(Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose with U.S. equity futures on Friday as investors shrugged off fears over a second wave of coronavirus infections that had spurred caution earlier in the week. Treasuries held their gains, while the dollar slipped.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed, led by banks and travel companies, as attention turned to Friday’s negotiations over the European Union’s proposed 750 billion-euro ($840 billion) program to help economies rebound from the Covid-19 lockdown. Contracts on the three main American stock gauges extended gains after China said it plans to accelerate purchases of American farm goods to comply with the phase one trade deal.Still, with investors weighing a resurgence of cases, and a welter of options set to expire later Friday, investors are bracing for potential bouts of volatility. The quarterly event know as quadruple witching usually coincides with a re-balancing of major indexes and can spark some of the busiest trading...
(Bloomberg) -- Wirecard AG shares continued their free-fall after the two Asian banks that were supposed to be holding 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of missing cash denied any business relationship with the German payments company.Wirecard now faces a potential cash crunch. The company warned Thursday that loans up to 2 billion euros could be terminated if its audited annual report was not published on Friday. Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimated that Wirecard has available cash of around 220 million euros, if it cannot locate the missing $2.1 billion.BDO Unibank Inc., the Philippines’ largest bank by assets, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands said in separate statements on Friday that Wirecard isn’t a client.“It was a rogue employee who falsified documents and forged the signatures of our officers,” BDO Unibank Chief Executive Officer Nestor Tan said in a mobile phone message. “Wirecard is not even a depositor -- we have...
Wirecard's chief executive quit on Friday as the German payments firm's search for $2.1 billion of missing cash hit a dead end in the Philippines and it scrambled to secure a financial lifeline from its banks. Markus Braun, who built Wirecard into one of the hottest financial technology investments in Europe before questions over accounting saw it crash in value, leaves the firm facing a looming cash crunch and mired in allegations of fraud. Braun resigned just hours after releasing a video blaming Wirecard's problems on fraud, saying he accepted "responsibility for all business transactions lies with the CEO."...
The chief executive of Wirecard resigned on Friday after the search for $2.1 billion of cash missing from the embattled electronic payments firm hit a dead end in the Philippines. Markus Braun, who built the German company into one of the hottest investments in Europe, leaves Wirecard facing a looming cash crunch amid allegations of fraud over the missing money. In a statement, the company said James Freis, a former compliance officer at Germany's stock exchange, had been appointed as interim CEO....
Marathon Petroleum (MPC) is again engaging in discussions with potential buyers for a sale of its gas station Speedway unit, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Shares in MPC rose 6% in Thursday’s after-hour trading.Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard was one of the buyers reportedly interested in a deal, although no valuation was provided.The news follows a pre-Covid 19 Bloomberg report that MPC was working on a $22 billion sale of Speedway to Japan’s Seven & I, which fell apart during the crisis.MPC is still targeting a spinoff of Speedway for 1Q21. The US’s largest refiner was previously looking to split from the chain in Q4 2020, but delayed the move citing market conditions caused by Covid-19.RBC Capital’s Brad Heffern believes a deal could be a ‘clear positive’ for MPC. “We previously saw a sale of Speedway at a $20+ billion valuation as a “silver bullet” for the issues facing the company”...
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. and European futures edged up after a lackluster Asian session that left global equities shuffling toward a weekly advance. Lower-than-usual trading volumes late this week have preceded a welter of options expiries on Wall Street Friday that could still see a bout of volatility. While global shares have recouped much of their losses trigged by second-wave infection fears, the dollar and Treasuries have retained much of their gains from that risk-off bout. Elsewhere, crude oil saw a modest rise.Investors continue to weigh a resurgence in some virus hotspots that may derail an economic recovery against record stimulus measures to help stave off the worst of the pandemic’s impact. New cases in Florida were above the past week’s average and Texas hospitalizations rose by another record.Meanwhile, Sino-American tensions continue to simmer -- President Donald Trump said the U.S. could pursue a “complete decoupling from China” in response to unspecified...
Shares in DraftKings (DKNG) rose 2% in Thursday’s after-hours trading after the sports betting company announced the upsize and pricing of its underwritten public offering of 40 million shares of Class A common stock.DraftKings will sell 16 million shares and certain selling stockholders of DraftKings will sell 24 million shares, at a public offering price of $40 per share for a total offering size of $1.6 billion. The selling stockholders have also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 6 million additional shares.The offering was upsized from the previously announced offering size of 33 million shares. DraftKings says it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes. The company will not receive any proceeds from the stockholder share sale.On June 17 Oppenheimer analyst Jed Kelly reiterated his buy rating on the stock with a $48 price target (18% upside potential). According to Kelly, DKNG is taking advantage...
