 p.m.)

The European Union will disburse 2 billion euros to Ukraine as early as Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said.

The installment is part of a package totaling 9 billion euros in so-called macro-financial assistance the EU first announced in May. Further installments of 2.5 billion euros and 500 million euros are expected in the second half of November and December respectively, another person said. One billion euros were disbursed in August.

The payments have been mostly delayed due to haggling between member countries over the terms of the package, and an agreement on how to structure the final 3 billion euros of the package and future support has yet to be reached. The funding is needed to keep Ukraine’s economy afloat and cover essential costs such as salaries, pensions and public spending.

Ukraine Returns 108 Women in Prisoner Swap, Yermak Says (6:20 p.m.)

Ukraine conducted its first-ever women-only prisoner swap with Russia, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Facebook.

The swap included Azovstal defenders, as well as women captured and illegally kept in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine since 2019, according to Yermak.

Donetsk separatist leader Pushilin confirmed that the prisoners swap was completed today and that they got 110 prisoners released by Ukraine.

Russian Jet Crashes In Residential Neighborhood (6:10 p.m.) 

A Russian Su-34 fighter jet crashed in Yeysk, a Southern Russian city on Azov Sea across from Crimea, Interfax news agency reported citing the Russian Defense Ministry. The pilots escaped before the plane plane fell on a residential area, exploding in a fire, the agency said.

The Defense Ministry told Interfax that one of the plane’s engines caught fire when the plane took off for a training flight.

Belarus to Conduct Live-Fire Exercises With Russia (5:25 p.m.)

As many as 9,000 servicemen from Russia will be deployed to Belarus as part of a joint military force, Valeriy Revenko, an assistant to the minister of defense for Belarus, said during a briefing for military diplomats.

The Russian unit will contain nearly 170 battle tanks, as many as 200 armored personnel carriers and as many as 100 cannons and large-caliber mortars, he said. While the bulk of the “joint force” will be composed of local servicemen, Russian and Belarusian troops will participate in exercises that include live fire and anti-aircraft missiles, according to Revenko.

Russia already began to send its “air force component” in Belarus, the Defense Ministry said Sunday without elaborating.

State-TV Journalist Who Protested War Left Russia, Lawyer Says

Marina Ovsyannikova, the state-TV journalist who gained international prominence by staging an anti-war protest on the country’s top news program, has left Russia with her daughter after fleeing house arrest, her lawyer said.

Ovsyannikova is “under the protection of a European country,” Dmitry Zkhvatov said, declining to specify which one.

Put on Russia’s wanted list earlier this month, Ovsyannikova faced criminal charges under Russia’s new ‘fake news’ law for an anti-war protest held near the Kremlin over the summer. She had been fighting a custody battle with her ex-husband over their daughter. A Moscow court Monday ruled in favor of the husband in the case.

Georgia Questions Visa-Free Policy for Russians (2:10 p.m.)

The flow of Russians into Georgia is a “challenge” and may require a review of the visa-free regime, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said at a news conference in Moldova, where she held talks with Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu.

Nearly 70,000 Russians fled to Georgia last month after Putin announced a partial mobilization Sept. 21 to bolster his forces in Ukraine. Tens of thousands had already left Russia for Georgia in the weeks following Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.

Polish Company Helps Rebuild Infrastructure (12:45 p.m.)

Polish digital terrestrial television provider Emitel provided an additional 50 transmitters to Ukraine to help rebuild infrastructure damaged by Russian shelling, according to a company statement. Since May, Emitel, owned by U.K. fund Cordiant, is running a logistics point in eastern Ukraine where it helps to prepare equipment necessary to maintain broadcasting of TV and radio signals.

‘Partial Mobilization’ Completed in Moscow, Mayor Says (12:20 p.m.)

Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said on his website Monday that a “partial mobilization” had been completed in Russia’s largest city, and that collection points for the drafted would be closed at 2 p.m. local time.

Putin ordered the call up Sept. 21, which aimed to draw 300,000 reservists. The mobilization has spurred an exodus of draft-age men from the country. Last Friday, Putin sought to reassure Russians by saying that the mobilization effort would wrap up in a couple of weeks and wouldn’t be extended. Several Russian regions have recently reported the first losses among the mobilized.

Ukraine Says Blackouts Happening as Power Targeted in Attacks (12:15 p.m.)

Electricity infrastructure in central and northern Ukraine was damaged by Russian attacks, national power grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement on Facebook. The situation was currently under control and repairs were being made, but Ukrenergo did not rule out planned rolling blackouts.

Power supply in Lviv in western Ukraine is subject to rolling blackouts, regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram. Power consumption must be limited to avoid emergency blackouts. The Lviv region has cut consumption by 10% Oct. 12, Kozytskyi said.

Russian Drones Hit Sunflower Oil Terminal in Mykolayiv (11:54 a.m.)

Russian drones damaged two huge tanks each containing 7,500 tons of sunflower oil, with oil leaking onto the street, Ukrayinska Pravda reported citing local news site Novyny-N and the Mykolayiv region’s spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk. The terminal handled almost 17% of the world’s oil export, Pletenchuk said without giving details about ownership of the reservoirs.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Roblox Corp. shares surged 20% on Monday, their biggest one-day jump since November, after the video game platform forecast a significant jump in September bookings as users spent more time on its games. 

Bookings are expected to be between $212 million and $219 million, up as much as 15% from a year earlier, the San Mateo, California-based company said. That figure includes revenue, deferred revenue and other adjustments, and defied a stronger US dollar that dampened results from outside the country.

The increase in bookings suggests a “meaningful” monthly acceleration, said Mandeep Singh analyst Bloomberg Intelligence. “The company’s advantage with user-generated content should help expand its user base beyond the core 9-13-year-old group faster than larger rival Meta, which saw a decline in user engagement for its Horizon Worlds offering.”

The company said daily active users jumped 23% in September to reach 57.8 million and hours engaged rose 16% to 4 billion in the same period. 

Truist Securities analyst Matthew Thornton was also upbeat on the numbers, noting that “monetization improved to drive the bookings upside.” 

While the stock added $4.2 billion in market value Monday, it remains down 59% this year amid a broader selloff in growth and technology stocks. The Nasdaq 100 rallied 3.5% on Monday. 

(Updates to market close.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Rupert Murdoch’s plan to combine News Corp. and Fox Corp., recreating the conservative-leaning media goliath that he split apart nine years ago, drew mixed reactions on Wall Street. 

Several analysts said the potential recombination is unlikely to solve one of the key problems facing Fox and News Corp. — low valuations relative to their peers. While News Corp. gained 3.4% amid a broad market rally, Fox’s Class A shares dropped 9.4% for the biggest decline since March 2020. 

The 91-year-old patriarch of the global media empire is seeking to reunite the parent of Fox News with that of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, the companies said Friday. His family trust holds about 40% of the voting stock of each company, and recombining them would save corporate expenses and allow the bigger entity to more easily promote new businesses, such as sports betting, across multiple media outlets.

For Fox, the benefit of “greater scale and modest cost synergies is in our view largely offset by increased complexity,” Benjamin Swinburne wrote at Morgan Stanley. As for News Corp., colleague Andrew McLeod said there is “strategic merit in a potential merger” but that the timing of any asset sales or spinoffs would be critical. 

So far no one from the Murdoch clan, which includes Rupert’s six children, has spoken publicly about the deal. The move would likely consolidate power in the hands of his son Lachlan Murdoch, 51, currently the chief executive officer of Fox. Son James Murdoch, a former executive at the family media empire, resigned from the News Corp. board in 2020, citing disagreements over news judgment and strategy.

Rupert Murdoch and his family trust proposed the combination to their respective boards. A majority of the non-family shareholders would have to approve, and that could give an opportunity for anyone opposed to the deal to speak out. Special committees of independent directors will explore possible terms and there’s no certainty a deal will be made.

Lachlan is the favorite to eventually control the entire Murdoch empire. James, whatever misgivings he may have about the organization’s politics, wouldn’t be able to do much to stop the consolidation if he wanted to. But as a prominent family member, his opinion could carry weight with shareholders. James Murdoch declined to comment. 

Kannan Venkateshwar, an analyst with Barclays Plc, said in a research note Sunday that he found the proposal a “head-scratcher.” Neither company has businesses that are all that complementary to each other and the deal is unlikely to change what has been a historical discount placed on the Murdoch media empire, relative to peers, he wrote. Both companies are trading at a bit more than six times their 2023 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Separately, Irenic Capital Management favors a break up of News Corp.’s media and real estate listings businesses, according to a person familiar with the matter, confirming a report in the New York Times on Sunday evening. The activist fund holds a $150 million stake in the company and is one of the 10 largest holders of its class B shares, which include voting rights.

Irenic and its partners have engaged with the Murdoch family and believe that splitting up News Corp. could unlock value, contending that the company is trading at a significant discount to a sum-of-the-parts valuation that should be about $34 a share, the person said. Irenic is prepared to oppose a transaction that undervalues News Corp., the person added. 

Potential Benefits

While combining Fox and News Corp. is “not an overly obvious transaction,” analysts at Wells Fargo & Co. said merging the companies could deliver synergies in content and programming. UBS Group AG also noted that News Corp.’s US divisions such as Dow Jones and the New York Post may benefit from cross promotion with Fox’s television businesses, while there could be potential synergies with Fox’s cable network division. 

“If we’ve learned one thing from analyzing Murdoch assets historically, it’s that the family looks to maximize value and is not emotionally tied to any properties,” Wells Fargo analysts including Steven Cahall and Wojtek Majerczak wrote in a note Sunday. 

Rupert Murdoch usually gets his way in the business he began building seven decades ago. He serves as chairman of Fox and executive chairman of News Corp. He also has the biggest share of votes on the family trust, which includes a say for his four eldest children: Lachlan; James; and two daughters, Prudence and Elisabeth.

Family Dynamics

The family’s internal squabbles, which served as inspiration for the HBO series “Succession,” have been well chronicled.

James, 49, and his wife, Kathryn, have been critical of the media empire’s coverage of issues such as climate change. Kathryn sits on the board of the 19th, a news organization devoted to women’s issues and public policy, and they’ve helped fund the Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative news outlet. They are also big donors to Democratic candidates.

Lachlan, meanwhile, defended the split-up of the two companies in a 2019 presentation to investors. He said the split allowed the company to return to its roots as an “agile, imaginative, entrepreneurial, sometimes contrarian company.” He even went so far to say as he “could see no logic in reversing the benefits of those defining actions.”

His thinking has changed, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. The media landscape has shifted with more consumers viewing content online. Fox and News Corp. have both grown their digital offerings in recent years and Lachlan has the view that he can use both the traditional and new media to launch and promote businesses in the future.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — US regulators are prying deep into the remnants of failed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital as they try to untangle the fallout of this year’s crypto crash.

Three Arrows, which until recently was one of the industry’s most prominent firms, filed for bankruptcy in July after the broad sell-off in digital assets spurred in part by the collapse of the Terra blockchain. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission are now looking into whether the money manager violated rules by misleading investors about the strength of its balance sheet and not registering with the agencies, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

Scrutiny from the agencies, both of which declined to comment, can lead to monetary fines and other penalties for firms and individuals. A lawyer listed in bankruptcy court filings as a representative for Three Arrows founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies didn’t immediately respond to an email and phone call seeking comment. The inquiries were made outside local business hours in Singapore.

The founders’ whereabouts remain unknown. Zhu didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Davies didn’t immediately respond to a message sent to him via Twitter. Teneo, an advisory firm appointed by a British Virgin Islands court to liquidate Three Arrows, which is also known as 3ac, declined to comment.

At its zenith, Three Arrows counted a few billion dollars under management, making it a major player in the crypto world. Known for its bullish stance, it was also a recipient of loans from firms across the industry, and was a venture investor in some of the industry’s best-known startups.

But the firm sustained losses on its position in the Terra blockchain project, which came crashing down as the so-called algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD crumbled in May. As the token’s collapse spread across the broader crypto market over the following weeks, 3ac was unable to meet margin calls from its lenders and eventually declared insolvency. 

Liquidators overseeing the wind-down of the firm, which operated from Singapore until at least early May, have seized control of tens of millions of dollars of the fund’s assets. But that’s a fraction of the billions of dollars that creditors including bankrupt crypto lenders Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, said they were owed. 

Teneo, the court appointed liquidator, has claimed that 3ac’s founders haven’t fully cooperated with the unwinding. They took the unusual step of asking a US judge for permission to serve Zhu and Davies with subpoenas through their Twitter accounts and email addresses because normal methods have failed, according to court documents filed last week.

Celsius is also facing scrutiny from US regulators. Lawyers for the firm this month disclosed it had received a federal grand jury subpoena from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as inquiries from the CFTC, SEC and Federal Trade Commission. The CFTC is investigating if Celsius failed to disclose how customers’ funds were used, and if some of its conduct amounted to market manipulation, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

The regulator declined to comment on its probe of the crypto lender. A representative for Celsius said the firm is “cooperating with all regulatory inquiries, and regulators are key stakeholders in our reorganization.” The firm declined to comment on the specifics of any inquires. 

Although the CFTC’s jurisdiction over crypto is generally limited to derivatives, the agency can take enforcement action if it believes there’s fraud or manipulation in the underlying market. The SEC claims oversight over digital coins that qualify as securities under its rules. Both regulators also oversee investment firms. 

The CFTC and the SEC aren’t the only authorities that have turned up the heat on Three Arrows. On June 30, the Monetary Authority of Singapore reprimanded the firm for allegedly providing false information and exceeding the limit on its assets under management.

Court documents earlier this month indicated that the liquidators of the fund had gotten permission to repatriate some assets from Singapore to the British Virgin Islands. 

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — The European Union is bracing for an onslaught of lawsuits from the largest tech companies — Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc. — over incoming rules that will change how the industry operates, said the head of the region’s new San Francisco outpost.

“We’re not naïve,” Gerard de Graaf, a top EU official focused on regulations for digital platforms, told Bloomberg News in his first interview with a US media outlet since opening the EU’s office in the heart of Silicon Valley last month. “There will be litigation.”

During his previous posting in Brussels, De Graaf oversaw the passage of the Digital Markets Act, a recently enacted EU law designed to prevent technology giants from using their power to disadvantage smaller companies. De Graaf also oversaw the creation of the DMA’s companion measure, the Digital Services Act, which will require the companies to combat illegal and harmful online content. Both measures are slated to take effect next year.

The companies need to decide the “kind of relationship” they want to have with their European overseers: an adversarial dynamic where they challenge every move regulators make, or a more collaborative approach, said de Graaf. “We would prefer that challenge is the exception rather than becoming a new rule.”

De Graaf, who started in his new post in September, said he’s not planning to be Europe’s “policeman on the ground” in San Francisco. Instead, he hopes to play a diplomatic role, helping to create substantive relationships with tech industry executives, consumer advocates and state officials as they sort through the EU’s sweeping set of new rules. One of his primary tasks will be to help guide the companies through questions they have about how to comply with the DMA and DSA.  

De Graaf said there’s been significant interest from the tech companies and civil society groups in the EU’s new California office and he’s already participated in a slew of meetings with representatives from companies and non-profits. His office plans to host seminars, panels and other events to help educate the tech industry on its new regulatory obligations, as well as foster better communication with EU officials.

The largest tech companies have complained that the DMA and DSA are vaguely written and overly burdensome, saying that the laws lays out a series of “do’s” and “don’ts” without much explanation around how they should implement the changes.

“I don’t like the word ‘burden’ in the context of what we’re trying to achieve,” de Graaf said. “We’re trying to protect our democracy.”

Some of the new provisions will require significant resources and internal restructuring by the companies. For instance, the DSA sets up a process that will enable users to appeal content moderation decisions the companies have made. 

De Graaf said that his meetings so far have led him to believe that the companies are taking the DMA and DSA seriously, investing significantly and preparing to follow the new rules. 

“We’re available, we can talk, we can advise and have a regulatory dialogue, but the obligation to comply rests with those who are under the obligations of the legislature,” he said.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, said he was motivated to acquire the conservative social media service Parler by his belief that existing platforms like Instagram and Twitter are too restrictive when it comes to user speech. 

“When I got kicked off of Instagram and Twitter at the time, I knew it was time to acquire my own platform,” Ye said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Monday. “People had talked about it and mentioned this idea for years, but enough was enough.”

The rapper and designer was recently restricted from posting on some major social media platforms for violating their content policies. Twitter Inc. removed an anti-Semitic post from Ye last week and locked his account just a day after he had returned to the platform for the first time in nearly two years. Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram also deleted posts over anti-Semitic language.

Ye said Parler is for people like him, who have been penalized by much bigger platforms.

“We’re using this as a net for the people who have been bullied by the thought police to come and speak their mind,” he said. “Express how you feel. Express what’s tied up inside of you. Express what’s been haunting you. I use social media as my therapist.” 

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion, says he spoke with Ye last week after Twitter froze his account. Ye said Musk didn’t advise him on buying Parler in that conversation, and he came to the decision on his own.

Ye said he is planning to have dinner with former US President Donald Trump this week, and will invite him onto Parler. Ye said he’ll join Trump’s own alternative network, Truth Social, too. He has not yet decided if owning Parler means he will fully abandon other social networks, like Instagram and Twitter, saying he plans to speak with his advisors about that.

“The most important resource that our species has is knowledge,” Ye added. “This is the reason why the compression of thought and free thought has to be overcome to save the human race. It’s literally that serious. And that’s the reason why I am willing to put everything at risk because they’ve already taken enough from me for differences of opinion.”

Ye has been at odds with corporate America, scorning his business partners in order to branch out on his own. His apparel deal with Gap Inc. is winding down after disagreements between the two parties and his sneaker arrangement with Adidas AG has been placed under review by the German athletic-wear maker. He also had a dust-up with bank executives at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ye declined to share the terms of the agreement. An unaudited balance sheet of his finances reviewed by Bloomberg last year showed that he had $122 million in cash and stock at the time, with billions more in other assets including his lucrative Yeezy business. His company made nearly $191 million in royalties from the Adidas deal in 2020, Bloomberg previously reported.

(Updates with additional comments in the eighth paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Stocks saw big gains Monday, with the S&P 500 finding support at a key technical level and another big bank coming out with solid results. A reversal of the UK’s vast fiscal stimulus also bolstered trader sentiment.

The breadth of the rally was so strong that at one point over 99% of the companies in the US equity benchmark were rising, with the gauge pushing away from its 200-week moving average. Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson — one of Wall Street’s most-prominent bearish voices — said he “would not rule out” the S&P 500 rising to about 4,150 points — suggesting 16% upside from Friday.

“Stocks may be ripe for a near-term bounce. While economic conditions have not changed — and therefore do not warrant a shift in the cyclical outlook — technical conditions are pointing to a potential rebound,” wrote BCA Research strategists led by Roukaya Ibrahim.

Markets have historically bottomed out when investors began to contemplate materially looser policy over the next six to 12 months, when a trough for economic activity was in sight or when valuations reflected a “bear case” scenario, according to Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management.

“Today, we do not believe these conditions have been fulfilled,” Haefele added. “Despite the increased risks to growth and the rise in volatility, equity markets have neither become cheaper relative to bonds, nor yet priced in a material slowdown in growth and earnings.”

Read: Mobius Warns US Interest Rates Will Hit 9% If Inflation Persists

Some 86% of respondents in the latest MLIV Pulse survey expect US markets to recover first, with investors slightly favoring stocks over bonds. The result suggests the longstanding premium for equities will remain in place — and as the Federal Reserve’s peak hawkishness becomes apparent, traders will be prepared to return to Treasury markets in droves.

The latest US recession probability models by Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Eliza Winger forecast a higher probability of such an event across all timeframes — with the 12-month estimate of a downturn by October 2023 hitting 100%. That’s up from 65% for the comparable period in the previous update.

A measure of New York state manufacturing contracted for a third month in October, and a larger share of factories were more downbeat about business conditions in early 2023. The prices-paid measure rose for the first time since June, corresponding with a rebound in crude oil.

“This isn’t a Pollyanna moment,” said Robert Teeter, a managing director of Silvercrest Asset Management. “Inflation clearly remains a problem until proven otherwise, and disappointing earnings, particularly from consumer facing-companies, could trigger another rough stretch, with recession fears at the fore.”

To Jeffrey Buchbinder at LPL Financial, while expectations are very low for the current earnings season, forecasts for 2023 still remain elevated. 

“The tough part is figuring out how far estimates need to fall and how much of a headwind that haircut will be for stocks as they try to dig their way out of this bear market,” he added.

Key events this week:

• US industrial production, NAHB housing market index, Tuesday
• Fed’s Neel Kashkari speaks, Tuesday
• Euro area CPI, Wednesday
• EIA crude oil inventory report, Wednesday
• US MBA mortgage applications, building permits, housing starts, Fed Beige Book, Wednesday
• Fed’s Neel Kashkari, Charles Evans, James Bullard speak, Wednesday
• US existing home sales, initial jobless claims, Conference Board leading index, Thursday
• Euro area consumer confidence, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 2.7% as of 2:39 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.5%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2%
• The MSCI World index rose 2.2%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.8%
• The euro rose 1.3% to $0.9845
• The British pound rose 1.7% to $1.1365
• The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 148.84 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 0.9% to $19,497.63
• Ether rose 0.7% to $1,319.9

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.01%
• Germany’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 2.27%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined 36 basis points to 3.98%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $85.36 a barrel
• Gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,657.90 an ounce

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, said he was motivated to acquire the conservative social media service Parler by his belief that existing platforms like Instagram and Twitter are too restrictive when it comes to user speech. 

“When I got kicked off of Instagram and Twitter at the time, I knew it was time to acquire my own platform,” Ye said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Monday. “People had talked about it and mentioned this idea for years, but enough was enough.”

The rapper and designer was recently restricted from posting on some major social media platforms for violating their content policies. Twitter Inc. removed an anti-Semitic post from Ye last week and locked his account just a day after he had returned to the platform for the first time in nearly two years. Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram also deleted posts over anti-Semitic language.

Ye said Parler is for people like him, who have been penalized by much bigger platforms.

“We’re using this as a net for the people who have been bullied by the thought police to come and speak their mind,” he said. “Express how you feel. Express what’s tied up inside of you. Express what’s been haunting you. I use social media as my therapist.” 

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion, says he spoke with Ye last week after Twitter froze his account. Ye said Musk didn’t advise him on buying Parler in that conversation, and he came to the decision on his own.

Ye said he is planning to have dinner with former US President Donald Trump this week, and will invite him onto Parler. Ye said he’ll join Trump’s own alternative network, Truth Social, too.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.