Topics
- DAX Daily Review
- Lufthansa rumours on AirBerlin
- Uber assigns Khosrowshahi as new CEO
- Gilead Sciences reaches an agreement with Kite Pharma
- U.S. Market Daily Review
The DAX had a slow start into this week, opening at 12’105 quoting a loss of 0,5%. During the day the DAX was able to reverse the trend with a continuous upward movement. 2 hours before close the German Index is at 12160. Taking a microscope to segregate all the DAX Members no company reflects a massive loss or gain, with all stocks quoting in the [-1%; +1%] range.
Lufthansa’s proposal for the carve-up of Air Berlin would see it taking over the insolvent carrier’s Austria-based leisure airline Niki and other planes, a source familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. Its proposal is in the low hundreds of millions of euros, the person said. In total, it wants to take on up to 90 planes, which would include the 38 crewed aircraft Lufthansa already leases from Air Berlin, the source said. The German flagship carrier on Wednesday said it had put forward a concept for an acquisition of parts of Air Berlin, but did not provide further details.
Uber Technologies on Sunday chose Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of travel company Expedia Inc, as its chief executive, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, handing him the challenge of leading the ride-services company out of a nearly year-long crisis. Khosrowshahi, 48, would take on the daunting task of mending Uber ‘s image, repairing frayed relations among investors, rebuilding employee morale and creating a profitable business after seven years of losses.
Gilead Sciences has reached an $11.9bn agreement to acquire Kite Pharma, adding a cutting edge anti-cancer technology to its portfolio.The Californian biotech group will pay $180 per share for Kite, it announced on Monday.Gilead’s agreement, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, represents nearly a 30 per cent premium on Kite’s closing price on Friday.Santa Monica-based Kite is a leader in cell therapy, a new form of treatment which involves re-engineering patients’ own white blood cells to attack cancer cells.Joh Milligan, Gilead chief executive, said: “The acquisition of Kite establishes Gilead as a leader in cellular therapy and provides a foundation from which to drive continued innovation for people with advanced cancers.We are greatly impressed with the Kite team and what they have accomplished, and share their belief that cell therapy will be the cornerstone of treating cancer. Our similar cultures and histories of driving rapid innovation in order to bring more effective and safer products to as many patients as possible make this an excellent strategic fit.”
In the U.S. on Friday The Dow quickly jumped to a morning-best gain of better than 115 points in an attempt to close out the up and down week on a high note. But this early strength would soon fade. Indeed, by late morning, the gains were shrinking, with the Dow’s initial advance reduced by more than 50%, while the volatile NASDAQ fell into the red after having initially climbed more than 35 points. As noted, hopes for tax reform were in the vanguard of this early strength, as the President is expected to begin campaigning for his package this week. Also helping market were constructive words on the state of the financial system from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. She was speaking at the bank’s annual symposium at Jackson Hole Wyoming.However, after her reassuring words on the financial outlook, the Fed Chair gave no clue about the Fed’s future monetary policy. Instead, she focused on the history of the monetary crisis that struck the global markets late last decade. As to interest-rate hikes, none is expected until at least December, and even then, the likelihood is that the Federal Reserve will pass on one more tightening at that time, preferring to wait until 2018. Of course, if we get tax reform and somewhat higher rates of gross domestic product growth and inflation, the central bank’s timetable for monetary tightening could move up somewhat. Meanwhile, after the morning’s quick start, as noted, stocks lost their edge, though most of the averages stayed in the plus column as we headed into the noon hour in New York. As to other influences on the day’s trading, in addition to taxes and the Fed, the government reported a sharp drop in new orders for durable goods in July. That report, issued an hour before trading commenced, showed that such orders had dropped 6.8% last month. However, excluding a steep decline in orders for transportation equipment, demand for durables actually ticked up 0.5%. This mixed showing had little impact on trading In all, with earnings in the rearview mirror for the second quarter and the economy likely failing to take center stage again until this Friday’s scheduled report on non-farm payrolls and the unemployment rate, the focus could well stay on the Fed and Washington for at least the coming few days. And that could keep things volatile. In the meantime, after that late-morning pause, stocks headed into the afternoon holding generally modest gains, with the Dow up about 45 points, but the NASDAQ a touch lower. The market then renewed its climb after lunch, so that by mid-afternoon, the Dow again was ahead by some 80 points. The stock market continued to firm up for a time as the afternoon wound down, but there was some last-minute selling that clipped some of the froth off of the averages, leaving the Dow ahead by 30 points and the S&P 500 up by four. The NASDAQ, reflecting weakness in the tech space, gave back six points. Still, gaining stocks continued to overwhelm declining issues on the Big Board, with moderate strength in energy and basic materials issues on a rise in oil prices ahead of the feared hurricane damage in Texas. So, it was a basically quiet end to a volatile week on the Street. Now, a new day and week dawn and for clues about trading going forward, we look out at the markets in Asia, where we saw generally mixed action overnight, while in Europe, the Continent’s bourses are tracking downward at this hour. In other markets, gold is up, crossing the $1,300 an ounce mark; Treasury yields, off in Friday dealings, are now nudging higher; and oil, following late-week gains, are heading lower on concerns about the devastation brought on by Hurricane Harvey. Finally, in a busy week for the economy, U.S. futures are trending a bit lower, on average, at this hour. Politics, the economy, and now the hurricane would seem to be the big items of note for the markets in the days ahead. Stay tuned
Sir of Finance 