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    Stocks making the biggest moves midday: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Conagra Brands and more

    Pedestrians pass in front of a JPMorgan & Chase bank branch automated teller machine (ATM) kiosk in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
    Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
    JPMorgan Chase – Shares of JPMorgan Chase sunk 3.49% and hit a 52-week low after the bank reported quarterly earnings that missed analyst expectations, as the bank built reserves for bad loans. CEO Jamie Dimon said that high inflation, waning consumer confidence and geopolitical tension are likely to hurt the global economy going forward. The bank also announced it would temporarily suspend share buybacks.

    Goldman Sachs – Shares of Goldman Sachs fell 2.95% following disappointing earnings from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. The bank is scheduled to report its own quarterly earnings on Monday.
    Conagra Brands – The food stock sank 7.25% after Conagra’s quarterly results revealed the company’s sales volume declined. In other words, revenue growth came from sales mix and price increases. Conagra’s earnings and revenue for the previous quarter came in close to analyst expectations.
    First Republic Bank — Shares rose 1.77% after the bank reported earnings that surpassed expectations on the top and bottom lines. First Republic Bank posted earnings of $2.16 per share on revenue of $1.5 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $2.09 per share on revenue of $1.47 billion, according to consensus estimates from FactSet.
    Cisco – Shares of Cisco fell nearly 1% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to neutral from outperform. The bank also recommended investors rotate into a “more diversified supplier” such as rival Juniper Networks.
    Energy stocks – The energy sector led losses in the S&P 500, slipping more than 3%. Shares of Halliburton, Diamondback Energy, Marathon Oil, Coterra Energy and Chevron all closed lower.

    Costco – Shares of retailer Costco jumped 4% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to buy and increasing its price target to $575 from $525. Deutsche said Costco is “is one of the most consistent operators in our group, and its steady traffic gains and high membership renewal rates serve as key differentiators in an increasingly uncertain backdrop.”
    — CNBC’s Sarah Min and Jesse Pound contributed reporting

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    Inflation poses a 'clear and present danger,' says Manchin: Economists weigh in on how it can hurt and help consumers

    The Consumer Price Index, an inflation barometer, jumped 9.1% in June versus a year earlier, the highest annual increase since November 1981.
    Policymakers aim for a low, stable and predictable inflation rate around 2% over the long term.
    Here’s why economists generally view persistently high inflation as bad for consumers and the economy and why some people are coming out ahead.

    A person shops for groceries on March 10, 2022 in the Prospect Lefferts Garden neighborhood of Brooklyn.
    Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Inflation hit a new 40-year high in June, and policymakers are working feverishly to tame it — perhaps even risking recession to do so.  
    Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said in June that price stability is “the bedrock of the economy.” The central bank is raising borrowing costs aggressively to tamp down on consumer demand and put a lid on rising prices.

    “The worst mistake we could make would be to fail, which — it’s not an option,” Powell said.
    More from Personal Finance:Why inflation is less likely to hurt some retireesSocial Security cost-of-living adjustment could be 10.5% in 2023Workers may see biggest raises since Great Recession next year
    Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat from West Virginia, said Wednesday that inflation “poses a clear and present danger to our economy.”
    But while the specter of persistently high inflation can be scary for policymakers and consumers, experts point out that, in certain circumstances, some consumers stand to benefit from inflation. More broadly, some inflation is actually a good thing for the economy. Let’s look at how the issue breaks down, with a focus on consumer impact.

    The big inflation problem: ‘People are getting poorer’

    Among the major concerns about persistently high inflation is a decline in Americans’ standard of living.

    Inflation measures how fast prices for goods and services such as gasoline, food, clothing, rent, travel and health care are increasing. The Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in price for a broad basket of items, jumped 9.1% in June versus a year earlier, the highest annual rise since November 1981.
    Those prices don’t exist in a vacuum, however. Household income may rise, too, courtesy of pay raises for workers and cost-of-living adjustments for pensioners, for example.
    In theory, if someone’s income grows faster than prices, their standard of living improves. In this scenario, their so-called “real wages” (wages after accounting for inflation) are rising.

    Here’s the problem: Inflation is outstripping historically strong pay growth.  
    Private-sector workers saw their hourly wages after inflation fall by 3.6% from June 2021 to June 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the largest decline since at least 2007, when the agency started tracking the data.
    Seniors and others living on a fixed or static income can be hit especially hard by galloping inflation, according to economists.

    “The clear downside of what is happening right now — which is driven largely but not exclusively by commodity prices [like oil] — is people are getting poorer,” according to Alex Arnon, the associate director of policy analysis for the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a research arm of the University of Pennsylvania. “And they’ll live less pleasant lives, most likely.”
    This dynamic can have knock-on effects. From a behavioral perspective, consumers may change what they buy to help defray costs. An outright pullback can feed into a recession, given consumer spending is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Personal consumption makes up about 70% of gross domestic product.

    Home sales, wage growth may push some ahead

    While average household wages have shrunk in the past year due to inflation, some Americans may still be coming out ahead when considering their total wealth, according to Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution.
    Edelberg, a former chief economist at the Congressional Budget Office, cited “extraordinary increases in real estate prices” as an example.
    About two-thirds of Americans own a home. The value of a typical home sold in May by existing owners exceeded $400,000 for the first time, and was up almost 15% from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. (There are signs the housing market may be cooling, though.)

    Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

    And certain groups come out ahead in an inflationary environment.
    For example, some have seen a dramatic increase in pay that exceeds inflation. Rank-and-file workers in leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants, bars and hotels, saw hourly earnings grow 10.2% in the year through June, according to U.S. Department of Labor data — about 1 percentage point above the inflation rate. (Of course, just because their pay growth exceeds inflation doesn’t mean these workers necessarily earn a living wage. The average nonmanager made $17.79 an hour in June.)
    Consumers with fixed-rate mortgages and other loans that don’t fluctuate based on prevailing interest rates may have an easier time paying those preexisting debts, especially if their wages are exceeding rising prices broadly, according to James Devine, an economics professor at Loyola Marymount University.
    “On the one hand, people gain from inflation (as debtors) but on the other they lose if their money wages fall behind inflation (as wage-earners),” Devine said in an email.
    Generally, it takes a year or more for everyday people to push up their wages to catch up with prices, Devine said.

    Hyperinflation represents a rare, ‘disastrous’ scenario

    Then there’s hyperinflation: a rare and “disastrous” scenario in which inflation surges by 1,000% or more in a year, according to the International Monetary Fund. In 2008, Zimbabwe had one of the worst-ever episodes of hyperinflation, which was estimated at one point to be 500 billion percent, for example, according to the IMF.
    At these extremes, bread prices, for example, could start and end the day at different levels — a dynamic that could lead to hoarding of perishable goods and shortages that further drive up prices. The value of a nation’s currency may fall significantly, making imports from other countries exorbitantly costly.

    Zimbabweans queue to withdraw money from a bank on June 21, 2008 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
    John Moore | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Savings are eaten up as the value of money erodes, ultimately leading to less investment, reduced productivity and stalled economic growth — a recipe for chronic recession if left unchecked, Brian Bethune, an economist and professor at Boston College, said of potential consequences.
    To be clear: The U.S. isn’t remotely close to this.
    “We’re not there,” according to Edelberg. “We’re not all going out and purchasing rice because we think rice is a better store of value than dollars.”
    However, some fear the Federal Reserve will inadvertently tip the U.S. into a recession as it raises its benchmark interest rate to reduce inflation. That’s not a foregone conclusion; a downturn, if it comes to pass, would be accompanied by job loss and accompanying financial hardship.

    The worst mistake we could make would be to fail, which — it’s not an option.

    Jerome Powell
    chair of the Federal Reserve

    On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s deflation — an environment of falling prices, which is also undesirable.
    For example, consumers may delay purchases if they expect to pay a lower price in the future, thereby reducing economic activity and growth, according to the International Monetary Fund.
    Businesses would likely need to give pay cuts to staff — which workers hate, even if their lower earnings can buy the same amount of stuff (which is also falling in value), economists said.

    Consumer inflation expectations are ‘absolutely key’

    Which is all to say: Policymakers generally view some inflation as a good thing for the economy.
    The key is that it’s low and stable enough so people don’t notice — hence the Federal Reserve’s target rate of about 2% over the long term. (The central bank’s preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, is a bit different from the Consumer Price Index.)
    Low, stable inflation helps keep consumer expectations in check. If consumers anticipate persistently high inflation — even if those expectations are unhinged from reality — those whims can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    For instance, there’s the notion of a “wage-price spiral,” in which workers demand higher raises to keep up with what they expect to be entrenched inflation. Businesses raise their prices for consumers to compensate for the higher labor costs, which can become a vicious cycle, according to economists.
    In that type of environment, banks might also raise borrowing costs for a loan, under the assumption inflation (and interest rates) will remain high. However, if inflation and prevailing interest rates then plunge and borrowers can’t refinance a fixed loan, they’ll get “hammered” when they have to pay that money back, Edelberg said.
    While consumers anticipate higher prices in the short term (over the next year), their inflation expectations over the mid- and longer terms (three and five years) declined in May, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey issued Monday.
    New York Fed researchers see that as a good sign. The data suggest inflation expectations haven’t yet become entrenched, meaning the dynamics for a wage-price spiral and a self-fulfilling prophecy don’t appear to be present, researchers said.
    Fed chair Powell echoed that sentiment recently.
    “We think that the public generally sees us as very likely to be successful in getting inflation down to 2%, and that’s critical,” he said in June. “It’s absolutely key to the whole thing that we sustain that confidence.”

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    JPMorgan Chase earnings fell 28% after building reserves for bad loans, bank suspends buybacks

    JPMorgan earnings fell short of analyst expectations as the bank built reserves for bad loans by $428 million.
    The company’s shares fell in premarket trading after it said it would temporarily suspend its share repurchase program.
    Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon warned geopolitical tension, high inflation and waning consumer confidence could hurt the economy “sometime down the road.”

    JPMorgan Chase said Thursday that second-quarter profit slumped as the bank built reserves for bad loans by $428 million and suspended share buybacks.
    The actions reflect Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon’s increasingly cautious stance. “The U.S. economy continues to grow and both the job market and consumer spending, and their ability to spend, remain healthy,” he said in the earnings release.

    “But geopolitical tension, high inflation, waning consumer confidence, the uncertainty about how high rates have to go and the never-before-seen quantitative tightening and their effects on global liquidity, combined with the war in Ukraine and its harmful effect on global energy and food prices are very likely to have negative consequences on the global economy sometime down the road,” he warned.
    With this outlook, the bank has opted to “temporarily” suspend its share repurchases to help it reach regulatory capital requirements, a prospect feared by analysts earlier this year. Last month, the bank was forced to keep its dividend unchanged while rivals boosted their payouts.
    Shares of the bank fell 3.5% in premarket trading.
    Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

    Earnings per share: $2.76 vs. $2.88 expected
    Managed revenue: $31.63 billion vs. $31.95 billion expected

    Profit declined 28% from a year earlier to $8.65 billion, or $2.76 a share, driven largely by the reserve build, New York-based JPMorgan said in a statement. A year ago, the bank benefited from a reserve release of $3 billion.

    Managed revenue edged up 1% to $31.63 billion, helped by the tailwind of higher interest rates, but was still below analysts’ expectations, according to a Refinitiv survey.
    JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, is closely watched for clues on how the banking industry fared during a quarter marked by conflicting trends. On the one hand, unemployment levels remained low, meaning consumers and businesses had little difficulty repaying loans. Rising interest rates and loan growth mean that banks’ core lending activity is becoming more profitable. And volatility in financial markets has been a boon to fixed income traders.
    But analysts have begun slashing earnings estimates for the sector on concern about a looming recession, and most big bank stocks have sunk to 52-week lows in recent weeks. Revenue from capital markets activities and mortgages has fallen sharply, and firms are disclosing writedowns amid the broad decline in financial assets.
    Importantly, a key tailwind the industry enjoyed a year ago — reserve releases as loans performed better than expected — has begun to reverse as banks are forced to set aside money for potential defaults as the risk of recession rises.
    The bank had a $1.1 billion provision for credit losses in the quarter, including the $428 million reserve build and $657 million in net loan charge-offs for soured debt. JPMorgan said that it added to reserves because of a “modest deterioration” in its economic outlook.
    Back in April, JPMorgan was first among the banks to begin setting aside funds for loan losses, booking a $902 million charge for building credit reserves in the quarter. That aligned with the more cautious outlook Dimon has been expressing. In early June he warned that an economic “hurricane” was on its way.
    Asked on Thursday to update his forecast, Dimon told reporters during a conference call that it hadn’t changed, but that the concerns had edged closer, and that some of the financial dislocations he had feared had begun to materialize.
    The slowdown in Wall Street deals stung JPMorgan, which has one of the biggest operations on the Street. Investment banking fees fell a steep 54% to $1.65 billion, $250 million below the $1.9 billion estimate. Revenue in that division was impacted by $257 million in markdowns on positions held in the firm’s bridge loans portfolio.
    Fixed income trading revenue jumped 15% to $4.71 billion, but that was still well below analysts’ $5.14 billion estimate for the quarter, as strong results in macro trading were offset by weakness in credit and securitized products. Equities trading revenue also jumped 15%, to $3.08 billion, which edged out the $2.96 billion estimate.
    One tailwind the company has is rising U.S. rates and a swelling book of loans. Net interest income jumped 19% to $15.2 billion for the quarter, topping analysts’ $14.98 billion estimate.
    JPMorgan said at the firm’s investor day in May that it could achieve a key target of 17% returns this year, earlier than expected, thanks to higher rates. In fact, the bank hit that level this quarter.
    Shares of JPMorgan have dropped 29% this year through Wednesday, worse than the 19% decline of the KBW Bank Index.
    Morgan Stanley also reported earnings Thursday and like JPMorgan, its results were shy of Wall Street’s expectations. The bank was hurt by a drop investment banking revenue.
    Wells Fargo and Citigroup are expected to post their results on Friday and Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are slated for Monday.
    This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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    A second wave of Russians is fleeing Putin's regime

    A “second wave” of Russians is fleeing President Vladimir Putin’s regime as his war in Ukraine rages on.
    37-year-old Vladimir is one of a number of Russians with business and family ties who took time to get their affairs in order, but are now relocating.
    “Once the flow begins and people start finding out how to do things … that prompts more people to leave,” Jeanne Batalova, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told CNBC.

    A ‘second wave’ of Russians are now formally relocating to countries spanning Europe, the Middle East and Asia after spending time getting their affairs in order.
    Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | Getty Images

    For months now, Vladimir has been preparing paperwork and getting his affairs in order for a move to France.
    A visa application process that was once relatively easy is now dogged with complexity, but the 37-year-old is confident that getting his family and employees out of Russia will be worthwhile.

    “On the one hand, it’s comfortable to live in the country where you were born. But on the other, it’s about the safety of your family,” Vladimir told CNBC via video call from his office in Moscow.
    For Vladimir, the decision to leave the country he has called home all his life “was not made in one day.” Under President Vladimir Putin’s rule, he has watched what he called the “erosion of politics and freedom” in Russia over several years. But the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine was the final straw.
    “I think, in a year or two, everything will be so bad,” he said of his country.
    The Russian Embassy in London and Russia’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

    Russia’s ‘second wave’ of migration

    Vladimir, whose surname has been removed due to the sensitive nature of the situation, is part of what he considers Russia’s “second wave” of migration following the war.This includes those who took longer to prepare to leave the country — such as people with businesses or families who wanted to let their children finish the school year before leaving.

    Such flexibility was not afforded to everybody. When Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, alongside the millions of Ukrainians who were forced to flee their homes, life for some Russians became untenable overnight.

    Once the flow begins and people start finding out how to do things … that prompts more people to leave.

    Jeanne Batalova
    senior policy analyst, Migration Policy Institute

    A “first wave” of artists, journalists and others openly opposed to Putin’s regime felt they had to leave the country immediately or risk political persecution for violating the Kremlin’s clampdown on public dissent.
    “A lot of people got notices saying that they were traitors,” said Jeanne Batalova, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, noting the backlash suffered by some Russians — even from neighbors.
    But as the war rages on, more Russians are deciding to pack up and leave.
    “The way migration works is that once the flow begins and people start finding out how to do things — get a flat, apply for asylum, find a job or start a business — that prompts more people to leave. It becomes a self-fulfilling cycle,” Batalova said.

    An exodus in the hundreds of thousands

    There is no concrete data on the number of Russians who have left the country since the start of the war. However, one Russian economist put the total at 200,000 as of mid-March.
    That figure is likely to be far higher now, according to Batalova, as tens of thousands of Russians have relocated to Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Israel, the Baltic states and beyond.
    “If you look at the various destinations where people have gone, these numbers do ring true,” she said. And that’s not even counting Russia’s large overseas diaspora, many of whom are in Southeast Asia, who have chosen not to return home following the invasion. Batalova puts that figure at around 100,000.

    There is no concrete data on the number of people who have fled Russia following the war, although economists put estimates at 200,000 to 300,000 as of mid-March.
    Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

    In the tech sector alone, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 professionals left in the first month of the war, with a further 70,000 to 100,000 expected to follow soon thereafter, according to a Russian IT industry trade group.
    Some start-up founders like Vladimir, who runs a software service for restaurants, have decided to relocate their businesses and staff overseas, choosing countries with access to capital, such as France, the U.K, Spain and Cyprus. Vladimir is moving his wife and school-age child, as well as his team of four and their families, to Paris.
    They follow more mobile independent Russia tech workers who have already flocked to low-visa countries including Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey.

    You’re seeing a massive brain drain. The disruption for talented people is enormous.

    Scott Antel

    Then, there’s a third group of tech workers at larger Russian IT companies who are leaving more out of obligation than choice.
    Mikhail Mizhinsky, founder of Relocode, a company that helps tech businesses relocate, said these people faced a particularly difficult situation.
    Many have received ultimatums from overseas customers who are ceasing doing business with Russia. For them, it’s a toss-up between low costs in Bulgaria, Russian influence in Serbia and tax benefits in Armenia, according to Mizhinsky.
    “Most of them don’t necessarily want to leave Russia, where their home is,” he said. “But, on the other hand, they have their clients who buy their IT outsourced products and services who demanded them to leave. Many got letters from clients who said they would terminate their contracts if they did not leave Russia.”

    The well-educated and the wealthy

    The tech sector is one among several professional services industries that have seen an exodus of talent from Russia’s larger cities, as people reject the war and worsening business conditions.
    Scott Antel, an international hospitality and franchise lawyer who spent almost two decades working in Moscow, has so far this year helped five friends relocate from Russia to Dubai, in several cases purchasing properties for them, sight unseen, to expedite the move.
    “You’re seeing a massive brain drain,” said Antel, whose departing friends span the legal and consulting professions, as well as hospitality and real estate. “The disruption for talented people is enormous and is going to be even more so.”

    Around 15,000 millionaires are expected to leave Russia this year, adding to the increasing number of people migrating away amid President Putin’s war.
    Oleg Nikishin | Getty Images News

    “A lot of them feel that they’ve lost their country,” he continued. “Realistically, is this going to turn around in a couple of years? No.”
    And it’s not just professionals seeking out the stability of overseas markets like Dubai. Having remained politically neutral amid international sanctions, the emirate has emerged as a destination of choice for Russia’s uber rich, too, with many shifting their wealth into its luxury property market.
    Indeed, around 15,000 millionaires are expected to leave Russia this year, according to a June report from London-based citizenship-by-investment firm Henley & Partners, with Dubai ranking as the top location for the super rich.

    Wariness among host countries

    The ongoing second exodus comes amid reports that some of Russia’s earlier emigres have returned home, because of both family and business ties, as well as difficulties as a result of travel restrictions and banking sanctions.
    However, Batalova said she expects such returns to be short-lived.
    “My bet would be that the emigration from Russia will continue, and when people do go back it will be to sell possessions, homes, and then leave again,” she said.
    But questions remain over the reception some Russian emigres may receive in their host country, she said.

    They don’t want Russia to come along later and try to protect Russians in those host countries as they did with the diaspora in Ukraine.

    Jeanna Batalova
    senior policy analyst, Migration Policy Institute

    “In this conflict, Russia is viewed as the aggressor, and that attitude is passed down onto the emigres. Even if they [Russian migrants] are against the system, the public sentiment can be transferred to the new arrivals,” Batalova said.
    Indeed, there is a very real fear among some host countries that an influx of Russian migrants could see them become a target for a future Russian invasion. Moscow has maintained that part of the justification for its so-called special military operation in Ukraine was the “liberation” of Donbas, an area of east Ukraine which is home to a significant number of ethnic Russians.
    According to Batalova, countries like Georgia, Armenia and the Baltic states — all of which have suffered at the hands of Russian aggression in the past, and have existing concerns over their national security — are likely to be particularly anxious.
    “They don’t want Russia to come along later and try to protect Russians in those host countries as they did with the diaspora in Ukraine,” she noted.
    Still, Vladimir is undeterred. He is hopeful for a fresh start in his family’s search for a new home outside of Russia.
    “Regarding the negativity, I’m sure it’s not true for 100% for all people. In any country, and with any passport, people can understand one another,” he said.

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    Morgan Stanley misses analysts’ estimates on worse-than-expected investment banking revenue

    Morgan Stanley reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that were below analysts’ expectations.
    The bank’s results were hurt by a steep 55% decline in investment banking revenue.
    The results confirm what some analysts had feared for Morgan Stanley, which runs one of the larger equity capital markets operations on Wall Street.

    Morgan Stanley posted second-quarter results on Thursday that were below analysts’ expectations, hurt by weaker-than-expected investment banking revenue.
    Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

    Earnings per share: $1.39 vs. $1.53 expected
    Revenue: $13.13 billion vs. $13.48 billion expected

    Profit dropped 29% to $2.5 billion, or $1.39 per share from $3.69 billion, or $2.02 per share, a year ago, the New York-based bank said in a release. Revenue fell 11% to $13.13 billion from $14.8 billion, driven by the steep 55% decline in investment banking revenue.
    The results confirm what some analysts had feared for Morgan Stanley, which runs one of the larger equity capital markets operations on Wall Street. The firm’s investment banking division produced $1.07 billion in second-quarter revenue, $400 million below analysts’ $1.47 billion estimate that itself had been ratcheted down in recent weeks.
    Shares of the bank dipped less than 1% in premarket trading.
    Wall Street banks are grappling with the collapse in IPOs and debt and equity issuance this year, a sharp reversal from the deals boom that drove results last year. The change was triggered by broad declines in financial assets, pessimism over the possibility of a recession and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
    “Overall, the firm delivered a solid quarter in what was a more volatile market environment than we have seen for some time,” CEO James Gorman said in the release. He added that good trading results “helped partially counter weaker investment banking activity.”

    Equities trading produced $2.96 billion in revenue in the quarter, above the $2.77 billion estimate, while fixed-income trading revenue of $2.5 billion handily exceeded the $1.98 billion estimate.
    The firm’s giant wealth management division produced $5.74 billion in revenue, below the $5.99 billion estimate, as lower asset values cut management fees.
    Investment mangement revenue fell 17% to $1.41 billion from last year.
    Morgan Stanley co-President Ted Pick said last month that markets would be dominated by concern over inflation and recession in a period of transition after nearly 15 years of easy-money policies by central banks came to an end.
    “The banking calendar has quieted down a bit because people are trying to figure out whether we’re going to have this paradigm shift clarified sooner or later,” Pick said.
    Shares of the bank have dropped 24% this year through Wednesday, worse than the 19% decline of the KBW Bank Index.
    JPMorgan also reported disappointing second-quarter earnings on Thursday, as the biggest U.S. bank by assets, grew its reserves for bad loans and suspended its stock buybacks as its economic outlook dims.
    Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, repurchased $2.7 billion of its own stock during the latest quarter and its board has approved a new $20 billion program.
    Wells Fargo and Citigroup are scheduled to report results on Friday, while Bank of America and Goldman Sachs post on Monday.

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    General Motors will build a network of EV fast chargers at Pilot travel centers along U.S. highways

    GM and Pilot Co. plan to install EV fast chargers at 500 Pilot and Flying J locations along U.S. highways.
    The chargers, about 2,000 in total, will be installed and operated by EVgo starting next year.
    Once complete, the network will have fast chargers at intervals of about 50 miles along U.S. highways.

    General Motors is building out a new network of EV fast chargers in partnership with Pilot Co., owner of the Pilot and Flying J highway travel centers, and EV charging network EVgo.
    The companies will install a total of 2,000 fast chargers at 500 of Pilot’s locations along American highways at intervals of approximately 50 miles, they said Thursday. The partners expect to have a significant portion of those chargers installed and operating by the end of 2023.

    “GM and Pilot Company designed this program to combine private investments alongside intended government grant and utility programs to help reduce range anxiety and significantly close the gap in long-distance EV charger demand,” said Pilot Co. CEO Shameek Konar in a statement.
    The deal, which is expected to benefit from grants made available by the U.S. government, is part of a broader $750 million effort by GM to build out an accessible fast-charging network as it gears up to launch a series of new electric vehicles over the next few years.
    The chargers will be installed, operated and maintained by EVgo and will include high-power fast chargers capable of charging at up to 350 kilowatts as well as charging stalls designed to accommodate electric vehicles that are towing trailers. The chargers will be open to all electric vehicles that are compatible with DC fast charging.  

    GM to partner with EVgo and Pilot to add EV chargers to stations.
    Courtesy: GM

    GM and EVgo previously announced a plan to install an additional 3,250 fast chargers in and around U.S. cities and suburbs by the end of 2025. GM is also working with its dealers in the U.S. and Canada to install up to 40,000 chargers in the dealers’ communities, an effort that is focused on “underserved rural and urban areas,” the company has said.
    Studies have shown that drivers’ concerns about access to chargers along highways is a limiting factor in EV adoption.
    “We are committed to an all-electric, zero-emissions future, and ensuring that the right charging infrastructure is in place is a key piece of the puzzle,” said GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement. “With travel centers across North America, Pilot Company is an ideal collaborator to reach a broad audience of EV drivers.”

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    Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: JPMorgan, Taiwan Semiconductor, Ericsson and more

    Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
    JPMorgan Chase (JPM) – JPMorgan Chase was down 2.9% in premarket trading after falling 12 cents shy of estimates with a quarterly profit of $2.76 per share. It also announced it was temporarily suspending share buybacks. CEO Jamie Dimon said inflation, waning consumer confidence and other factors were likely to have a negative effect on the global economy.

    Morgan Stanley (MS) – Morgan Stanley reported quarterly earnings of $1.39 per share, 14 cents shy of consensus estimates, with the investment bank’s revenue also falling short. The bank saw weaker investment banking activity during the quarter, although it said results in equity and fixed income were strong. Morgan Stanley lost 2.6% in the premarket.
    Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) – The chip maker’s stock rose 1.5% in the premarket after second-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates. Taiwan Semi also raised its revenue forecast for the year. Results got a boost from strong markets for automotive and IoT chips.
    Ericsson (ERIC) – The Sweden-based telecom equipment company reported a profit that missed analyst estimates, hurt by higher costs for components and logistics. Ericsson shares tumbled 9.1% in premarket trading.
    Twitter (TWTR) – Twitter added 1.1% in premarket action, on top of a 12.6% jump over the past 2 sessions. Wednesday’s nearly 8% gain came after Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to go through with a $44 billion takeover deal. Twitter also said in an SEC filing that it is not planning company-wide layoffs but may continue to restructure the company.
    Conagra (CAG) – The food producer reported an adjusted quarterly profit of 65 cents per share, 2 cents above estimates, with revenue essentially in line with forecasts. Conagra saw an impact from higher costs, with operating margins falling by 310 basis points.

    Cisco Systems (CSCO) – J.P. Morgan Securities downgraded the networking equipment maker’s stock to “neutral” from “overweight,” based in part on what it sees as downside risks to enterprise spending levels. Cisco fell 2.2% in the premarket.
    Dollar General (DG) – The discount retailer’s stock fell 2.3% in the premarket after Citi downgraded it to “neutral” from “buy,” noting that the shares are within 4% of its price target. Citi also feels the recently announced CEO transition will be smooth and does not impact its view of the stock.

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    Molson Coors to return to the Super Bowl for the first time in more than 30 years

    Molson Coors Beverage will return to the Super Bowl next year, making its first appearance during the big game in more than 30 years.
    Rival Anheuser-Busch InBev ended its monopoly on Super Bowl ads earlier this year after more than 30 years.
    For Molson Coors, the chance to advertise during the NFL championship game comes after the company’s transformation into a total beverage company.

    Molson Golden and Coors Light beer bottles are pictured at the Asylum bar in New York.
    Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Molson Coors Beverage will return to the Super Bowl next year, making its first appearance during the big game in more than 30 years.
    The move comes after archrival Anheuser-Busch InBev announced in June that it would end a 33-year deal with the NFL that made it the exclusive alcohol advertiser during the Super Bowl. The company still plans to run ads during the game this year.

    Since 1989, AB InBev’s NFL deal had shut out other brewers. The Bud Light owner opted to run ads every year except in 2021, when it spent marketing dollars to boost Covid vaccine awareness instead. Its commercials have made Budweiser’s Clydesdale horses iconic, introduced the world to “Whassup?” and even sparked a lawsuit from MillerCoors in 2019.
    “The minute we heard that the exclusivity was no longer and we had a chance, we were like ‘Yes, we are in, game on’,” said Michelle St. Jacques, chief marketing officer for Molson Coors.
    The company is planning to run just one 30-second spot during the game. But St. Jacques said Molson Coors is aiming to make an unforgettable commercial that breaks through the noise.
    The Super Bowl will give the company a national stage to showcase its transformation. Molson Coors has expanded its offerings beyond just beer, adding hard seltzer, whiskey and energy drinks to its portfolio. In 2021, it logged annual sales growth for the first time in more than a decade.
    “We’ve changed a lot in the past three years, not only the name of our company, from ‘Brewing’ to ‘Beverage,’ but also the way we’re approaching marketing and building brands in general,” St. Jacques said.

    For example, the company has sought to differentiate its two light beers: Miller Lite and Coors Light.
    From the sidelines during past Super Bowls, Molson Coors has tried to make a splash. Past marketing campaigns have trolled AB InBev’s brands, like challenging consumers to type the world’s longest URL to burn the one-calorie difference between Miller Lite and Michelob Ultra. For this year’s Super Bowl, Miller Lite opened a bar in the metaverse, spreading the word through social media.
    With AB InBev’s monopoly gone, other alcohol companies like Heineken and Diageo, the NFL’s official spirits sponsor, also will have the chance to advertise their drinks on air during the big game.
    In 2022, Super Bowl ads went for more than $7 million for a 30-second spot during the game. Advertisers are willing to shell out big bucks for the chance to market their products to the game’s massive audience. The NFL said this year’s championship game had a total of 208 million viewers.
    AB InBev isn’t the only beverage giant seeing an end to an exclusive deal with the NFL. PepsiCo announced in May that it will no longer sponsor the game’s halftime show after a decadelong run. A new sponsor hasn’t been announced.

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