Latest News

See the latest news and get GPT analysis of articles

No fooling: FanDuel fined for taking bets on April Fool’s Day on events that happened a week before 2024-07-10 19:01:08+00:00 - ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — It might have seemed too good to be true, but there it was, and on April Fool’s Day, no less: One of the country’s leading sports books was taking bets on mixed martial arts fights that had already happened a week earlier. FanDuel accepted 34 bets on the fights that were promoted by the sports book as live events scheduled to take place on April 1, 2022. But the fights had actually taken place a week earlier, on March 25. New Jersey gambling regulators fined FanDuel $2,000 for the mistake, and the company paid out over $230,000 to settle the bets. FanDuel declined comment Wednesday on the fine, which it agreed to pay. But the state Division of Gaming Enforcement said in a letter made public on Monday that FanDuel said it was not notified by its data-feed providers that the Professional Fighters League matches were actually a recording of events that had already happened. Instead, FanDuel’s trading team manually created betting markets based on information they obtained directly from the Professional Fighters League, New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Gina DeAnnuntis wrote. “FanDuel confirmed that its traders failed to confirm with PFL that the event had previously occurred and was being presented via a tape delay,” she wrote. FanDuel told the state that on April 1, 2022, it took 26 online wagers and eight retail wagers worth $190,904 on the events. Afterwards, FanDuel received a notification from the International Betting Integrity Association, which monitors sports betting transactions, looking for suspicious activity or out-of-the-ordinary patterns, that the events it was offering odds on had already happened. FanDuel paid off the wagers in the amount of $231,094, according to the state. The fine from New Jersey regulators was imposed on Jan. 2 but not made public until this week. The state also required FanDuel to update its internal controls to prevent such events from happening in the future. It was not the first time a sports book operating in New Jersey mistakenly took bets on something that had already happened. In 2021, 86 gamblers put down bets on a British soccer game that had already happened the day before. The bets were voided, and New Jersey regulators fined the Malta-based sports betting technology company Kambi Group and Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive $1,000 apiece. In that case, the companies had offered a so-called proposition or “prop” bet on whether Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford would score a goal in a May 13, 2021, soccer game between Manchester United and Liverpool. (He did.) But because a Kambi trader located in England mistakenly entered a start date of May 14 for the game, it enabled people to place bets on the event after it had ended when it was known that Rashford had already scored. Last week, New Jersey regulators revealed that they had fined DraftKings, another major national sports book, $100,000 for reporting inaccurate sports betting data to the state. ___ Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Kevin Costner’s second ‘Horizon’ film pulled from theatrical release 2024-07-10 18:52:37+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — The August theatrical release for the second chapter of Kevin Costner’s ambitious Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga” has been canceled after the first film fizzled in theaters. New Line Cinema announced Wednesday that “Horizon: Chapter 2” will not hit theaters on Aug. 16 as scheduled. The studio had planned an unusually fast back-to-back release for the two “Horizon” films. But after the first chapter collected a modest $23 million in its first two weeks in theaters, the distributor pivoted. “Territory Pictures and New Line Cinema have decided not to release ‘Horizon: Chapter 2’ on August 16 in order to give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment of ‘Horizon’ over the coming weeks,” a spokesperson for New Line said in a statement. For now, the release of “Chapter 2” will be marked TBD on the theatrical calendar. The first “Horizon,” which opened in theaters on June 28, will land on premium on-demand July 16. No streaming date on Max has yet been announced. The Hollywood Reporter first reported the shift in plans. The move is a humbling acknowledgement that Costner’s big theatrical gamble for his decadeslong passion project has failed to catch on with audiences. The first chapter of “Horizon,” which debuted in May at the Cannes Film Festival, cost some $100 million to make, making its path to profitability extremely challenging if not impossible. Costner put some of his own money into it, and has already begun shooting a third installment of what he envisions will ultimately be four movies. When asked in May about the movies hitting theaters in quick succession, Costner said, “The studio wanted to try that. I knew this was going to come out fairly quickly, like every four or five months. That may have been easier. But this is something they feel like people can remember the first one and it can tie into the second one.” Costner, who directed, co-wrote and co-stars in the films, had been trying to make “Horizon” for more than 30 years. While releasing the film, Costner confirmed his exit from the hit series “Yellowstone.” The ultimate destination of “Horizon,” he acknowledged, was always going to be on TV. “They’re going to break this up into a hundred pieces, you know what I mean?” said Costner. “After four of these, they’re going to have 13, 14 hours of film and they’re going to turn into 25 hours of TV, and they’re going to do whatever they’re going to do. That’s just the way we live in our life but they’ll also exist in this form. And that was important for me, to make sure that happened. And I was the one who paid for it.”

College can boost your income by 37%. Here are the top schools for the best financial outcomes. 2024-07-10 18:40:00+00:00 - Even as Americans express growing skepticism about the value of a college degree, a new study finds "incontrovertible" data that college grads far outearn those with only a high school education. In 2024, college grads' median pay stands at about 37% higher than median pay for those without a bachelor's degree, according to the analysis from compensation firm PayScale. In dollar terms, people with a college education earn about $78,400 annually in median pay, compared with $49,400 for people with a high school degree, the study found. Americans' increasingly dim view of higher education comes amid rising tuition costs and the nation's ongoing student debt crisis, with millions of households grappling with a combined $1.7 trillion in college loans. While some professions don't require college degrees and can also provide good livings — such as trades like plumbing or electrical wiring — the earnings and wealth gap between college and high school grads remains significant. For instance, young college grads have roughly quadruple the wealth of their less educated counterparts, a study from the Pew Research Center found earlier this year. "Despite the skyrocketing cost of tuition and dwindling enrollment numbers, our data shows that a college degree is still valuable in today's job market based on better salary outcomes," Amy Stewart, principal, research and insights at Payscale, said in a statement. Even so, not every college provides the same level of economic boost, according to a separate PayScale analysis, also released Wednesday. Students should make "strategic choices" to avoid debt that's difficult to pay back as well as to avoid underemployment, or working in a job that doesn't require a college degree, Stewart added. The top colleges for return on investment One way of analyzing the value of a college degree is to examine its return on investment (ROI), or the comparison between a grad's 20-year salary earnings minus the total cost of attendance for that college and the earnings of high school graduates. Ideally, students and their families will want to see that an initial investment in attending college will more than pay off in terms of higher earnings when compared with earnings with only a high school degree. Previous research has also shown that one's choice of major in college makes a big impact on ROI, with STEM degrees conferring a bigger income boost than those in the humanities. For instance, a 2023 study from the HEA Group found people who study operations research earn annual incomes of about $112,000 four years after graduation, while music majors earn about $34,000 a year. Not surprisingly, some of the top schools for the best ROI are STEM-focused universities and colleges, ranging from Harvey Mudd to the California Institute of Technology, or CalTech. Colleges with a lower cost of attendance also have a better ROI because students pay less over the course of their four-year degree, and tend to have lower debt. For instance, Harvard's total cost of attendance for four years is about $311,000, with a an ROI of $1,032,000, versus the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy's $24,500 total tuition cost and $1,352,000 ROI, PayScale's data shows.

The Guardian view on Labour’s devolution plans: beyond ‘levelling up’ | Editorial 2024-07-10 18:32:00+00:00 - Over the years, England’s town halls have become used to being treated with a mixture of hostility, condescension and neglect. During the late 1980s, writing at the height of Margaret Thatcher’s ideological assault on leftwing councils, the political scientist Andrew Gamble warned that her centralising tendencies could pave the way to “the eventual abolition of local government”. In the 2010s, Conservative administrations blithely swung the wrecking ball once more, as punitive austerity hollowed out council budgets to an unsustainable degree. Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to sit down with England’s metro mayors in Downing Street this week – the first meeting of its kind – was therefore both welcome and significant. Tuesday’s get-together largely amounted to warm words and selfies outside No 10. But Sir Keir’s announcement of a new council of regions and nations formalises a more equal and respectful relationship. It is a genuine statement of collaborative intent. The sense of a step-change was also conveyed by Angela Rayner’s decision to remove Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” slogan from the housing, communities and local government department that she now leads. Rarely has a political slogan generated so many ministerial speeches and column inches, to such little concrete effect. But beyond the optics and the sense of a fresh start, immense challenges loom as well as opportunities. Sir Keir is right to see greater devolution of powers to local authorities as a means of boosting economic growth – his administration’s overriding priority. Regional and local leaders are far better placed to identify their areas’ requirements, and harness their potential, than ministers and civil servants sitting in Whitehall. Similarly, plans to extend “trailblazer” powers over areas such as transport, housing and skills will liberate regions to innovate and reform. Moving from ringfenced annual funding rounds to single budget settlements will allow proper planning and joined-up thinking. In all this, Labour is on the right track and making the right noises. With a fair wind, the party’s 11 metro mayors could become invaluable champions and collaborators in a new era of devolution, as the government seeks to restore public services so grievously undermined over the last 14 years. Sooner or later, however, if a renaissance of municipal England is truly to take place, Sir Keir and Ms Rayner will need to face up to inconvenient truths. Financially, local government is on its knees. If inflation and other pressures are taken into account, the austerity years have reduced council spending power by half. Local revenue-raising powers are circumscribed and limited. Drastic cuts in funding from central government have hit poorer parts of the country hardest. As they struggle to fulfil statutory responsibilities in relation to social care, councils have closed leisure centres and libraries, neglected parks and shuttered advice centres. During the election campaign, Sir Keir channelled Theresa May, insisting there was “no magic money tree” to deal with this crisis. But a new financial settlement for local government is desperately needed. Without one, there risks being a Potemkin quality to Labour’s devolution programme, and the impact of laudable reforms will be undermined by a crisis of resources. Rehabilitating intermediate tiers of government, and deepening local democracy, is a civic necessity in an age of profound disillusionment with politics. Labour’s good intentions in this regard are clear. But it must find a way to will the means as well as the ends.

Elon Musk beats $500m severance suit over mass Twitter layoffs 2024-07-10 18:27:00+00:00 - A US court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit claiming Elon Musk refused to pay at least $500m in severance to thousands of Twitter employees he fired in mass layoffs after buying the social media company now known as X. US district judge Trina Thompson in San Francisco ruled on Tuesday that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Erisa) governing benefit plans did not cover the former employees’ claims, and therefore she lacked jurisdiction. The decision marks a legal victory for Musk, who still faces numerous lawsuits over his business practices at companies including X, Tesla and SpaceX. The cases range from allegations of gender discrimination and defamation to engaging in retaliatory firings. The case is one of many accusing Musk of reneging on promises to former Twitter employees, including the chief executive Parag Agrawal, and vendors after he bought the company for $44bn in October 2022. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. Musk’s lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests. Musk, one of the richest people in the world, was accused of failing to pay Twitter employees appropriate severance after claiming to have fired about 80% of the company in the months after his takeover. Plaintiffs alleged employees received only one month of severance pay with no benefits, instead of the far more generous package they were entitled to as part of a 2019 severance plan. Thompson said Erisa did not apply to Twitter’s post-buyout plan because there was no “ongoing administrative scheme” in which the company reviewed claims on a case-by-case basis, or offered benefits such as continued health insurance and outplacement services. “There were only cash payments promised,” she wrote. The judge said the plaintiffs could try amending their complaint, but only for claims not governed by Erisa. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Headlines US Free newsletter Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Musk’s lawyers were also in court this week for the latest legal battle over his contested multibillion-dollar pay package as CEO of Tesla. A judge must rule whether lawyers who successfully argued for the court to invalidate Musk’s payment should be awarded $7bn in legal fees, a sum that would be the largest of its kind in the history of US courts. Reuters contributed reporting

Do not let Thames Water’s bondholders wriggle off the hook | Nils Pratley 2024-07-10 18:22:00+00:00 - What is the new government’s policy on Thames Water? We’ll get a firmer guide – maybe – after regulator Ofwat gives its verdict on all the English and Welsh water companies’ business plans on Thursday. In the meantime, all we have to go on is this pre-election comment from Jonathan Reynolds, now the business secretary: “I wouldn’t want to see a nationalisation. I think there should be a solution that falls short of that.” That statement raises more questions than it answers, unfortunately. Which type of nationalisation would Labour not wish to see? A full-fat, permanent return to public ownership? Or also the temporary “special administration” variety in which Thames’s balance sheet would be straightened out before a return to the private sector? If Reynolds merely meant that permanent nationalisation is a bad idea, many of us would agree. The state’s last grand adventure into building infrastructure, which is what water companies do, was the financial catastrophe called HS2. It is too easy to imagine a repeat in which over-worked departmental officials are given the runaround by sharp private sector contractors who would inevitably do much of the actual work at Thames. Customers might end up no better off. But there is a problem if the Labour government is also signalling that it is reluctant to press the “special admin” button. The threat of special administration is surely essential in the current unstable position. It is one way to impose on Thames the solution that has always looked the simplest way out of the financial mess – a debt-for-equity swap in which shareholders are wiped out while bondholders, owed £15.2bn collectively, take a hefty haircut. Thames’s current shareholders, as it happens, have already given up. They have written down the value of their stakes and declared the company to be “uninvestable”. But that still leaves the bondholders, who are hoping to escape intact if Ofwat is sufficiently generous with its increases in bills. The company’s business plan involves a 44% rise over the next five years, which equates to 59% after inflation, to fund the bulk of a £19.8bn investment programme. On that basis, Thames’s management thinks it has a chance of raising £3.25bn in fresh equity from new shareholders while also avoiding losses for lenders. Come on, though, a hike of 59% is extreme. Everybody knows bills have to rise meaningfully, but 59% would smell suspiciously like a case of billpayers bailing out bondholders by stealth. The cleaner outcome would be a debt write-down to bring the leverage ratio, currently 80%, to the 55%-60% level that regulators regard as financially resilient. If Thames was towing, say, £10bn of borrowings rather than £15bn, the balance sheet would be transformed and the company would look a far more investable proposition. It would be a credible re-set moment. Thames would have financial breathing space while its new chief executive attempts the trickier task of improving the operational performance. We’ll see where Ofwat lands on bills, but Thursday’s draft determination is just the start of the horse-trading and political lobbying before the final decision in December. It is why ministers should be careful about what they mean when talking about preferred outcomes. Do not rule out special administration: it may yet be needed to impose a debt-for-equity swap that would probably have happened already if Thames were listed on the stock market. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion If Reynolds and co are scared of upsetting bondholders because the government is relying on some of the same source of capital to finance new energy infrastructure, they need to get over it. Financial markets are quite capable of viewing Thames for what it is – a special case of extreme financial engineering. On the right terms, they’ll still show up for the windfarms and gigafactories. Worry instead about the fury of Thames customers if they are bounced into a stitch-up for the benefit of bondholders.

This Alliance United West Africa for Decades. Now Countries Are Backing Out. 2024-07-10 17:48:00+00:00 - Three West African countries have broken away from a 15-member regional bloc that has long ensured free movement of people and goods among its tightly knit economies, further destabilizing an area that is home to nearly 400 million people and threatened by violent insurgents. The leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last weekend announced their “irrevocable and immediate” withdrawal from the bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS. They said that they are creating their own confederation. The three countries, all ruled by military leaders friendly to Russia, span more than half of the bloc’s geographic area and are among its most populous. However, they are not the region’s largest economies, and as landlocked nations, all three depend on access to ports in coastal countries for overseas trade. “Our region is facing the risk of disintegration,” Omar Alieu Touray, the president of ECOWAS’s executive arm, said on Sunday.

What’s in Store for the 2024 Hurricane Season? 2024-07-10 17:35:26.761000+00:00 - When Hurricane Beryl intensified into a Category 5 storm last week, it broke records and left a trail of damage across the Caribbean. The first named hurricane of the season, Beryl is the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, and also the first Category 4 hurricane to form in the Atlantic in the month of June — a portent of what experts say is a hurricane season that will be much more intense than usual. It was also abnormal because of where it formed, farther south and east than is typical for storms of this magnitude. After tearing through the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, the storm landed in southeast Texas, canceling more than a thousand flights and cutting power for more than two million residents. The storm killed at least 15 people. Hurricane season usually runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, with most storms developing between mid-August and mid-October. A broad swath of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard of the United States is affected by the storms. If you’re planning to travel during this hurricane season, here’s what you should know. How bad will hurricane season be this year? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an 85 percent chance of a more active than normal season. An average season has about 14 named storms, but researchers at Colorado State University forecast that this year there will be 25, including six hurricanes that are Category 3 or higher.

Hopes of interest rate cut dashed by Bank of England economist 2024-07-10 17:08:00+00:00 - Households’ hopes of a cut in interest rates have received a setback after the chief economist of the Bank of England warned that key measures of inflation remained “uncomfortably high”. Huw Pill, one of the nine members of Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC), strongly hinted he would vote to keep official borrowing costs at 5.25% when he said wage growth and inflation in the services sector were proving persistent. “I think it’s still an open question on whether the timing for a rate cut is now,” Pill said in an unscripted conclusion of a speech to the Asia House thinktank in London. Pill’s comments had an immediate impact in the financial markets, which had been betting 60-40 in favour of a rate cut when the MPC meets early next month but now see only a 50-50 chance of a move. Pill was among the majority when the MPC voted 7-2 at its last meeting in late June to keep borrowing costs at 5.25%, but is seen by the market as less hardline than some of his colleagues and a potential swing voter. Jonathan Haskell, another member of the MPC, said earlier this week that he favoured keeping rates unchanged. Interest rates were raised at 14 successive meetings of the MPC between December 2021 and August 2023, taking them from 0.1% to their current level. Pill said not too much should be read into headline inflation – as measured by the consumer prices index – falling back to the government’s 2% target. Instead, the MPC was focused on three measures of inflation persistence: labour market tightness, pay growth and services price inflation. “On the basis of recent out turns, at the margin recent developments in these indicators have hinted towards some upside risk to my assessment of inflation persistence,” he said. Pill added that there was a risk that inflation would return above the Bank’s 2% target as a strong labour market, resilient wage growth, and prices in the service sector offset cooling energy prices, which have helped to cut the headline rate in recent months. “There is a threat to go higher through the second half of this year, [but] we’re not talking about dramatic changes.” skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The Bank’s chief economist said there was a danger that focusing too much on the return of inflation to the 2% target in May could lead to “complacency, maybe taking your eye off the ball”. He said the Bank would be “resolute” in focusing on hitting the inflation target. “Not just today but through time.” Asked whether this suggested the Bank would take a cautious approach to setting interest rates, he said: “I wouldn’t back away too much from that.” Despite his cautious approach, Pill said it was still a matter of when, not if, rates would be cut.

CBS News President to Step Down 2024-07-10 16:49:16.259000+00:00 - Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, the CBS News president, announced on Wednesday that she would step down from her role in the next few weeks and would move into a senior adviser role through the presidential election. In a memo to employees, Ms. Ciprian-Matthews suggested she was leaving the position before the network’s parent, Paramount Global, began widespread job cuts. “We all know our industry and company are going through a transformation and a number of short- and long-term decisions need to be made,” she said. “I do not want to be disingenuous with any of you about who should drive these decisions.” Ms. Ciprian-Matthews will leave the company after the election. Earlier this week, Paramount Global announced it would merge with Skydance, a long-awaited move for Paramount, which has been in dire financial straits as the traditional cable bundle continues to unravel. The new leadership team that will take over Paramount after the deal closes — which is not expected until some time next year — has announced that it wants to find $2 billion in cost savings.

Stellantis recalls 332,000 vehicles over faulty seat belt sensor 2024-07-10 16:47:00+00:00 - Stellantis is recalling 332,000 Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Jeep vehicles because sensors on their seat belt connectors are not working properly. The recall covers the following vehicles made by Stellantis: Alfa Romeo Giulia, model years 2017-2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio, model years 2018-2025 Fiat 500E, model year 2024 Fiat 500X, model years 2019-2023 Jeep Renegade, model years 2019-2023 Stellantis said it has received 578 reports about the faulty sensor as of June 26, but isn't aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issue. "A seat belt buckle switch sensor may be improperly connected, preventing the front seat air bag from deploying as intended," Stellantis said in recall documents filed with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The faulty sensors were installed in the vehicles between September 2016 and June 2024. Stellantis said it will fix the sensor issue for free for owners "by directly wiring the sensor to the harness with a solder tube." Owners must take their vehicle to a local dealership for the repairs, according to the company. Alfa Romeo, Fiat or Jeep owners who need the repair will be notified by Stellantis by mail around August 22. Owners that have already paid for repairs for the sensor issue can be reimbursed by Stellantis after submitting the original receipt of the service, the company said. Owners with questions about the recall can contact Fiat Chrysler Automobiles at (800) 853-1403 and give reference number 82B. Owners can also contact NHTSA (888) 327-4236. The seat belt sensor is the latest in a series of recalls for Stellantis this year. Last month, the automaker recalled almost 1.2 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada to fix a software glitch that can disable the rearview cameras. The recall covered Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram pickup trucks and SUVs. In March, Stellantis also recalled thousands of Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 cars because of a manufacturing defect that could cause airbags to rupture, spraying metal fragments around the cabin. In February, the company recalled more than 338,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees because of a ball joint issue that could result in a loss of control by the driver, potentially leading to a crash. Stellantis was formed in 2021 when Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles formally merged with France's Groupe PSA. Stellantis also produces Chrysler, Dodge and Ram Truck vehicles in the U.S. along with a number of foreign brands, including Citroën, Opel and Peugeot.

This Stock's Price Shifts Into High Gear With Analyst Upgrades 2024-07-10 16:14:00+00:00 - A single analyst's upgrade can excite a market; a trend of upgrades can lift it, which is lifting Carvana NYSE: CVNA—a trend in upgrades signaling a shift in sentiment and a sustainable rally for this stock. The upgrade trend is strong enough to put CVNA on MarketBeat’s list of Most Upgraded Stocks, which is significant because Carvana has been prominent on the list of Lowest Rated Stocks for many quarters. The takeaway is that this once stalled investment is rebounding, and the rebound is shifting into high gear. Carvana Today CVNA Carvana $130.97 +5.27 (+4.19%) 52-Week Range $25.09 ▼ $136.92 P/E Ratio 57.44 Price Target $93.27 Add to Watchlist The latest revision comes from Needham. Senior Analyst Chris Pierce and team upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold, calling it a secular growth story with a cyclical kicker. The secular growth story involves the company’s digital-first operating model, under-utilized brick-and-mortar footprint, and an outlook for industry-leading growth. The growth will be driven by unit sales and increased market share in the retail and wholesale markets. The cyclical recovery kicker involves the analysts' sentiment. Needham views sentiment as bottoming and entering an upgrade cycle that could last several quarters. Needham’s new $160 is the new high target from analysts and may be reached soon. Get Carvana alerts: Sign Up Institutional Tailwinds Lift Carvana to Two-Year High Analysts are not the only sell-siders interested in Carvana. The institutions, the largest group of investors in the market, have bought this stock on balance for six consecutive quarters and increased their holdings to over 55%. The Q2 action is noteworthy because of numerous large position increases, including a 40% gain for T. Rowe Price, which now owns 3.7% of the shares. Vanguard holds about 5% of the stock in its funds and increased its holdings by 3%. The more significant activity is from the numerous smaller funds and private institutions that increased their holdings by triple digits. Those include the State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System (+302%), Cetera Investment Advisors (+170%), and GAMMA Investing LLC (+127%). Carvana MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 2.60 out of 5 Analyst Rating Hold Upside/Downside 27.5% Downside Short Interest Bearish Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -2.66 News Sentiment 0.25 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth Growing See Full Details The reason for the bullishness is the results. The company hit the skids in 2021 but bottomed in 2022 on an expectation that an industry cycle low had been reached. This year's catalyst was the Q1 results, which affirmed the outlook and gave a little more. The FQ1 results included top and bottom line strength, a return to growth, and record net income. Revenue growth topped 17%, outpacing consensus by 1200 bps on strength in units and pricing. The earnings were another real shocker, reversing a loss posted in the prior year and outpacing the consensus reported by MarketBeat by nearly $1.00. However, the guidance has the market shifting into high gear. The company didn’t give specific guidance but is forecasting a sequential acceleration in the YOY growth pace and for earnings strength to continue. Expectations Build for Carvana: Q2 Results Will be a Catalyst The analysts are building solid expectations for Carvana’s Q2 results but may still underestimate the recovery. The ten revisions tracked by MarketBeat are all upward, but expect only 10% revenue growth at the consensus. Further, the consensus forecasts a quarter of GAAP and adjusted losses contrary to guidance. Q2 results are due at the end of July. Short interest is another factor aiding the rally in this stock. Although short interest is falling, it was still a high 10% in mid-June, fueling a short-covering rally. The technical picture for this automotive stock is robust. It is moving up off its bottom and regularly knocking out resistance levels. The latest analysts' upgrades have the market trading at a two-year high, supported by the 30-day moving average. With this trend in place, the stock will likely continue to move higher in 2024. The next target for significant resistance is near $150, which may be reached by mid-summer, assuming the Q2 results are good. Before you consider Carvana, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Carvana wasn't on the list. While Carvana currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Rachel Reeves says the UK’s public finances are in a dire state – but here’s why I’m cautiously optimistic | Larry Elliott 2024-07-10 16:08:00+00:00 - A Labour government that comes to power after a prolonged period of unbroken Conservative rule. A sense in the country that something has gone seriously wrong with the economy and that change is needed. A backdrop of rapid technological change. For 2024, read 1964. For Sir Keir Starmer, read Harold Wilson. Wilson came to power with a national plan to grow the economy by 25% by the end of the 1960s. Starmer has a national mission to make the UK the fastest growing economy in the G7. We’ve been here before, but there is a chance – no more than that – that things may turn out better for Starmer than they did for Wilson. The 1964 Labour government was hamstrung from the start by Wilson’s determination to defend an overvalued pound – a decision that eventually led to devaluation, austerity and defeat at the 1970 election. Last week, the financial markets greeted Labour’s landslide victory with a big yawn. The pound was unmoved, shares rose and there was absolutely no sign of international investors heading for the exit. In her first press conference as chancellor, Rachel Reeves said she had looked at the books over the weekend and found the public finances to be in just as a big a mess as she had assumed while in opposition. Labour was saddled with the worst inheritance of any government since the second world war, she insisted. Let’s be clear, Reeves has not been left with the best of hands, but the pound can find its own level in the currency markets, the national debt is not out of control, and the interest payments on government borrowing are coming down now inflation has fallen back to 2%. All the stuff about money being tight is simply a way of blaming the Tories for the tough measures that new chancellors tend to announce in the first budget after an election. Fair enough. That’s politics. Far more interesting was what Reeves had to say about Labour’s economic strategy, which is unashamedly focused on the pursuit of faster economic growth. There is a green tinge to Labour’s approach, but no more than that. The government’s mantra is simple: growth is good. The free-market thinktanks love all the deregulation stuff, praising Reeves for having the courage that the Tories lacked to take on the growth blockers. Those who question the quest for ever-increasing gross domestic product and worry that plans to build on parts of the green belt will result in urban sprawl are going to struggle to get a hearing. A degree of scepticism is warranted. No government in living memory has managed to build 300,000 new homes a year, let alone the 1.5m over a single parliament that Labour is targeting. There is a tension between nationally mandated housing targets and plans to devolve more power to local authorities. Attempts to force through development will be challenged in the courts. Any boost to growth from changes to the planning rules is likely to be more modest, and slower in coming than Reeves hopes. Nor is the new national wealth fund likely to be a gamechanger. The idea is sound enough: provide extra funding to the national infrastructure bank so that it catalyses private sector investment in the growth industries of the future. But even assuming the state money is well targeted, the amount being pumped in by Reeves – £7.3bn – is too small to make a real difference. All that said, there are still reasons to expect the UK’s economic performance to improve in the years ahead. The first is that after 15 years of low investment, nugatory increases in living standards and the poorest productivity growth since the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, the only way is up. The second is that Labour is focused on improving the supply side of the economy. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, says his department should no longer be thought of as a public services department but as an economic growth department, and that makes good sense. The number of people employed in the UK is lower than before the pandemic, partly as a result of the direct effects of Covid-19 on mental and physical health, and partly because of longer NHS waiting lists. A fitter nation is a happier and more productive nation. Finally, there will be a boost to growth from structural changes happening to the economy: the main one being the rapid advance of AI. For the past 15 years, the UK (and other developed nations) have been battling against headwinds: AI is a potential tailwind – and would be, no matter which party was in power. “AI is coming,” says Erik Britton, of the economic consultancy Fathom. “It’s weird and scary and has the potential to transform our lives, for better or worse. Along the way, it will boost productivity, and not before time.” The UK is pretty well placed to realise the benefits of AI, lying third in the global race to develop the technology after the US and China. Conservative governments in the 1980s were the lucky beneficiaries of peak North Sea oil and gas revenues (and managed to blow most of the windfall) and the new Labour government could reap the benefits of the AI revolution. If all that’s a reason for optimism, a word of warning is needed. Wilson thought harnessing technology would be the catalyst for faster growth, and it didn’t happen. The benefits of AI may not be all they are cracked up to be. It is worth repeating: we have been here before.

BMW recalls more than 394,000 cars because airbags could explode 2024-07-10 15:46:00+00:00 - Airbag recall still a concern for thousands of vehicles Airbag recall still a concern for thousands of vehicles 03:11 BMW on Wednesday said it is recalling more than 394,000 vehicles in the North America because of Takata-made airbag inflators that could explode when deployed in a crash, potentially striking drivers and passengers with sharp metal fragments. The recall applies to the following models: 2006-2011 3 Series Sedan (324i, 325i, 325xi, 328i, 328xi, 330i, 330xi, 335i, 335xi), 2006-2012 3 Series Sportswagon (325xi, 328i, 328xi) 2009-2011 3 Series Sedan (335d) According to recall documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the original steering wheel on the affected BMW cars may have been replaced by owners with a sport or M-sport steering wheel with PSDI-5 inflators using ammonium nitrate that over time could lead to "overly aggressive combustion." "In the event of an inflator rupture, metal fragments could pass through the air bag cushion material, which may result in injury or death to vehicle occupants," BMW said in the recall report. Dealers will replace the driver-side airbag module for free, NHTSA said. Notification letters will be mailed to owners on August 23. Owners of the recalled BMW vehicles can direct any questions to the automaker's customer service at (800) 525-7417. BMW's number for the recall is "24V513." BMW has received no reports of deaths or injuries in the U.S. in connection with this issue, according to the recall documents. Millions of vehicles with airbags from Takata, the now-bankrupt Japanese manufacturer, are already under recall. NHTSA said that prolonged exposure to high heat and humidity can cause those airbags to explode when deployed. Owners may also contact NHTSA's safety hotline at (888) 327-4236 (toll-free at 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.nhtsa.gov for further information.

AI Boosts Glass Tech Leader Stock: Shares Up 75% and More to Come 2024-07-10 15:24:00+00:00 - Corning Incorporated NYSE: GLW is a $38 billion business specializing in glass and ceramic-related technology. Its products are used in everything from flat-screen TVs, smartphones, and sensitive sensors for drug research, which might not seem that exciting, but don't be put off. At a time when investors are focused on finding anything artificial intelligence (AI) related, funnily enough, that's exactly what Corning's got going on. Corning Today GLW Corning $45.48 +0.81 (+1.81%) 52-Week Range $25.26 ▼ $45.72 Dividend Yield 2.46% P/E Ratio 64.06 Price Target $41.92 Add to Watchlist Having watched its stock trend down to 45% from 2021's peak to November of last year, the New York-headquartered company has changed the narrative completely. It started, like with almost all equities, when the first signs of the Fed's victory over inflation started appearing towards the end of last year. Cooling inflation eventually means cooling interest rates, which in turn means cheaper money to fund growth and expansion. Get Corning alerts: Sign Up While it momentarily returned to 1999 levels, this market-wide shift in investor sentiment turned Corning stock around and sent it trending up. Its shares have gained some 75% since then and are within a 5% move of topping 2021's multi-decade high. Corning's Bullish Update: Strong Earnings and Upgraded Guidance Much of these gains came on the back of solid if not a bit boring, good old-fashioned work. April's earnings report topped analyst expectations for both headline numbers, and a couple of analyst upgrades and boosted price targets in June helped push the stock even higher. Corning MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.13 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 5.6% Downside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength Strong Sustainability N/A News Sentiment 1.01 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 17.28% See Full Details But the catalyst for the latest move, 16% this week so far, is the company's own updated forward guidance. While Corning shares had been cooling somewhat into the first week of July, Monday's update was enough to get them fired up again. For the current quarter, Corning is now looking for its core sales to land around $3.6 billion, up from its previous estimate of $3.4 billion. On the earnings front, it's good news, too, as Corning is expecting its earnings to land at the high-end of the previously guided range of $0.42 to $0.46 per share. Considering last quarter's revenue came in around $2.9 billion, this would be Corning's first year-on-year revenue increase in years. This would be a solid statement to the market while justifying investors' bullishness in the stock over the past nine months. AI Adoption Fuels Corning's Positive Outlook But what was arguably the most interesting part of the update, and what has potentially fueled most of this week's push, was the reason for the bullish outlook. As Corning's CEO Wendell Weeks said, "The outperformance was primarily driven by the strong adoption of our new optical connectivity products for Generative AI. These results reinforce our confidence in 'Springboard'—Corning's plan to add more than $3 billion in annualized sales in the next three years as cyclical factors and secular trends combine." Considering Corning is a 173-year-old business that is still headquartered in the small town it was founded in upstate New York, this was arguably the most exciting update from leadership in years. The team at HSBC immediately upgraded their rating on the stock, while the likes of Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Argus all upped their price targets. Strategic Timing: When to Invest in Corning's AI Growth Argus in particular made a statement with their street-high price target of $50, which, even including the move so far this week, points to further upside of some 12%. Notably however, this would also mean that Corning shares are at their highest level since the Dot Com bubble. Investors should look for the stock to continue building on its gains into the end of the week, with any close above $47 confirming that the next phase of the rally has begun. The last time Corning broke through a historic all-time high, it went on to add another 30% of gains fairly easily. Who's to say that won't happen again this time? Corning Incorporated (GLW) Price Chart for Wednesday, July, 10, 2024 → Upcoming Recession Forecasted To Be Worse Than 2008 (From Revelation Gold Group) (Ad) Before you consider Corning, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Corning wasn't on the list. While Corning currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Amanda Staveley to leave Newcastle after three years at St James’ Park 2024-07-10 15:04:00+00:00 - Amanda Staveley is to sever ties with Newcastle, almost three years after becoming the public face of the club’s Saudi Arabian-controlled takeover. Staveley and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, became directors and minority co-owners of Newcastle in October 2021 when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased an 80% majority stake and Staveley and Reuben Brothers each assumed 10% holdings. With Newcastle then without a chief executive or a sporting director, the Saudis handed Staveley and Ghodoussi a rolling management contract to handle the day-to-day running of the club. The pair played a key role in appointing Eddie Howe as the manager in November 2021 and have since struck up a close relationship with the person believed to be the Football Association’s first choice to replace Gareth Southgate, should the latter resign as England coach after Euro 2024. If Howe is unlikely to be surprised by the news that the Saudis and their co-director Jamie Reuben have joined Staveley and Ghodoussi in reaching what has been described as a “reluctant” conclusion that the time is right to separate, he may well be unsettled by the loss of such key allies. Staveley played a vital role in brokering the hugely controversial £300m deal that ended Mike Ashley’s 14-year ownership of Newcastle and subsequently helped negotiate a series of key transfers involving players such as Bruno Guimarães and Kieran Trippier arriving at St James’ Park. As Howe’s side finished fourth in the Premier League in 2022-23 and reached the League Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United, she also prioritised the club’s women’s team, proving a key figure in its rise from the fourth to the second tier. The appointments of Darren Eales as Newcastle’s chief executive and Dan Ashworth as sporting director reduced her role though and it seemed significant that she reduced her stake to 6% last year while the Reuben Brothers increased theirs to 14%. It is unclear whether they or the Saudis – or both – have bought her out now but it is understood no fresh investors have been sought. In March a series of listings at Companies House removing Staveley as a director of 20 companies related to Newcastle United raised questions about her future on Tyneside but, at the time, she said it was merely a form of administrative housekeeping. View image in fullscreen Dan Ashworth left Newcastle to be sporting director at Manchester United. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/AP That month, the financier was involved in a court case when she failed in an attempt to persuade a judge to dismiss a bankruptcy claim brought by the Greek shipping tycoon Victor Restis who claims Staveley owes him £36m. She has said she intends to appeal against the judge’s verdict. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Football Daily Free daily newsletter Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Yet if Staveley and Ghodoussi were preparing for a departure from Newcastle in the spring it was almost certainly delayed by Ashworth’s defection to Manchester United and the need to recruit a new sporting director. With Paul Mitchell having arrived to fill that role last week and the recent sales of the winger Yankuba Minteh to Brighton and the midfielder Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest for a combined total in excess of £60m having ensured that Newcastle remained on the right side of profitability and sustainability roles, it appeared Staveley’s work at St James’ Park was finally done. Newcastle declined to comment on her departure.

AI Partnership Boosts This Top Tech Stock: Ready for More Gains? 2024-07-10 15:03:00+00:00 - Palantir Technologies Inc. NYSE: PLTR is up 68% through the first half of 2024. That makes it not only one of the best technology stocks of the year but also one of the best-performing stocks in the market period. And with the market still showing a lack of breadth, it’s noteworthy that PLTR stock has outperformed every Magnificent 7 stock except NVIDIA Corp. NASDAQ: NVDA. Palantir Technologies Today PLTR Palantir Technologies $28.42 +1.03 (+3.76%) 52-Week Range $13.68 ▼ $28.47 P/E Ratio 236.85 Price Target $21.25 Add to Watchlist However, as every investment prospectus says, past performance does not guarantee future performance. Palantir has a loyal band of followers but seemingly an equal number of critics. Those naysayers will point to the stock’s 171x forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 27 to prove that Palantir is overvalued. Get Palantir Technologies alerts: Sign Up The only question that matters now is whether PLTR stock has room to move higher. Some recent developments suggest the answer may be yes. A Partnership with Oracle Marries Cloud Services with Palantir's AI Platform On July 9, Oracle Corp. NYSE: ORCL announced it would be using Palantir’s Foundry and Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) on its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). This combination will allow businesses and governments to accelerate their AI initiatives. One noteworthy reason this is significant for Palantir is that Oracle has over 300,000 customers that can now access Palantir’s software. And many of those are in the private sector. A common criticism of the company is that it’s too reliant on government business (which makes up about 53% of its revenue). The Company Keeps Winning with the U.S. DOD However, just because Palantir is growing its commercial business doesn’t mean that its government business is in danger of slowing down. In May, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Chief Digital and AI Office awarded the company a $153 million contract to license its AI-enabled operating system. However, the contract may be worth up to $480 million in the next five years. This is only the latest military contract that Palantir has received. In April, Palantir was awarded a $9.8 million contract from the Defense Information System Agency to deliver an Electromagnetic Battle Management – Joint Decision Support prototype. The Third Time May Be a Charm With the S&P 500 In June, Palantir was rebuffed for inclusion in the S&P 500. However, the index will rebalance again in September. Palantir reports earnings in August. If the company delivers a strong report, as many expect, it will make it more difficult for the S&P 500 to keep it out of the index. And once that happens, the stock will almost certainly receive more institutional interest. For all the headlines the stock generates, only about 45% of the stock’s float is owned by institutions. Palantir's Institutional Confidence: A Signal for Investors Palantir Technologies MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 2.31 out of 5 Analyst Rating Reduce Upside/Downside 25.2% Downside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability N/A News Sentiment 0.83 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 37.50% See Full Details A final thought to consider about the future of Palantir stock: the stock has surged over 18% in the last month, and there have been five different insider sales of PLTR stock by three different insiders. However, each of these sales was pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. That means the individual was going to sell no matter the price. That's always important to watch, and that's why insider buying is more telling than insider selling. That said, it’s fair to note that there have been no insider buys of PLTR stock in the last 12 months. However, institutions have bought $7.5 billion of Palantir while selling approximately $688 million. That should remind investors to follow what the institutions do more than what they say. Before you consider Palantir Technologies, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Palantir Technologies wasn't on the list. While Palantir Technologies currently has a "Reduce" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

NYC man and Canadian national plead guilty to exporting U.S. electronics used in Russian weapons in Ukraine 2024-07-10 14:45:00+00:00 - Rescuers still searching for survivors at a Ukrainian children's hospital after Russian strike A Canadian national and a New York resident pleaded guilty on Tuesday to illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of U.S. electronics that were used in Russian weapons in Ukraine, the Justice Department said. Nikolay Goltsev, 38, of Montreal, and Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, 53, of Brooklyn, face up to 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit export control violations, the department said in a statement. According to federal prosecutors, some of the electronic components shipped by the defendants have been found in seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine, including an airborne counter missile system, Ka-52 helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and battle tanks. In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, April 12, 2024, a Ka-52 helicopter gunship of the Russian air force fires rockets at a target at an unknown location in Ukraine. / AP "The defendants shipped millions of dollars of U.S. electronics critical to the missiles and drones Russia uses to attack Ukraine, and they now face U.S. prison time for their scheme," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said. "As Russia continues to wage its unjust war of aggression against Ukraine, the department remains committed to holding accountable those who fuel Putin's war machine." According to court documents, Goltsev, Nasriddinov and Goltsev's wife, Kristina Puzyreva, who pleaded guilty in February, conspired to ship more than $7 million in dual-use U.S. electronics to sanctioned Russian companies. "Some of these components were critical to Russia's precision-guided weapons systems being used against Ukraine," the Justice Department said. In a Feb. 23, 2023, message, prosecutors say Nasriddinov wrote to Goltsev, "Happy Defender of the Fatherland," referring the holiday in Russia celebrating military veterans. Goltsev responded, "happy holiday to you too my friend, we are defending it in the way that we can [smile emoji]." The U.S. expanded existing sanctions and export controls on Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. At the time, Russia already faced sanctions linked to its 2014 incursion into Ukraine, use of chemical weapons and election interference. Nasriddinov and Goltsev shipped the components through front companies in several countries, including Turkey, India, China and the United Arab Emirates, from where they were rerouted to Russia. Goltsev, a dual Russian-Canadian national, and Nasriddinov, a dual Russian-Tajik national, are to be sentenced in a federal court in New York in December. Puzyreva is awaiting sentencing.

This Tech Stock Can Set a Multiyear High with AI-Powered Growth 2024-07-10 14:29:00+00:00 - SMART Global Today SGH SMART Global $29.32 +6.10 (+26.27%) 52-Week Range $12.66 ▼ $29.35 Price Target $29.83 Add to Watchlist SMART Global Holdings' NASDAQ: SGH repositioning efforts have set it up to achieve record-high share prices soon. The company’s Q3 results aren’t perfect, but include critical details that will support the market over time. Among them are improved profitability and a return to growth supported by AI. The AI industry and the applications spawned by it need high-quality memory and LED components that SGH supplies. Although the guidance for Q4 was tepid compared to the analysts' consensus, the longer-term outlook is robust because AI is still in its earliest phases; the bulk of SGH opportunity lies ahead. "Our customers are looking for a trusted deployment partner to help them solve the complexity of AI, and we feel we are well positioned with our portfolio of systems, software and managed services to enable their success," said Mark Adams, CEO of SMART Global. Get SMART Global alerts: Sign Up SGH Returns to Growth: Builds Leverage With Wider Margins SMART Global's Q3 was mixed. The company’s revenue is down 12.7% YoY and missed the consensus by a wide margin, but there is a repositioning effort to consider. The company exited its stake in Brazilian operations earlier in the year, which is a root cause for the weakness. Additionally, SMART Global’s analysts' coverage is light, so there is little conviction in the consensus estimate. The salient details are that sequential growth persisted for a 2nd quarter on strengthening in all segments. Memory Solutions led with a gain of 10%, followed by a 6.4% increase in LED Solutions and a 2.5% rise in Intelligent Platform Solutions. Margin is another area of strength. The company widened its GAAP and adjusted gross and operating margins to deliver better-than-expected bottom-line results, reversing losses in the prior year. The gross margin widened by 80 bps on a GAAP and adjusted basis, while reduced spending and cost controls left the GAAP and adjusted EPS at $0.10 and $0.37, respectively. Guidance is tepid compared to the analysts' consensus, aligning with the average outlook but favorable to investors. The company forecasts Q4 revenue in a range bracketing $325 million, which is good for sequential and YoY growth. The margin is also expected to widen and produce accelerated sequential and YoY growth. The quarter was good for the SMART Global Holdings balance sheet. The company produced a cash-flow-positive quarter, aiding the cash build and debt reduction. The cash pile grew by roughly 25% while inventory held steady, increasing assets and total assets. Debt is down more than 10%, leaving leverage at 1.5x equity and 1.5x cash. Equity has risen nearly 100%. Analyst Raises Price Target for SMART Global SMART Global MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 1.08 out of 5 Analyst Rating Buy Upside/Downside 5.2% Upside Short Interest Bearish Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability N/A News Sentiment 1.10 Insider Trading Acquiring Shares Projected Earnings Growth 147.46% See Full Details MarketBeat.com tracks five analysts covering SMART Global; all are bullish on this stock. The consensus target is down 10% to $30 compared to last year, but sentiment is firm at Buy, and the stock is a deep value in their eyes. Trading near $25, the stock is still 10% below the lowest analyst target, and the range is rising. The Q3 results spurred one analyst to revise its target: a $3 increase to $30, aligning with consensus. Institutions provide another tailwind for this market. They bought on balance in 2024 and are increasing their holdings. They own nearly 98% of the stock, which may make it difficult for the short-sellers to cover. Short interest is near 10% and sufficient for a short-covering rally if not a squeeze. SGH stock is up strongly in premarket trading and could move higher. The premarket gains have the market at a new high, but there is a risk of resistance at $27.50, the low end of the analysts' range. That target aligns with previous resistance and may cap gains. If so, SGH stock will remain range-bound until later in 2024 or early in 2025. If not, a move above $27.50 would indicate a shift in market sentiment that should get this market up to the $30 level. Before you consider SMART Global, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and SMART Global wasn't on the list. While SMART Global currently has a "Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Microsoft relinquishes OpenAI board seat as regulators zero in on artificial intelligence 2024-07-10 14:12:00+00:00 - AI fuels surge in energy demand AI fuels surge in energy demand 09:54 Microsoft is giving up its seat on OpenAI's board, saying its presence is no longer necessary as the ChatGPT maker's governance has improved since its boardroom upheaval last year. "We appreciate the support shown by OpenAI leadership and the OpenAI board as we made this decision," Microsoft stated in a Tuesday letter. The company's resignation is effective immediately, Microsoft said. The unexpected exit comes as antitrust regulators scrutinize Microsoft's partnertship with OpenAI, under which the software giant invested billions in OpenAI. Microsoft also took a seat on OpenAI's board after a chaotic period in which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was abruptly fired, then reinstated, with the board members who orchestrated his ouster later pushed out. "Over the past eight months we have witnessed significant progress by the newly formed board and are confident in the company's direction," Microsoft said in its letter. "Given all of this we no longer believe our limited role as an observer is necessary." Microsoft's decision means that OpenAI will not have observer seats on its board. "We are grateful to Microsoft for voicing confidence in the Board and the direction of the company, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership," OpenAI said in a statement. The Federal Trade Commission and Britain's regulatory agency have also been reviewing Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI, and European regulators last month said they'd take another look at the partnership under the 27-nation bloc's antitrust rules. —The Associated Press contributed to this report.