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By Swissquote Analysts
Morning News

Goldman Sachs Profit Rises on Deal Bonanza

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Friday reported a 60% jump in profit and a 26% increase in revenue, beating analysts’ expectations. The Wall Street titan rounded out earnings season for the biggest U.S. banks, all of which reported double-digit profit gains. Goldman’s investment bankers brought in $3.7 billion in fees, the second-best quarter on record and 88% higher than a year ago. They earned $1.65 billion just from advising on mergers and acquisitions, a quarterly record and more than triple the year-ago results. Third-quarter trading revenue jumped 23% at Goldman, to $5.61 billion. Bond trading came back to earth after a supercharged 2020, when nervous companies raced to raise debt.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Bank of America Quarterly Profit Rises 58% on Higher Interest Income

Bank of America Corp. said Thursday that third-quarter profit rose 58%, suggesting banks’ lending businesses are starting to improve from a pandemic slump. The bank released $1.1 billion of the reserves it had set aside for pandemic loan defaults, helping boost its profit. Revenue was up 12% from the year-ago period. Bank profits soared in the latest quarter in large part because the U.S. economy bounced back so quickly from the pandemic recession. Banks last year set aside billions of dollars to prepare for a wave of loan defaults, but now they are releasing the money they had socked away. That helped power double-digit earnings gains at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

JPMorgan Profit Jumps on Reserve Release

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s third-quarter profit rose 24%, the bank said Wednesday. The bank posted a profit of $11.69 billion, or $3.74 per share, up from $9.44 billion, or $2.92 per share, a year ago. That beat the $3 per share that analysts had expected, according to FactSet. The bank freed up $2.1 billion it had set aside for soured consumer and corporate loans during the worst days of the coronavirus crisis. Excluding the boost from the release and a tax benefit, the bank's profit was $9.6 billion in the third quarter.

By
Peter Rosenstreich
Morning News

LVMH 3Q Sales Rose at Steady Pace

LVMH Moet Hennessy (+0.35%) Louis Vuitton SE’s third-quarter sales rose at the same rate seen earlier in the year, driven by Asia and the United States. Sales for the three months to the end of September came to 15.51 billion euros ($17.92 billion), 11% higher than in the same period of pre-pandemic 2019, the French luxury-goods group said Tuesday. The increase is the same booked in the first half of the year. Analysts had expected sales of EUR15.38 billion, according to a FactSet-compiled consensus.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Emerson Plans to Merge Industrial-Software Businesses With AspenTech

Emerson Electric Co. (-2.6%) plans to merge two of its software businesses with Aspen Technology Inc. (+12.3%) in a roughly $11 billion deal aimed at capturing growing demand for industrial technology. The cash-and-stock transaction would value AspenTech, as the company is known, at around $160 a share, officials from the companies said. AspenTech's shareholders would receive $87 and 0.42 share of the combined company for each share they currently own. The transaction is expected to be announced Monday.

By
Peter Rosenstreich
Morning News

Tesla celebrates its first European factory in Berlin

Tesla's chief executive (-1.2% on Wall Street), Elon Musk, ruled out paying a dividend in the near future on Thursday. "We are not short of things to invest in internally, far from it," said the head of the American manufacturer of electric cars, who also confirmed his plan to move his headquarters in Austin. Tesla's future "gigafactory", the first in Europe, was inaugurated on Saturday, hoping to deliver its first electric cars in December.

By
Peter Rosenstreich
Morning News

Eni Backs Separate Listing of Retail, Renewables Business

Eni SpA has opted to list its newly merged retail-and-renewables business next year, as it seeks to maximize the value of its lower carbon operations. The Italian oil-and-gas major said Thursday that it has approved the launch of a process for an initial public offering, which it expects to complete next year. "We have committed to being a leader in producing and selling completely decarbonized products and an IPO of Eni's Retail & Renewables business is an important step towards this goal," said Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

GM Sets Ambitious Revenue Target, Challenges Tesla

General Motors Co., riding a wave of investor enthusiasm for its electric-vehicle plans, set one of its most ambitious financial targets in years Wednesday, telling investors it aims to more than double revenue by 2030. The Detroit auto maker also took direct aim at Tesla Inc., saying it plans to take the lead in electric-vehicle sales in the U.S., without pegging a timetable. GM executives outlined their longer-term goals ahead of a daylong event for investors and analysts at GM’s research center in suburban Detroit.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

PepsiCo 3Q Revenue Rises, Profit Falls

PepsiCo Inc. said its revenue rose for the recent quarter, though profit fell, while it navigates a volatile supply-chain and cost environment. The food-and-beverage company on Tuesday posted net income attributable to the company of $2.22 billion for the fiscal third quarter, compared with $2.29 billion in the same period last year. Earnings were $1.60 a share, compared with $1.65 a share in the prior year. Adjusted earnings were $1.79 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $1.73 a share.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Volvo Cars Announces IPO Plan That Could Value It at $25 Billion

Volvo Cars, the Swedish auto maker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding, said Monday it would proceed with an initial public offering in Stockholm, in a deal that people familiar with the matter say could value it at upward of $25 billion. Volvo said it aims to raise about 25 billion kronor, equivalent to $2.86 billion, from the issue of new shares. Geely could also sell an unspecified number of its shares. Volvo didn’t provide a target valuation of the entire company following any IPO, or say what percentage stake Geely would retain. Geely has previously indicated it would likely remain a major shareholder after any offering.

By
Nadine PEREIRA