Rivian and Mercedes to Partner on Electric-Van Factory

MARKET MOVERS

• Rivian and Mercedes to partner on an electric-van factory. The two companies said Thursday they signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture to invest in and operate a factory in Europe to produce large electric vans for both companies, starting in a few years. The planned facility, which would only produce electric vehicles, would use an existing Mercedes site in Central or Eastern Europe.

• United Airlines raises bet on electric air taxis with 200 aircraft from upstart Eve. The carrier said Thursday that it agreed to buy 200 electric air taxis from Eve Air Mobility, an Embraer-backed startup and that it has options to purchase 200 more. Chicago-based United is also investing $15 million in Eve. United said it expects the first deliveries of the aircraft as early as 2026.

• FTX Ventures buys a 30% stake in Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital. SkyBridge has been wading deeper into crypto through direct token acquisitions as well as private investments in digital-asset firms, filings show. The new capital is intended to help SkyBridge’s growth, with a portion being used to buy $40 million worth of cryptocurrencies as a balance sheet investment, according to a statement on Friday. Read more here.

• Amazon acquires warehouse machinery and robotics maker Cloostermans. Amazon began working with Cloostermans in 2019, using its technology to help move and stack heavy palettes and goods, as well as package products together for delivery. Cloostermans will become part of Amazon Robotics, Amazon’s division focused on automating aspects of its warehouse operations. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

• Apple is Peloton's new nightmare. Fitness+ is becoming a serious problem for Peloton. Peloton's business model is in peril due to the growth of Apple Fitness+ and a clash of interests in the digital health space. Peloton essentially wants to become a digital health platform in the long term, leading it to clash with Apple, which already has a strong foothold in the consumer health market with the Apple Watch and HealthKit. Source(1:58)
  

WHAT TO WATCH

• Fed’s Powell affirms the need to act strongly to fight inflation. “It is very much our view, and my view, that we need to act now forthrightly, strongly, as we have been doing, and we need to keep at it until the job is done,” Mr. Powell said at a virtual conference on Thursday. Mr. Powell didn’t say anything to challenge market expectations that the Fed would raise interest rates by 0.75 points at its Sept. 20-21 meeting. Read more here.

• Fed’s Waller says interest rates may need to move ‘well above 4%’. In a speech to the economic conference in Vienna, Austria, Waller said a peak Fed funds rate well above 4% was just one of a range of possibilities. In his remarks, Waller said he supports a “significant” increase in the policy rate at the Fed’s next meeting on Sept. 20-21, but he didn’t provide more details.

• Scott Minerd calls for the S&P 500 to drop 20% by mid-October. He says that given the recent strength of the last few days, it appears that people are ignoring the macro backdrop, and monetary policy backdrop, which would basically indicate that the bear market is intact. Given where seasonals are and how far out of line we are historical with where the P/E is, we should see a really sharp adjustment in prices really fast. Read more here.

• EY leaders green light split plan. Ernst & Young’s leaders fired the starting gun Thursday on a monthslong plan to split its consulting and auditing businesses, in a radical move that will generate windfalls for the firm’s partners and could upend the business model for accounting firms. The green light for the breakup from Mr. Di Sibio and other EY leaders means the plan will now go to a vote with the firm’s roughly 13,000 partners.

• Tesla could start building a lithium refinery for EV batteries in Texas this year. The plant would be focused on the development of “battery-grade lithium hydroxide” and be “the first of its kind in North America,” according to a letter to the Texas Comptroller’s Office. If approved, construction could begin in the fourth quarter of 2022, the company said. The project will reach “commercial operations” by the fourth quarter of 2024.