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Showing posts from February, 2023

Binance is ‘narrowing down’ identity of hacker behind $570 million crypto attack, CEO says

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watch now VIDEO 3:28 03:28 Need regulation to be pro-innovation, says Binance CEO Squawk Box Europe Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is getting closer to figuring out the identity of a hacker that orchestrated a $570 million hack on its BNB blockchain, CEO Changpeng Zhao told CNBC Monday. After getting some tips from law enforcement on who the hacker might be, Binance is now "narrowing down" the person or persons behind the attack, Zhao said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." The attack in question saw a so-called cross-chain bridge targeted, allowing an as-yet unknown hacker or hackers to withdraw 2 million of Binance's BNB tokens worth around $570 million at the time. More than $1 billion has been lost to breaches on cross-chain bridges so far this year, tools that facilitate the swift transfer of tokens from one blockchain platform to another, according to Chainalysis data. Popular in the world of "DeFi," or decentralized finance, b

Washington introduces ‘cap-and-invest’ program to charge companies for CO2 emissions

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Washington state on Tuesday kicked off a program aimed at cleaning the environment by forcing companies to pay for how much carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere.  Washington’s new law, the Climate Commitment Act, requires businesses that emit over 25,000 metric tons of carbon annually to pay for each metric ton in total. The state joins 14 others that have implemented some form of a program that sets declining caps on emissions from companies. Washington’s cap-and-invest program most closely reflects California’s cap-and-trade program, which began in 2013. Many major companies with manufacturing plants and refineries in Washington, including BP, Tyson and Boeing, exceed this threshold, as do the state’s energy companies. The program is estimated to bring in $1 billion annually, with most of that money earmarked for environmental-related programs. “A cap-and-trade program is a way of giving everyone incentive to take the damage of CO2 into account,” said Bill Shobe, a profess

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Avis, Pinduoduo, Starbucks, Alibaba and more

In this article TSLA BABA LVS WYNN SBUX CAR MYOV T Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT People wait in line at Avis rental agency in the Miami International Airport Car Rental Center. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Tesla — Shares of the electric vehicle company fell 3.2% after Tesla cut the starting prices for some of its vehicles in China. The price decreases apply to Model 3 and Model Y cars. CEO Elon Musk said last week that he saw signs of a recession in China. WeWork — Shares of WeWork rallied 4.3% after Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of the stock with an overweight rating. Cantor said that the office-sharing company's cost and optimization of its real estate portfolio cut $2.7 billion in expenses. Alibaba , Pinduoduo — Shares of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. dropped sharply Monday after Beijing tightened President Xi Jinping's grip on power, souring investor sentiment for non-state-driven comp

After splitting with Kanye West, British audio startup Kano asks for funding

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Kanye West arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 9, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Evan Agostini | Invision | AP British audio and computing hardware startup Kano is planning to raise equity funding from its users and fans, as the company tries to chart a path forward after cutting business ties with Kanye West, also known as Ye. The firm will launch a crowd funding campaign on Crowdcube on Tuesday, Kano's CEO Alex Klein told CNBC. Ordinary users will be able own a slice of Kano alongside its institutional backers, which include Microsoft and billionaire investor Jim Breyer's Breyer Capital. It's seeking to raise $900,000 from individual investors in the U.K. and Europe. The company also plans to expand the crowdfund to the U.S. Kano, which sells hardware targeted at musicians and creatives, has undergone a few dramatic twists over the years. Initially started as a venture to help kids code with easy to build computer kits, the firm has since moved much of its

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Best Buy, Seagen, Union Pacific and more

Customers shop at a Best Buy store on August 24, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson | Getty Images Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Union Pacific — Shares rose 9.5% after the company said CEO Lance Fritz would have a successor named this year. Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy from neutral following the news. Seagen — Shares soared by 14.9% after The Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer is in talks to acquire the cancer drugmaker, which has a market value of about $30 billion.  Best Buy — The retailer slipped 1.5% in the premarket after being downgraded to market perform from outperform by Telsey Advisory Group. The Wall Street firm said it expects high inflation and rising interest rates to weigh on Best Buy's 2023 sales and profits. Berkshire Hathaway — Shares of Warren Buffett's conglomerate could be active in premarket after the company reported Saturday that its operating profits fell during the fourth quarter amid inflatio

China Renaissance says its missing founder Bao Fan is cooperating with a government probe

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China Renaissance said this month it was unable to contact its founder and CEO Bao Fan. This picture is from 2016. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images BEIJING — Missing Chinese investment banker Bao Fan is cooperating with a government investigation, his firm China Renaissance said in a filing Sunday. The company's Hong Kong-listed shares have plunged 29% since the firm said on Feb. 16 it was unable to reach Bao. He is China Renaissance's controlling shareholder, chief executive officer and founder , among other roles. "The Board has become aware that Mr. Bao is currently cooperating in an investigation being carried out by certain authorities in the People's Republic of China," China Renaissance said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange Sunday. In both filings this month, China Renaissance said its business continued to operate normally. Its shares hit a record low of 5 Hong Kong dollars (64 cents) on Feb. 17 but have since recovered slightly. Stock

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Meta Platforms, ServiceNow, Align Technology and more

A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. Benoit Tessier | Reuters Check out the companies making headlines after the bell :  Meta Platforms — The Facebook parent plunged more than 13% after missing earnings estimates for the third quarter. Meta beat revenue estimates, posting a better-than-expected decline year-over-year but shared disappointing guidance for the fourth quarter. Ford Motor — Ford Motor shares dipped 1.1% in postmarket trading despite surpassing estimates on the top and bottom lines. The automaker took a $2.7 billion noncash writedown on its Argo AI venture, which resulted in an $827 million net loss. ServiceNow — The software stock soared 12.4% postmarket as earnings per share came in 12 cents ahead of Wall Street expectations. Other cloud stocks also rose in extended trading, including Arista Networks, which add

Fed's Mester says she has hope that inflation can be brought down without a recession

Cleveland Federal Reserve President and CEO Loretta Mester gives her keynote address at the 2014 Financial Stability Conference in Washington December 5, 2014. Gary Cameron | Reuters Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said Friday that interest rates likely need to keep moving higher to get inflation back to acceptable levels. In a CNBC interview, Mester said she sees the central bank's benchmark interest rate having to rise above 5% and stay there for a while. The fed funds rate, which sets the level that banks charge each other for overnight borrowing but spills over into many forms of consumer debt, is currently in a target range of 4.5%-4.75%. "I see that we're going to have to bring interest rates above 5%," she told CNBC's Steve Liesman during a "Squawk Box" interview. "We'll figure out how much above. That's going to depend on how the economy evolves over time. But I do think we have to be somewhat above 5% and hold th

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Domino's Pizza, Lucid, Nvidia, Nikola and more

In this article MOS EBAY DPZ Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Lucid Air Courtesy: Lucid Motors Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Nvidia — The chip stock spiked 12% after Nvidia topped expectations on the top and bottom lines in its most recent quarter. Wall Street analysts approved of the results, saying AI opportunities will drive growth for the chipmaker. Lucid Group — The electric vehicle maker tumbled more than 18% after posting fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of analysts' expectations. Bank of America also downgraded the stock to neutral from a buy rating, citing near-term demand concerns. Bumble — Shares added more than 4% after Bumble beat fourth-quarter revenue expectations. However, the company posted a quarterly loss of 85 cents per share, a figure that included an impairment charge from shutting down operations in Russia and Belarus. Mosaic Company — Shares of the fertilizer mineral company added 1.4% on Thursday afte

SEC Charges Cousins for Insider Trading in Kodak Stock Ahead of Company’s Planned Govt. Partnership to Assist in Response to COVID-19

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Andrew Stiles for insider trading in the stocks of Eastman Kodak Company and Novavax, Inc. based on nonpublic information related to both companies’ planned government partnerships to assist in the fight against COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic. The SEC also charged Andrew Stiles’ cousin, Gray Stiles, of Richmond, Virginia, for insider trading in Kodak stock that netted the two more than $1.5 million in illegal profits. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Andrew Stiles, of Charleston, South Carolina, through his employment at a medicine supply chain company, learned about Kodak’s efforts to obtain a $765 million loan from the federal government to manufacture chemicals to strengthen the domestic supply chain for a number of pharmaceuticals as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on this material nonpublic information, Andrew Stiles allegedly purchased more than 95,000 shares of Kodak stock ahead of the public ann

American companies increasingly look outside of China after Covid

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Parts of Shanghai have faced intermittent restrictions on business due to Covid controls, even after a broader two-month lockdown ended in June. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images BEIJING — Nearly twice as many U.S. companies cut their investment in China this year versus last year, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai found in its latest survey, released Friday. For 2022, 19% of respondents said they were cutting investment in China, up from 10% in 2021, the report said. The top reasons for doing so were Covid-related shutdowns, travel restrictions and supply chain disruptions, survey respondents said. "Confidence has been shaken," the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said. The metropolis of Shanghai suffered one of the harshest lockdowns in China earlier this year, dragging down the national economy in the second quarter with barely any growth. A bounce of 3.9% in the third quarter brought year-to-date GDP growth to 3% — well below the official target o

Fed minutes show members resolved to keep fighting inflation

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responds to a question from David Rubenstein (not pictured) during an on-stage discussion at a meeting of The Economic Club of Washington, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S, February 7, 2023.  Amanda Andrade-rhoades | Reuters Federal Reserve officials at their most recent meeting indicated that there are signs inflation is coming down, but not enough to counter the need for more interest rate increases, meeting minutes released Wednesday showed. While the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting concluded with a smaller rate hike than most of those implemented since early 2022, officials stressed that their concern over inflation is high. Inflation "remained well above" the Fed's 2% target, the minutes stated. That came with labor markets that "remained very tight, contributing to continuing upward pressures on wages and prices." Consequently, the Fed approved a 0.25 percentage point rate increase that was the smallest