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The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against two Canadian software engineers who made $1.6 million by trading ahead of non-public, market-moving financial information. According to the SEC’s complaint, from at least May 2018 to July 2021, Harpreet Saini and John Lester Mandac Natividad, both of Ontario, were employed by a newswire distribution company specializing in corporate Press Releases , and had access to its internal press release distribution system that allowed them to preview headlines, times, and publication dates of forthcoming announcements. As alleged, Saini and Natividad collectively traded in advance of more than 1,600 announcements distributed by their employer and would routinely exit their positions after the market reacted to the news in the Press Releases . "Insider trading erodes public trust in the financial markets and gives an unfair advantage to those who trade using non -public information ," said Mic...

In this article NCLH RCL LULU GNRC AMLX NKE NUE RCII CCL TWTR Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT People walk near the entrance to Nike store, May 25, 2022 in Moscow, Russia. Konstantin Zavrazhin | Getty Images News | Getty Images Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Nike — Nike shares dropped 12% after the sneaker giant said Thursday its inventory was overstocked, up 44% in its latest quarter. As a result it will offer more discounts to clear out the excess merchandise. Other retailers were also dragged down, with Lululemon Athletica and Under Armour losing almost 6% and nearly 5% respectively. Rent-A-Center — Shares of Rent-A-Center slipped 20% after the company slashed its current-quarter earnings guidance, saying that economic conditions have weighed on consumer traffic and payment patterns. Carnival Cruise — Shares of Carnival Cruise plunged nearly 20% after the company forecast a loss for the fourth quarter, saying high fuel prices and inflatio...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against six individuals and two companies for their involvement in a fraudulent scheme to promote the securities of issuers that were conducting (or purporting to conduct) offerings pursuant to Regulation A, which, if certain conditions are met, provides an exemption to the Securities Act’s registration provisions. All but two of the parties have agreed to settle the SEC charges.  The SEC’s complaint alleges that Jonathan William Mikula, a recidivist securities law violator who resides in Georgia, promoted the securities of four issuers—Elegance Brands Inc. (now Sway Energy Corp.), Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals Inc., Hightimes Holding Corp., and Cloudastructure Inc.—without disclosing his receipt of compensation for the promotions. As alleged, Mikula promoted the securities through Palm Beach Venture, a newsletter for which he served as an author and chief analyst, and presented the recommendations as unbiased and no...

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has directed the staff to carefully monitor developments as a result of Hurricanes Ian and Fiona. While the safety of local residents is the highest priority , the SEC invites inquiries from any person with obligations under the federal securities laws that may be affected by the storms. The staff will evaluate the appropriateness of providing regulatory relief for those as applicable. Division of Examinations staff in the SEC's Miami Regional Office (covers Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico) can be reached at 305-982-6300 or miami@sec.gov. Division of Corporation Finance staff can be reached at 202-551-3500 or via online submission at //www.sec.gov/forms/corp_fin_interpretive. Division of Investment Management staff can be reached at 202-551-6825 or imocc@sec.gov. Division of Trading and Markets staff can be reached at 202-551-5777 or tradingandmarkets@sec.gov. Office of Municipal Securitie...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Justin Costello for using a false persona, as a Harvard-educated military veteran and hedge fund billionaire, to defraud investors out of millions of dollars. The SEC also charged Costello and David Ferraro, an associate of Costello’s, for promoting the stock of several microcap companies on social media without disclosing their own simultaneous stock sales as market prices rose. According to the SEC’s complaint, Costello portrayed himself to the public as a seasoned, licensed investment professional who was building a conglomerate in the cannabis industry . His alleged false representations included credentials as a Harvard MBA, experience managing a $1.15 billion hedge fund, and years of experience on Wall Street. As alleged in the complaint, Costello used these fabricated accomplishments to secure approximately $900,000 of investments in two different companies from more than 30 investors. As further alleged in the complaint, wh...

An employee arranges Apple iPhones as customer shop at an Apple store. Mike Segar | Reuters Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Apple — The big technology stock shed 5% following a rare downgrade by Bank of America. The bank downgraded shares of the iPhone maker to neutral and cut its price target to $160 a share from $185, citing macroeconomic challenges ahead. related investing news Cooling demand means raising prices becomes a test of how well companies know their customers Robert Hum a day ago CarMax — The used auto dealer's shares plummeted 23.2% after it released second -quarter earnings below analyst expectations before the bell. The company&#x27 ;s earnings per share dropped to $0.79, down about 54% from a year ago. PG&E — Shares of the utility company were down about 1.8% after the company asked California regulators for permission to make its non-nuclear generating assets a separate subsidiary. Coinbase — Coinbase shares slid 8% after Wel...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC (BBPLC) in connection with the unregistered offer and sale of an unprecedented amount of securities due to a failure to implement any internal control to track such transactions in real time. Both firms restated their year-end 2021 audited financial statements filed with the Commission as a result of the over-issuances and internal control failure. The firms agreed to pay a $200 million civil penalty and the SEC additionally ordered BBPLC to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of more than $161 million, which was deemed satisfied by an offer of rescission BBPLC made to investors in the unregistered offerings. The SEC’s order states that, following a settled Commission action against a BBPLC affiliate in May 2017, BBPLC lost its status as a well-known seasoned issuer (WKSI). As a result, BBPLC had to quantify the total number of securities that it anticipated offering and selling and pay ...

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates LP, speaks during a panel session on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The financial market turmoil resulting from the U.K. government&#x27 ;s spending plan "suggests incompetence," according to billionaire investor Ray Dalio.  "I can't imagine that this is intended – and if it's not intended then it's an understanding question," Dalio said on BBC Radio 4′s "Today" program Wednesday. related investing news El-Erian says Bank of England's latest rescue move shows we are still in central bank 'la-la land' John Melloy 2 hours ago His comments referred to the market turbulence that followed Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng's fiscal announcements late last week. The measures included large swathes of unfunded tax cuts that have drawn global criticism, including from the International Mon...

A Biogen facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Brian Snyder | Reuters Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Apple — Apple shares fell 3.4% on Wednesday following a report that the company is ditching plans to boost new iPhone production. Instead of aiming to increase output by 6 million units in the second half of the year as it had planned, it will shoot for 90 million units, unchanged from the prior year , according to Bloomberg. Biogen — Shares of the biopharmaceutical company soared 37% following upbeat results from its experimental Alzheimer's drug study and a slew of upgrades from analysts. Biogen and its Japanese partner Eisai said the drug reduced cognitive decline by 27% and slowed the progression of the disease. Broadridge — Spruce Point Capital Management issued report containing a strong sell opinion, saying it sees as much as 75% downside risk. Illumina — The biotech company saw shares climb 8% after Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to outperfor...

The Chinese yuan weakened past the closely-watched 7.2 level against the greenback this week. Getty Images BEIJING — The People's Bank of China has warned against betting on the yuan, after its rapid decline against the U.S. dollar this week. "Do not bet on a one-sided appreciation or deprecation of the renminbi exchange rate ," the central bank said in a Chinese statement on its website late Wednesday, according to a CNBC translation. related investing news El-Erian says Bank of England's latest rescue move shows we are still in central bank 'la-la land' John Melloy 14 hours ago The S&P 500 falls to a fresh low for the year. Here's where stocks may go next Patti Domm a day ago Analysts are falling back in love with Nvidia, with Citi giving it almost 100% upside Weizhen Tan 2 days ago That's based on a readout of a speech by vice governor Liu Guoqiang at a video conference meeting on foreign exchange that day. The renminbi, or the yuan, cros...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against The Hydrogen Technology Corporation, its former CEO, Michael Ross Kane, and Tyler Ostern, the CEO of Moonwalkers Trading Limited, a self-described “market making” firm, for their roles in effectuating the unregistered offers and sales of crypto asset securities called “Hydro” and for perpetrating a scheme to manipulate the trading volume and price of those securities, which yielded more than $2 million for Hydrogen. The SEC’s complaint alleges that starting in January 2018, Kane and Hydrogen, a New York-based financial technology company, created its Hydro token and then publicly distributed the token through various methods:  an “airdrop,” which is essentially giving away Hydro to the public; bounty programs, which paid the token to individuals in exchange for promoting it; employee compensation; and direct sales on crypto asset trading platforms.  The complaint further alleges that, after distributing ...

A young Beijing company's game called "Sheep a Sheep" went viral in China in September 2022. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC BEIJING — A new game that's gone viral in China hit people's screens with surprising speed at a time when gaming giants such as NetEase have waited months for approval to launch games. That's because the new game, called Sheep a Sheep, sits inside ByteDance's Douyin and Tencent's messaging app WeChat as a mini-program. Users can play the game within the apps. "WeChat and ByteDance don't currently require a game license to publish their HTML5 games on their platforms," said Rich Bishop, CEO of AppInChina, which publishes international software in China. "But this is likely to change over the next few months as enforcement of existing regulations intensifies," he said. HTML5 games are built with coding tools similar to those used for websites and can be easily distributed across platforms. WeChat and ByteDance di...

The crypto market has been battered this year, with nearly $2 trillion wiped off its value since its peak. Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images Cryptocurrency lender Nexo on Tuesday announced it has taken a stake in a federally-regulated U.S. bank, paving the way for the company to offer banking services to Americans as a licensed institution. Nexo, based in Zug, Switzerland, said it has agreed to buy an undisclosed stake in Hulett Bancorp, which owns a lit t le-known bank called Summit National Bank. Through Summit National Bank, which holds a federal bank charter with the Office Comptroller of the Currency, Nexo plans to offer a range of products including checking accounts and crypto-backed loans. The move is a significant development for the nascent crypto industry, which is seeking to win favor with politicians and regulators as investment and adoption of digital assets grows. The market has been licking its wounds following the collapse of controversial token terraUSD, which sp...

In this article HTZ KDP LCID VLO NCLH RCL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Andrew Kelly | Reuters Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Hertz — Shares of the rental car company jumped 1.9% after the company announced a partnership with BP's electric vehicle charging unit that will put thousands of charging stations at Hertz locations. Many of the stations will be used to charge Hertz's growing fleet of electric vehicles , but some will be available for public use. Keurig Dr Pepper — The beverage company shed about 3% after being downgraded by Goldman Sachs to a neutral rating from a buy. The firm sees increased risk to Keurig's margins as commodity inflation remains elevated. Lucid — The electric vehicle stock climbed 1.4% on Tuesday after Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Lucid with an overweight rating. The investment firm said in a note to clients that Lucid's cars have a competitive advantage to peers in longer battery ra...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 15 broker-dealers and one affiliated investment adviser for widespread and longstanding failures by the firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders, acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws, agreed to pay combined penalties of more than $1.1 billion, and have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures to settle these matters. The following eight firms (and five affiliates) have agreed to pay penalties of $125 million each: Barclays Capital Inc.; BofA Securities Inc. together with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.; Citigroup Global Markets Inc.; Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC; Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. together with DWS Distributors Inc. and DWS Investment Management Americas, ...

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng. Dylan Martinez | Afp | Getty Images LONDON – The first fiscal policy announcement from new British Prime Minister Liz Truss's government has been met with one of the most pronounced market sell-offs in recent history. The British pound hit an all-time low against the dollar in the early hours of Monday morning, dropping below $1.04, while the U.K. 10-year gilt yield rose to its highest level since 2008, as disarray continued following Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng's "mini-budget" on Friday. Jim O'Neill, former Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman and a former U.K. Treasury minister, said the pound's fall shouldn't be misinterpreted as dollar strength. "It is a consequence of an extremely risky budget by the new chancellor and a rather timid Bank of England that, so far, has only raised rates reluctantly despite all the clear pressures,"...