Raphael Stevens

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    ‘Rust’ assistant director pleads guilty to gun charge in movie set shooting case

    David Halls, who was the first assistant director on “Rust,” pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge.
    Halls’ sentence makes him the first defendant held accountable in cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ death.
    Halls must testify at future “Rust” hearings and trials, set to start in early May. Star Alec Baldwin and the movie’s original armorer are charged with manslaughter.

    An image of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died after being shot by Alec Baldwin on the set of his movie “Rust”, is displayed at a vigil in her honour in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 23, 2021.
    Kevin Mohatt | Reuters

    David Halls, the “Rust” assistant director who handled the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021, pleaded no contest Friday to a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
    The plea makes Halls the first person held criminally accountable in Hutchins’ death. Actor Alec Baldwin and the independent movie’s original armorer, Hanna Gutierrez-Reed, are both charged with manslaughter over Hutchins’ death. 

    Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry 18-month prison sentences.
    The New Mexico judge overseeing the “Rust” case sentenced Halls to six months of unsupervised probation, a $500 fine and 24 hours of community service.
    Halls will also have to complete a firearms safety course, as well as testify in upcoming “Rust” hearings or trials, per New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s ruling. Halls had previously agreed to the plea deal in January.
    Preliminary hearings for Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are expected to start in early May. 
    Notably, Friday’s hearing was the first to be conducted under the supervision of the case’s new special prosecutors, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis. 

    To date, “Rust” proceedings have been routinely disrupted by complications concerning the appointment of the case’s previous special prosecutor. 
    The first special prosecutor for the case, Andrea Reeb, stepped down earlier this month, after Baldwin’s defense lawyers filed a motion requesting her removal.
    At the heart of the request for Reeb’s removal was her allegedly contradictory commitments: Reeb was named special prosecutor before being elected to New Mexico’s legislature. Baldwin’s lawyers argued the state’s constitution prevents people from simultaneously serving as prosecutor and legislator. 
    While Reeb and the district attorney’s office initially rejected the motion, Reeb’s decision to step down was followed by a New York Times report in which Reeb suggested in a June 2022 email that working on the case could help her political career. 
    Complications only continued from there. On Monday, Mary Carmack-Altwies, the New Mexico district attorney who had overseen the “Rust” case, was given a directive from Judge Marlowe Sommer: Either recuse yourself from the case, or lose your ability to appoint a new special prosecutor. 
    On Wednesday, Carmack-Altwies recused herself. In her place, she appointed Morrissey and Lewis. 
    “My responsibility to the people of the First Judicial District is greater than any one case, which is why I have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor in the ‘Rust’ case,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. More

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    Vince McMahon locks in two-year contract as WWE looks for buyers

    World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon inked a two-year employment contract.
    McMahon’s agreement, which dates back to his January return to the company, comes as WWE is actively looking for buyers.
    WWE CEO Nick Khan has said McMahon would be open to leaving WWE for good in the event of a sale.

    World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chairman Vince McMahon is introduced during the WWE Monday Night Raw show at the Thomas & Mack Center August 24, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
    Ethan Miller | Getty Images

    Vince McMahon has pinned down a two-year employment contract at World Wrestling Entertainment.
    The WWE chairman’s agreement dates back to Jan. 9, when he returned to the company, according to a securities filing. His deal comes as WWE has been actively in talks with suitors.

    As part of his latest contract, which comes with an annual base salary of $1.2 million, which includes an incentive bonus target of 175% of that salary. If a deal were to be closed, McMahon would receive a $2.4 million lump sum payout, plus his incentive bonus would be doubled and paid upfront.
    CEO Nick Khan told CNBC this week it’s been a robust sale process so far with many attracted bidders. Earlier in the week, CNBC’s David Faber, citing people familiar with the matter, reported it’s been a “hot and heavy” process.
    McMahon returned to WWE’s board in January help with the sale negotiations. He had stepped away from his CEO role last June under a cloud of accusations of sexual misconduct from former female WWE employees. Later, he announced his retirement.
    At the time, his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, had taken over as co-CEO of WWE, a family business for the McMahons. She stepped down in January following Vince McMahon’s return.

    Last month, Khan told CNBC that McMahon would be open to stepping down from his position “if it’s the right deal.” The potential future involvement of McMahon, who is WWE’s controlling shareholder, has become an early sticking point in preliminary talks with some buyers, CNBC previously reported.

    “Vince made it clear to me and to the marketplace that he does not need to be included in any offer or any deal moving forward, and he has held to his word on that as many of us predicted he would,” Khan said on CNBC earlier this week.
    Khan added that since McMahon has been back in the last three months, he’s been “quite supplemental to myself, to creative, to have the expert of the business here when we want to reach out to him and have conversations.”
    In addition, his contract gives McMahon the rights to his “life story” and related intellectual property, according to the filing.
    McMahon acquired the business from his father in 1982 and had run it up until 2022. He’s even stepped into the ring on numerous occasions. His contract agreement gives him the rights to retell his life story with WWE, with the guarantee that he wouldn’t face any lawsuits or retribution from the business in the future.
    WWE shares are up about 34% so far this year, easily outpacing the broader market, amid the intensifying sale talk. More

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    Carl Icahn blasts Illumina for nearly doubling CEO’s pay despite steep drop in market value

    Carl Icahn blasted Illumina for nearly doubling its CEO’s pay last year despite a dramatic drop in the biotech company’s market value since closing the controversial Grail deal.
    Illumina CEO Francis DeSouza was awarded nearly $26.8 million in total pay last year, nearly double the $14.3 million he received in 2021.
    The San Diego-based company’s market cap has shrunk to roughly $35 billion from about $75 billion in August 2021, the month it closed its acquisition of cancer test developer Grail. 

    Carl Icahn speaking at Delivering Alpha in New York on Sept. 13, 2016.
    David A. Grogan | CNBC

    Carl Icahn blasted Illumina for nearly doubling its CEO’s pay last year despite a dramatic drop in the biotech company’s market value since closing a controversial deal. 
    “I’d find it comical, if it wasn’t so reprehensible that ILMN’s share price is down 63% due to CEO Francis deSouza making such an absurd and questionable purchase,” Icahn said in a statement to CNBC.

    “And what is really funny is the idea that it is hard to find good CEOs in this area,” the activist investor added. “I guess it would be hard to find someone who could lose $50 billion of shareholder value in a matter of months yet still get paid 87% more for a grand total of $26.8 million in 2022.”
    Illumina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    DeSouza stepped in as CEO in 2016 after serving as the DNA sequencing company’s president for almost three years. He was awarded nearly $26.8 million in total pay last year, nearly double the $14.3 million he received in 2021, according to a preliminary proxy statement Illumina filed Thursday. 
    Part of deSouza’s pay bump is a special grant of stock options worth $12.5 million, which Illumina called a “meaningful retention incentive in a highly competitive talent environment.” 
    DeSouza’s pay increase follows a rocky 18 months for San Diego-based Illumina. The company’s market value has fallen to roughly $35 billion from about $75 billion in August 2021, the month it closed its acquisition of cancer test developer Grail. 

    Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    The $7.1 billion Grail deal is the focus of a proxy fight between Icahn and Illumina, who have been trading jabs for nearly a month. 
    Icahn, who owns a 1.4% stake in Illumina, is seeking seats on the company’s board. He is also trying to push Illumina to unwind the Grail acquisition, which he has called “disastrous” and “a new low in corporate governance.” 
    He has repeatedly slammed Illumina’s board and management team, saying earlier this week that the company should bring back former CEO Jay Flatley to “fix the situation.” 
    Illumina on Thursday urged shareholders to reject Icahn’s three nominees to its board of directors and continued to defend its management team’s decision to acquire Grail. 
    The company also claimed Icahn had more favorable things to say about its current CEO before launching the proxy fight. 
    Icahn told Illumina last month that he intended to make board nominations despite believing deSouza “had done a good job” managing the company, Illumina said. 
    The activist investor also said he was “supportive” of deSouza’s actions as CEO during another meeting earlier this month, but noted he would not repeat those comments publicly, according to Illumina. 
    Part of Icahn’s opposition to the Grail acquisition stems from Illumina’s decision to close the deal without approval from antitrust regulators. The company prevailed over the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s opposition to the deal in September, but is still fighting for approval from European regulators. 
    The EU’s executive body, the European Commission, last year blocked Illumina’s acquisition of Grail over concerns it would stifle innovation and hurt consumer choice. The commission also unveiled details of a planned order that would force Illumina to unwind the deal.
    Illumina said earlier this month that Grail has “tremendous long-term value creation potential.” 
    Grail says it offers the only commercially available early screening test that can detect more than 50 types of cancers through a single blood draw. The test generated $55 million in revenue in 2022 and is slated to rake in up to $110 million this year, according to Illumina. More

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    Justice Department sues Norfolk Southern over toxic Ohio derailment

    The DOJ filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern on Thursday, alleging Clean Water Act violations in the railway company’s Ohio derailment last month.
    The state of Ohio has also sued the company over environmental impacts of the derailment.
    Senators recently introduced a new railway safety bill in light of Norfolk Southern’s derailment.

    Drone footage shows the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 6, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released by the NTSB.
    NTSB Gov | via Reuters

    The Justice Department said Friday it filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, aiming to hold the railway company accountable for alleged Clean Water Act violations that allegedly occurred due to an Ohio train derailment in early February.
    In February, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed near the Pennsylvania border in East Palestine, Ohio, causing a fire, collisions and local evacuations.

    The lawsuit, filed Thursday on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, seeks “injunctive relief, cost recovery, and civil penalties” for the alleged violations.
    “With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a release Friday.
    In an emailed statement to CNBC, a Norfolk Southern representative said the company’s focus “right now is to make progress every day cleaning up the site, assisting residents whose lives were impacted by the derailment, and investing in the future of East Palestine and the surrounding areas.”
    “We are working with urgency, at the direction of the U.S. EPA, and making daily progress,” the spokesperson continued. “That remains our focus and we’ll keep working until we make it right.”
    Since the derailment, Norfolk Southern has been in hot water with state and federal officials concerning the environmental implications of the derailment.

    The state of Ohio has also sued Norfolk Southern in a bid to ensure the company pays for environmental damage and cleanup efforts, which Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has said the company would continue to support. Shaw and several government officials have said it’s safe to live in the area, but residents have complained of illnesses.
    In a statement regarding Thursday’s lawsuit, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said “no community should have to go through what East Palestine residents have faced.”
    He added that the lawsuit marks the agency’s “commitment to ensure Norfolk Southern cleans up the mess they made and pays for the damage they have inflicted as we work to ensure this community can feel safe at home again.”
    On Thursday, three senators introduced a new rail safety bill in a bid address long-standing concerns that became more acute in light of the Norfolk Southern derailment.

    Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw waits to testify on the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment before a U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., March 9, 2023.
    Mary F. Calvert | Reuters

    Last week, Shaw told senators his company supports portions of an adjacent bill, the Railway Safety Act, which includes provisions calling for two-person crews on all freight trains. That was one sticking point, as Shaw said the company was “not aware of any data that links crew size with safety.”
    Otherwise, Shaw said in prepared remarks that he agrees in “principle” with portions of the legislation, such as “establishing performance standards, maintenance standards, and alert thresholds for safety sensors.”
    The new bill, dubbed the Railway Accountability Act, would direct the Federal Railroad Administration to study wheel-related failures and derailments and other mechanical defects.
    It would also enact new brake safety measures and ensure railways equip workers with sufficient reporting and safety equipment.
    A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report pointed to an overheated wheel bearing on the Norfolk Southern train that derailed, without offering a precise cause for the derailment.
    –CNBC’s Noah Sheidlower contributed to this article. More

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    It’s the U.S., not Europe’s banking system that’s a concern, top economists say

    A central theme at the Ambrosetti Forum was the potential for further instability in financial markets arising from problems in the banking sector.
    The collapse of U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank and of several other lenders in early March prompted fears of contagion, bolstered by the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by Swiss rival UBS.

    A cargo barge on the River Rhine near the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters at sunset in the financial district in Frankfurt, Germany,
    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Europe learned its lessons after the financial crisis and is now in a strong position to weather further stress in its banking system, several economists and policymakers say.
    A central theme at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy on Thursday and Friday was the potential for further instability in financial markets, arising from problems in the banking sector — particularly against a backdrop of tightening financial conditions.

    The collapse of U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank and of several other regional lenders in early March prompted fears of contagion, furthered by the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by Swiss rival UBS.
    Policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic took decisive action and pledged further support if needed. Markets have staged something of a recovery this week.

    Valerio De Molli, managing partner and CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti, told CNBC on the sidelines of the event on Thursday that “uncertainty and anxiety” would continue to plague markets this year.
    “The more worrying factor is uncertainty in the banking industry, not so much about Europe — the ECB (European Central Bank) has done incredibly well, the European Commission also — the euro zone is stable and sound and profitable, also, but what could happen particularly in the United States is a mystery,” De Molli told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.
    De Molli suggested that the collapse of SVB would likely be “the first of a series” of bank failures. However, he contended that “the lessons learned at a global level, but in Europe in particular” had enabled the euro zone to shore up the “financial robustness and stability” of its banking system, rendering a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis “impossible.”

    The emphasis on “lessons learned” in Europe was echoed by George Papaconstantinou — professor and dean at the European University Institute and former Greek finance minister — who also expressed concerns about the U.S.

    “We learned about the need to have fiscal and monetary policy working together, we learned that you need to be ahead of the markets and not five seconds behind, always, we learned about speed of response and the need for overwhelming response sometimes, so all of this is good,” Papaconstantinou told CNBC on Friday.
    He added that the developments of SVB and Credit Suisse were down to “failures in risk management,” and, in the case of SVB, also owed to “policy failures in the U.S.”
    He particularly cited former President Donald Trump’s raising of the threshold under which banks must undergo stress tests from $50 billion to $250 billion. This adjustment to the post-crisis Dodd-Frank legislation effectively meant that the fallen lender was not subject to a level of scrutiny that might have discovered its troubles earlier. The move of 2018 was part of a broad rollback of banking rules put in place in the aftermath of the crisis.
    Although lauding the progress made in Europe, Papaconstantinou emphasized that it is too early to tell whether there is broader weakness in the banking system. He noted that there is no room for complacency from policymakers and regulators, many of whom have promised continued vigilance.

    “We are in an environment where interest rates are rising, therefore bond prices are falling, and therefore it is quite likely that banks find themselves with a hole, because they have invested in longer term instruments, and that is a problem,” he said.
    “We are in an environment of rising inflation, therefore a lot of the loans that they did on very low interest rates are problematic for them, so it is not a very comfortable environment. It is not an environment where we can sit back and say, ‘okay, this was just two blips, and we can continue as usual’. Not at all.”
    ‘Two-front war’
    Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calviño on Friday said that banks in Spain have even stronger solvency and liquidity positions than many of their European peers.
    “We do not see any signs of stress in the Spanish market, other than the general volatility we see in financial markets these days,” she said, adding that the situation is now “totally different” from what it was in the run up to the European debt crisis in 2012.
    “We learnt the lessons of the financial crisis, there’s been deep restructuring in this decade, and they are in a stronger position than in the past, obviously.”

    Unenviably, central banks must fight a “two-front war” and simultaneously combat high inflation and instability in the financial sector, noted Gene Frieda, executive vice president and global strategist at Pimco.
    “There is now something happening that is outside the Fed’s control in the banking sector, and we all have our views in terms of how bad that gets, but my own sense is that we’re not facing a banking crisis, that there will be some tightening in credit conditions, it will bring a recession forward. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s certainly not discounted in the equity market,” Frieda told CNBC on Friday.
    “We’re still fighting inflation, but, at the same time, we’re fighting these uncertainties in the banking sector. All of the central banks will try to distinguish between the two and say, on the one hand, we can use certain policies to deal with the financial instability. On the other hand, we can use interest rates to fight inflation. But those two will get muddied, and I think, inevitably, financial instability will become the one that’s dominant.” More

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    Investors believe the stock market is set for losses, and cash is best safe haven, CNBC survey shows

    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, March 28, 2023.
    Brendan McDermid | Reuters

    Wall Street investors believe the stock market is headed for losses after a positive first quarter, seeing cash as the best safe haven right now, according to the new CNBC Delivering Alpha investor survey.
    We polled about 400 chief investment officers, equity strategists, portfolio managers and CNBC contributors who manage money about where they stood on the markets for the second quarter and forward. The survey was conducted over the past week. 

    Nearly 70% of respondents said the S&P 500 could see declines ahead. Thirty-five percent of the investors believe the biggest risk to the market this year is a misstep by the Federal Reserve, while another 32% said persistent inflation poses the most pressing threat.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    The market has been particularly resilient so far even in the face of a banking crisis and continuous tightening from the Fed. The S&P 500 is on track to post a winning quarter, up more than 5%, after equities staged a big comeback with the government’s emergency rescue measures that helped stem the chaos in the banking industry.
    “Economic concerns enveloping recession fears haven’t vanished as the yield curve still represents a counter to the market’s climb higher,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. “But if the market can continue to edge higher in spite of a wall of worry that seems to climb higher with each new headline, it begs the question who’s right, and which side is more prescient.”

    Arrows pointing outwards

    The Fed enacted a quarter percentage point interest rate increase last week, while signaling one more rate hike coming this year. Many investors believe the central bank should reverse course immediately as more rate hikes will exacerbate banking problems and cause a severe economic slowdown. However, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell explicitly said rate cuts are not his base case.
    DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach recently said the bond market is screaming that a recession is imminent, and he sees the Fed starting to lower interest rates “substantially” in the near future. Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief investment officer, said this week that investors are still too optimistic about corporate earnings, and a severe deterioration is about to drag stocks lower.

    With an overall bearish view on the market, 60% of the investors said cash is their safe haven right now. The recent banking turmoil has driven significant inflows into money market funds, which saw assets increase to a record of $5.2 trillion as of Wednesday, according to the Investment Company Institute.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    “Money market yields >4% are hard to resist ahead of a slowdown, and the ‘option value’ of cash keeps rising,” Jared Woodard, Bank of America’s Investment & ETF Strategist, said in a note.
    Goldman Sachs’ head of asset allocation research Christian Mueller-Glissmann also set a preference for cash over equities around the world as he said the banking stress triggered a sharp risk appetite reversal. More

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    EV tax credit rules are about to get a lot more complicated

    The Treasury Department proposed new rules around the sources of battery minerals and components for EVs.
    The requirements for critical minerals and battery components each provide a tax credit of $3,750.
    The new rules are scheduled to kick in next month.

    Ben Hasty | MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

    The Treasury Department on Friday proposed new rules for determining which EVs will be eligible for tax credits under the new “critical mineral” and battery component requirements included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
    While the Treasury Department hasn’t yet said which vehicles are eligible for the credits – that’ll happen April 18 – we now know how the department plans to figure out which EVs do and don’t make the cut.

    related investing news

    The new rules proposed by the Treasury Department on Friday explain how to determine which EVs meet the requirements for critical minerals and battery components, each of which provides a tax credit of $3,750. An EV that qualifies under both – and that meets the other requirements – will be eligible for the full $7,500 credit.
    Note that it’s up to the automakers to do the math and tell the Internal Revenue Service which of their vehicles qualify.  
    The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last August, provides federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for buyers of EVs that meet a new list of requirements:

    Vehicle price caps. Cars priced above $55,000, and trucks, vans and SUVs priced over $80,000, aren’t eligible for the tax credit.
    Made in North America. Only EVs that “undergo final assembly” in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico are eligible for the credit.
    Buyer income limits. If you’re a single individual with modified adjusted gross income of $150,000 or more, or a head of household with more than $225,000 of income, or a married couple filing jointly with income over $300,000, you aren’t eligible for the credit.
    Critical minerals. To be eligible for the credit in 2023, at least 40% of the critical minerals – including lithium, nickel, manganese, graphite and cobalt — in the vehicle’s batteries must have been extracted, processed or recycled in the U.S. or in a country with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement. That percentage will increase to 50% in 2024, 60% in 2025, 70% in 2026, and 80% after 2026.
    Battery components. To be eligible for the credit in 2023, at least 50% of the value of the components in an EV’s battery must be manufactured or assembled in North America. That percentage will increase to 60% in 2024 and 2025, 70% in 2026, 80% in 2027, and 90% in 2028.

    All of these rules were originally expected to go into effect at the beginning of 2023. But in December, the Treasury Department said that it needed until March to figure out how to implement the last two rules, and that they wouldn’t go into effect until that was done. (In the meantime, the IRS has used the other rules to determine which vehicles qualify for the tax credits.)
    The critical minerals rule
    For critical minerals, the Treasury Department proposed a three-step process for determining eligibility:

    Figure out where the critical minerals in the batteries came from.
    Identify which minerals qualify as critical minerals under the IRA.
    Calculate the percentage of minerals in the EV’s battery that qualify as critical minerals.  

    In addition, an EV that contains any critical minerals sourced from a “foreign entity of concern” won’t qualify after 2025. (What’s that mean? The Treasury Department said that it’ll clarify in the future.)
    The Treasury Department’s proposed rules say that the set of countries with eligible free trade agreements will change over time, but for now the countries that qualify include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore and Japan.
    The battery components rule
    The Treasury Department proposed a four-step process for battery components:

    Identify which battery components were manufactured or assembled in North America.
    Figure out the incremental value of each component.
    Determine the total value of all the battery components.
    Do the math to figure out what percentage of the battery’s components by value qualify.

    In addition, starting in 2024, an EV that contains any battery components from a foreign entity of concern won’t qualify for the credit.
    When will we know which EVs qualify?
    The Treasury Department said that EVs that go into service on or after April 18 will be subject to the critical minerals and battery components requirements. Starting on that date, it’ll publish a list of eligible vehicles – as determined by the automakers – at FuelEconomy.gov.
    But it’s likely to be a short list, at least for a while, as right now a lot of battery minerals and components come from China. More

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    Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Bed Bath & Beyond, Nikola, Virgin Orbit and more

    An exterior view of a Bed Bath & Beyond store on February 7, 2023 in Clifton, New Jersey. 
    Kena Betancur | Corbis News | Getty Images

    Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.
    Bed Bath & Beyond – Bed Bath & Beyond shares dipped 2% before the bell, building on a more than 26% loss from Thursday’s session. The declines came after the company once again warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy protection if its proposed $300 million stock offering fails.

    related investing news

    Nikola – The electric truck maker fell 5% after it announced plans to raise $100 million through a secondary stock offering, or a private sale of stock if needed.
    Virgin Orbit — Virgin Orbit shed nearly 43% after announcing that it would halt operations “for the foreseeable future” as it fails to secure funding. Virgin Orbit also said it will eliminate about 90% of its workforce.
    Digital World Acquisition — The SPAC linked to former President Donald Trump surged as much as 19% in premarket trading on Friday. The lift comes after a New York grand jury formally indicted Trump on charges related to “hush money” payments made before his 2016 campaign for president.
    BlackBerry — Shares fell about 2% after the software company posted fourth-quarter revenue that fell slightly short of consensus estimates. The company’s top line came in at $151 million, while analysts polled by StreetAccount had forecast revenue of $154 million.
    Generac Holdings — The power systems provider fell 3.7% following a downgrade to underperform from neutral by Bank of America. The firm said Generac’s guidance for the 2023 fiscal year seems out of reach with its residential segment pressured.

    Regional bank stocks — Some regional bank stocks that have been volatile in recent weeks rose Friday. Shares of First Republic gained 1.7%, while Zions Bancorporation, PacWest and KeyCorp added about 0.6% each. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF inched 0.4% higher. UBS noted that bank borrowings from the Fed declined last week, a sign that liquidity issues may be under control following a difficult month for the broader sector.
    — CNBC’s Alex Harring and Brian Evans contributed reporting More