Research Market strategy
By Swissquote Analysts
Morning News

Chinese Lithium Giant Targets Up to $1.7 Billion in Hong Kong IPO

Tianqi Lithium Corp., one of the world's largest producers of battery-grade lithium compounds, said Wednesday that it plans to raise the equivalent of up to $1.7 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering, braving a subdued global market for stock issuance. Investment banks handling the transaction will start taking orders from investors on Thursday and price the deal on July 6. The lithium producer expects to list on July 13. The listing is poised to become the largest IPO in Hong Kong so far this year. Tianqi Lithium set a maximum price for its shares of 82 Hong Kong dollars, the equivalent of $10.45 apiece.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

Volkswagen Sells Stake in Electrify America to Siemens

Volkswagen AG has agreed to sell a minority stake in its U.S. electric-vehicle charging business to Siemens AG , in a transaction that provides $450 million in new money and values the charging network at $2.45 billion, the companies said Tuesday. Bringing Siemens into Volkswagen’s Electrify America LLC generates additional funding to drive an expansion of EV charging that aims to more than double the number of charging stations that Electrify America operates across the U.S. and parts of Canada to 1,800 by 2026.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

Credit Suisse Found Guilty in Money-Laundering Case

Credit Suisse Group AG and a former employee were found guilty Monday in a Swiss federal criminal court of helping a Bulgarian crime ring launder money related to cocaine trafficking. The court found Credit Suisse didn’t do enough to prevent money laundering by members of the crime ring, which prosecutors said moved tons of cocaine into Europe and washed millions of dollars through Credit Suisse. It fined Credit Suisse around $2.1 million and ordered it to pay around $20 million to the Swiss government.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

Fed Stress Test Finds Big Banks Can Weather Severe Recession

The Federal Reserve gave the biggest U.S. banks a clean bill of health in its annual stress test, saying they would be able to continue lending to households and businesses even in a severe recession. This year’s stress test measured the 34 biggest banks’ ability to maintain strong capital levels in a hypothetical recession marked by sharply higher unemployment and a steep decline in stock prices. The banks subject to the test remained above their minimum capital requirements in the test’s worst-case scenario, though they would collectively lose more than $600 billion, the Fed said.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Comcast’s NBCUniversal, Google Among Front-Runners to Partner with Netflix to Help Create Ad-Supported Tier

Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have emerged as top contenders to partner with Netflix Inc. and help the streaming giant create an advertising-supported tier of its service, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix, which is hoping to boost revenue by selling ads around its programming, is still in the early stages of developing the strategy and has explored a range of tie-ups in recent weeks.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Bayer Appeal on Roundup

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a bid by Bayer AG to end thousands of lawsuits alleging its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, potentially costing the German conglomerate billions of dollars in legal settlements. Bayer has been mired in Roundup litigation since acquiring Monsanto, the product's original owner, in 2018. The German conglomerate, which maintains that Roundup is safe, has earmarked $16 billion to deal with litigation over the herbicide.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Valneva Shares Climb as Pfizer Takes $95 Mln Stake

Shares in French drugmaker Valneva SE trade sharply higher Monday after U.S. peer Pfizer Inc. agreed to take a shareholding in the company, as the pair look to boost their development of a vaccine against Lyme disease. Under the agreement, Pfizer will invest $95 million in an 8.1% stake in Valneva via a reserved capital increase at a price of EUR9.49 a share, the two companies said Monday, adding that the investment will close Wednesday.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

Russian Oligarch Sues Credit Suisse for 500 Million Francs

A Russian oligarch has sued Credit Suisse for 500 million Swiss francs in compensation for losses allegedly caused by a financial advisor. As reported by the Swiss "Sonntagszeitung," Monaco-based Russian millionaire Vitaly Malkin hired a U.S. law firm to represent him in the legal dispute with Credit Suisse. The bank denied all allegations when asked by the AFP news agency. A Credit Suisse financial advisor had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 for embezzling client funds and committed suicide two years later.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

The Fed Isn't the Only Central Bank Ramping Up the Inflation Fight

The Federal Reserve may have delivered the biggest interest-rate increase since 1994, but it isn't alone in trying desperately to put a lid on inflation. The Swiss National Bank surprised markets with a 0.5 point hike on Thursday. It was the first rate increase in 15 years, lifting the benchmark to -0.25% from -0.75%. Over in London, the Bank of England increased its key rate by a quarter-point to 1.25%, a fifth consecutive hike since December. Three of the nine members of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee favored a bigger half-point move. The wave of interest-rate increases shows how eager monetary-policy makers are to prevent the fastest consumer-price gains in decades becoming embedded in the economy.

By
Mathieu VILLARD
Morning News

Fed Raises Rates By 0.75 Percentage Point, Largest Increase Since 1994

The Federal Reserve approved the largest interest rate increase since 1994 signalling it would continue lifting rates this year at the most rapid pace in decades as it races to slow the economy and combat inflation that is running at a 40-year high. Officials agreed to a 0.75-percentage-point rate rise at their two-day policy meeting that concluded Wednesday, which will increase the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 1.5% and 1.75%.

By
Nadine PEREIRA