Morning Brief: Top Financial Stories Dominating on Tuesday, May 10

Reuters

US Trucking Downturn Threatens Autonomous Operators like Uber Freight

• Surging diesel fuel costs and U.S. consumer demand correction could lead to multiple owner-operator truckers exiting the industry if prices drop by 10% to 20%, Uber Technologies, Inc (NYSE:UBER) Uber Freight head Lior Ron said.
• There has been an unexpectedly sharp downturn in demand to truck everything from food to furniture since March, and rates that deal in on-demand trucking jobs known as the spot market are skidding.
• High rates and desperate requests by shipping and carrier companies for more long-distance truckers attracted over 20,000 drivers into the market over the past few months.

Geely Automobile Takes Stake In Renault Korea For $200M

• China’s Geely Automobile is set to acquire over a third of Renault SA’s (OTC: RNLSY) Korea unit for about $200 million.
• The move is expected to boost Renault’s U.S. exports and make way for investment in its electric business.
• Geely’s stake deal follows an announcement by the two companies in January to develop hybrid vehicles for South Korea and abroad.

This Tesla Rival Looks To Expand Footprint Outside US Amid Demand For EVs

• Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) is planning to launch its luxury electric sedans in Europe later in 2022.
• The Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rival aims to expand its footprint outside the U.S. amid strong global demand for electric vehicles (EVs).
• The company plans to launch its Lucid Air Dream Edition P and R sedans in limited numbers for customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Norway in late 2022.

Wall Street Journal

Caterpillar Expands Its Remanufacturing Business

• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) wants to sell engines—again and again, expand its remanufacturing business to boost sales and sustainability efforts.
• Every day, old, beat-up, and broken-down engines from mining trucks and compactors return to a factory to be inspected, taken apart, and rebuilt again as new.
• The effort, which took in an anticipated 127 million pounds of equipment to be reprocessed in 2021, is part of Caterpillar’s efforts to satisfy environmental goals while also increasing revenue from services, which Caterpillar claimed might offer the business an advantage over competitors.

Bloomberg

Investors Seek Goldman Sach’s Testimony On Jho Low Behind Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) investors are suing the bank over the 1MDB scandal and are seeking sworn testimony from three former employees who live in the U.K.
• Shareholders’ lawyers told in a court filing that the testimony of Patrick Kidney, Toby Watson, and Cyrus Shey is essential to the lawsuit’s central claim that GS misled investors about its involvement with the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund and Jho Low, the financier who allegedly was behind the looting of the fund.
• Kidney, Watson, and Shey’s roles make them particularly knowledgeable about the bank’s dealings with Low and its work on three bond deals.

Stellantis CEO Thinks Electric Shift Depends On Smooth Supply Chain Operations

• Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares said the shift to electric vehicles depends much on resolving the supply-chain problems swiftly.
• He said the shift will only work in Europe if access to enough clean energy, batteries, raw materials and charging infrastructure are ensured.

Nintendo Declares 10-1 Stock Split After Posting 4% Sales Decline In FY22, Weaker Guidance

• Nintendo Co, Ltd (OTC:NTDOY) reported an FY22 net sales decline of 3.6% year-on-year to ¥1.7 trillion.
• Stock Split: Nintendo declared a 10-1 stock split effective October 1, potentially propping up the shares as it struggled to revive a five-year-old Switch console and overcome a global chip shortage.
• Even when production and deliveries return to normal, the aging console will struggle to maintain its previous sales pace with the stock split acting as a boost, said an analyst.

Benzinga

Tinder Parent Sues Google: What You Need to Know

• Google parent Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) is being drawn into a legal battle over its app store rules.
• Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH), parent of online dating apps such as Tinder, Match.com and OkCupid, has taken up cudgels against Google for what it called “strategic manipulation of markets” and “abuse of power” for stifling competition in the mobile device ecosystem, a filing with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California showed.
• Google, according to the complaint, has monopolized the market for distributing apps on Android devices with its Google Play Store.

AMC CEO: Over 35% Of Online Payments Are Crypto And Digital

• AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) CEO Adam Aron revealed that over a third of the theatre chain’s online payments are comprised of cryptocurrency and digital avenues.
• In a quarterly earnings call on Monday, Aron said that venturing into cryptocurrency acceptance had been a “massive home run” for the company.
• “We found is that the same programming that was needed to accept cryptocurrency is the exact same programming that we needed to accept Apple Pay and Google Pay, PayPal, and a whole bunch of other payment types,” said Aron.

Dogecoin Creator Says This Will Make You Lose Faith In ‘Crypto Bros’

• Billy Markus, co-creator of Dogecoin DOGE/USD, believes that the latest cryptocurrency catastrophe is reason enough to lose faith in “crypto bros.”
• On Monday, Markus shared a series of tweets by Aztec Network’s Jonathan Wu explaining the drama surrounding the Terra LUNA/USD ecosystem.

Prominent VC Warns Markets Could Fall ‘Quite A Bit More’

• After a nice upward move on the day of the Fed rate hike, the market has retreated sharply in the three subsequent sessions. The sell-off is quite done yet, according to Redpoint Ventures.
• The Fall: Between Wednesday and Monday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) has lost over 7%. The weakness is starker when we consider the all-time high reached late last year. Since hitting a peak of 473.54, the SPY has pulled back about 16%.
• Future ‘Tense’ For Market: The market could decline “quite a bit” more despite the plunge in software stocks from their recent highs, venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz said in his weekly newsletter.

Nio Plans To Make Cheaper EVs Under Sub-Brand At NeoPark, Production To Begin In 2 Years: Report

• Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) plans to build a manufacturing plant at NeoPark for its anticipated sub-brand, CnEVPost reported on Tuesday, citing local authorities.
• The Shanghai-based Nio plans to begin production of the sub-brand electric vehicle models in 2024.
• The Hefei Economic Development Zone and Nio have signed a cooperation agreement for NeoPark Phase II expansion, the report noted, citing an article published by the city government.

Lehman Brothers Of Crypto? Community Reacts To Terra (LUNA) Downfall

• Some members of the cryptocurrency community have equated the chaos unfolding within Terra’s LUNA/USD ecosystem to the Lehman Brothers collapse.
• On Monday, Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD UST/USD lost its peg to the U.S. dollar and fell to $0.79.
• Terra’s Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) then proceeded to sell the entire $1.3 billion worth of its Bitcoin reserves in an attempt to bring LUNA back to parity with UST, adding a significant amount of sell pressure to an already tumbling Bitcoin.

Over $1B Liquidated In Crypto Markets As Bitcoin Briefly Drops Below $30,000

• More than $1 billion was liquidated from crypto markets as Bitcoin BTC/USD lost support at $30,000.
• According to data from Benzinga Pro, Bitcoin fell 8% on Monday to $29,944 – the lowest since July 2021.
• Data from Coinglass shows that over 280,000 crypto traders were liquidated over the last 24 hours with total liquidations exceeding $1.1 billion.

LGBTQ Social Media Platform And Dating App Grindr Lands SPAC Deal: What Investors Should Know

• A leading social media platform and dating company with a target demographic announced a SPAC deal after market close Monday.
• The SPAC Deal: Grindr announced a SPAC merger with Tiga Acquisition Corp (NYSE:TINV). The deal values the company at an enterprise value of $2.1 billion.
• Tiga Acquisition Corp. public shareholders will own 14% of the company after the merger closes, assuming no redemptions at the merger vote.

Lufthansa Orders For Boeing's New 777-8 Freighters, Additional 787s

• Lufthansa Group (OTC:DLAKY) plans to continue its strategic decision to strengthen Lufthansa Cargo with an order for seven Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) 777-8 Freighters, the fuel-efficient twin-engine freighter.
• Lufthansa also placed a new order for two 777 Freighters to add to its cargo fleet, providing extra cargo capacity in the near term until the delivery of its first 777-8 Freighter.
• Additionally, the Lufthansa Group continues to accelerate the modernization of its long-haul passenger fleet with a new purchase of seven 787-9s.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons