WORLDWIDE: HEADLINES
After $27.7 bln deal, Salesforce aims to connect companies via Slack
Business software maker Salesforce.com (CRM.N) on Wednesday closed its $27.7 billion purchase of Slack Technologies Inc (WORK.N), a massive bet that Slack’s workplace app will become popular for collaborations within and between companies.
US antitrust regulators cleared the deal this week, allowing the creation of a stronger challenger to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), the top workplace software provider whose Teams app competes with Slack for market dominance.
The merger partners hope the deal will bolster efforts to connect their joint customers to smooth out common business deals, Salesforce President Bret Taylor and Slack Chief Executive Stewart Butterfield said in an interview on Wednesday.
They also want to reduce the complexity of using hundreds of different cloud-based apps that have crept into workplaces, they added.
For example, a Slack “channel” can be created to replace all the emails, phone calls and video conferences that might otherwise occur between a sales team doing a deal with a procurement team at another company. Thousands of apps work with Slack, so documents from third-party platforms like Google Drive can be signed in the channel with services like DocuSign Inc (DOCU.O), Taylor said.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Tesla will ‘most likely’ restart accepting bitcoin as payments, says Musk
Electric-car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) will most likely restart accepting bitcoin as payments once it conducts due diligence on the amount of renewable energy used to mine the currency, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said at a conference on Wednesday.
Bitcoin was up 8% at $32,160.16, while ether surged 11.6% to $1,993.36. Tesla’s shares were down 0.8% at $655.30 in extended trading.
Musk’s comments at the B Word conference come after Tesla said in May it would stop accepting bitcoin for car purchases, less than two months after the company began accepting the world’s biggest digital currency for payment.
“I wanted a little bit more due diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50%, and that there is a trend towards increasing that number, and if so Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin” Musk said.
“Most likely the answer is that Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin.”
The use of bitcoin to buy Tesla’s electric vehicles had highlighted a dichotomy between Musk’s reputation as an environmentalist and the use of his popularity and stature as one of the world’s richest people to back cryptocurrencies.
Some Tesla investors, along with environmentalists, have been increasingly critical about the way bitcoin is “mined” using vast amounts of electricity generated with fossil fuels.
More digital currency miners, however, are making attempts to use renewable energy to mitigate the impact on the environment.
“Tesla’s mission is accelerating the advent of sustainable energy. We can’t be the company that does that and also not do appropriate diligence on the energy usage of bitcoin,” Musk said.
Full Coverage: REUTERS
WORLDWIDE: FINANCE / MARKETS
Wall Street ends higher, powered by robust earnings, economic cheer
Wall Street stocks posted their second straight daily gain on Wednesday, with robust corporate earnings and renewed optimism about the U.S. economic recovery fueling a risk-on rally.
All three major U.S. stock indexes added to their previous session’s advance, placing all three within 1% of their all-time closing highs.
Economically sensitive smallcaps (.RUT), semiconductors (.SOX) and financials (.SPSY) outperformed the broader market.
“It’s a seesaw going on between great earnings and a recovering market and concerns over whether the economy is going to slow down because of the (COVID-19) Delta variant,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. “But we’re seeing strong earnings with generally positive guidance, and the feeling that (the Delta variant) can be managed.”
A rebound in travel helped fuel United Airlines’ (UAL.O) revenue beat, boosting its stock by 3.8%.
The S&P 1500 Airlines index (.SPCOMAIR) gained 3.3%, while the S&P 1500 Hotels, Restaurant and Leisure index (.SPCOMHRL) advanced 2.9%.
“Earlier in the week those stocks suffered because of renewed fears that travel will slow down and all related industries will suffer, but those fears have gone away,” Tuz added. “Demand is continuing as expected, I don’t think the Delta fear is causing people to change their plans.”
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields continued their bounce from five-month lows following a weak 20-year bond auction, which benefited rate-sensitive banks.
Wrangling in Washington over the passage of a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package progressed as Senate Democrats moved toward a planned procedural vote despite Republican appeals for a delay.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 286.01 points, or 0.83%, to 34,798, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 35.63 points, or 0.82%, to 4,358.69 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 133.08 points, or 0.92%, to 14,631.95.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, energy stocks (.SPNY) were the big winners, jumping 3.5% with the help of surging crude prices.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Oil prices keep overnight gains as demand hopes offset US stock build
Oil prices held on to most of their gains from the previous session on Thursday, as signs of stronger demand helped offset an unexpected rise in U.S. inventories.
Brent crude slipped 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $72.02 a barrel at 0133 GMT, after rising 4.2% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $70.12 a barrel, after rising 4.6% on Wednesday.
“The market shrugged off a rise in (U.S.) commercial inventories … with most of the gains occurring on the West Coast, a distribution system that is separate from the rest of the country,” analysts from ANZ Bank said in a note.
“Supplies at Cushing, the WTI pricing point, fell to their lowest level since January 2020,” they added.
Crude inventories in the world’s top oil consumer rose unexpectedly by 2.1 million barrels last week to 439.7 million barrels, up for the first time since May, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed. USOILC=ECI
Analysts had expected a 4.5 million-barrel drop.
Still, gasoline USOILG=ECI and distillate USOILD=ECI inventories posted draws of 121,000 barrels and 1.3 million barrels, respectively, indicating higher demand due to the summer driving season.
With OPEC+, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies like Russia, unlikely to get to the market soon and Iranian negotiations delayed, the most relevant risk to market fundamentals remains a deterioration of demand due to new restrictions, analysts from Citi said.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Dollar, yen in retreat as risk sentiment revives, Musk lifts bitcoin
The safe-harbor US dollar and yen remained on the back foot on Thursday, after pulling back from multi-month highs amid a recovery in risk appetite as strong earnings lifted Wall Street stocks.
Cryptocurrencies rallied after Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk said the company would “most likely” resume accepting bitcoin for payment. read more
The dollar index , which measures the currency against six major peers, stood at 92.810 after pulling back from a 3 1/2-month high of 93.194 touched on Wednesday.
The yen traded at 130.045 per euro , from an almost four-month top of 128.610 earlier this week, and at 81.00 to Australia’s dollar , from a 5 1/2-month peak of 79.85.
“Strong earnings have swept away Delta concerns in the U.S.,” weighing on haven currencies, National Australia Bank analyst Tapas Strickland wrote in a note to clients.
“The consensus is that (the Delta strain) does not pose an immediate risk to the recovery,” delaying reopening by three months at the most as countries ramp up vaccination drives in response, he said.
Sterling traded at $1.3708, recovering from a 5 1/2-month trough of $1.35725 reached on Tuesday, despite rising Delta variant cases in Britain and confusion about the lifting of restrictions in England.
The Aussie changed hands at $0.7350, from an eight-month low of $0.72895 the previous day, even with half the Australian population under lockdown.
The euro stood at $1.1789, rising off Wednesday’s 3-1/2-month low of $1.1752 ahead of a closely watched European Central Bank policy decision later in the global day.
Full coverage: REUTERS
