MARKET MOVERS
- Elon Musk is joining Twitter’s board of directors. The board appointment comes with restrictions on Musk’s ownership abilities, and co-founder Jack Dorsey tweets his approval of Musk’s involvement. Musk's term will expire in 2024. Twitter noted that as part of Musk’s board involvement, he will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of the company’s common stock outstanding.
- Chinese companies find a workaround to avoid U.S. delisting. The companies are tapping U.S.-based accounting firms as their principal auditors. That could help make them compliant with the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which came into effect last year and prohibits trading in securities of companies whose auditors cannot be inspected by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for three years in a row. Read more here.
- Opendoor grows its footprint in metros. The company announced its expansion in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday. They will offer services to more than 450 ZIP Codes across New Jersey and New York. Opendoor is set to report its first quarter in May. The company predicts $4.1 billion to $4.3 billion in revenue for the first quarter, ending in March.
- The condo market is booming. Condos are becoming a hot choice for home buyers, particularly buyers searching for greater affordability in a rapidly rising market. However, these transactions aren’t coming cheap. The median existing condo and co-op sales price were $305,400 in February, an annual increase of 10.9%. About 41% of condos sold above the asking price in February, another sign of the heated competition.
- House prices were up 20% YoY in February. While prospective buyers outnumber sellers, a record-low number of homes for sale remains the primary culprit for the rapid price gains. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast shows national year-over-year appreciation slowing to 5% by February 2023, as rising interest rates are expected to sideline even more buyers. New listings have not kept up with the large number of families looking to buy. Read more here.
- Sequoia Capital announced a rare leadership change. Roelof Botha will take over in July when the current CEO, Doug Leone, retires. Botha now runs Sequoia’s US and European operations. This is only the third leadership change in the firm’s history. But the new head of Sequoia won’t have full control of the firm’s global operations. A letter to investors spelled out limits to Botha’s new role, especially when it comes to Sequoia’s China operation. Source(0:57)
WHAT TO WATCH
- EU moves closer to boycott of Russian energy. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a full ban on Russian oil and coal. This comes as details emerge of Russian atrocities in Ukraine, including mass killings. The EU wants to escalate pressure on Russia, but it’s been held back by Europe’s dependence on Russian energy. Germany’s finance minister yesterday said all options were on the table. Source(1:42)
- GM and Honda to develop affordable EVs that cost less than $30,000. The project will utilize GM’s next-generation Ultium battery technology. The tie-up is expected to produce millions of lower-priced EVs, including popular compact crossover vehicles, beginning in 2027, according to officials. The GM-Honda-developed vehicles are expected to be priced below $30,000.
- Europe to target Russian coal in a fresh round of sanctions. New restrictions will need approval from all member states. The measures will also include a complete ban on transactions with several additional Russian banks, three of which have already been removed from the SWIFT financial transactions network, including VTB, Russia’s second-biggest lender. Read more here.
- Amazon to spend billions on space launches. Amazon’s Project Kuiper said it secured up to 83 planned launches that would ferry satellites to orbit over a five-year stretch. The fleet of internet satellites would compete with a service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The unit of the Seattle-based e-commerce giant hasn’t sent up any satellites yet, though it has said it will have two prototypes launched this year.
- Deutsche becomes the first major bank to forecast a recession in the U.S. The US economy is expected to take a major hit from the extra Fed tightening by late next year and early 2024, the bank’s economists said in a note to clients Tuesday. They see two negative quarters of growth and a more than 1.5% point rise in the US unemployment rate, developments that clearly qualify as a recession, albeit a moderate one. Read more here.
- Manchester City has partnered with Sony to recreate its home stadium in the metaverse. Sports stadiums could be the next big Metaverse real estate opportunity. Manchester City will use technology from Sony to build a virtual replica of the soccer team's home stadium. This will be the first sanctioned sports stadium in the space. The potential for sports districts to grow around this and other stadiums to come is enormous. Source.
