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    Ford CEO Farley says automaker's stock has 'tremendous upside' even after doubling in his first year

    Shares of the automaker have surged 113% since Farley became CEO on Oct. 1.
    Farley’s predecessor, Jim Hackett, was heavily criticized for not pivoting more quickly into new technologies such as electric and autonomous vehicles.
    Ford announced an $11.4 billion deal late Monday to build four new battery and EV factories through a joint venture with South Korean battery maker SK Innovation.

    Ford CEO Jim Farley takes off his mask at the Ford Built for America event at Fords Dearborn Truck Plant on September 17, 2020 in Dearborn, Michigan.
    Nic Antaya | Getty Images

    DETROIT – Ford Motor’s stock price has more than doubled since Jim Farley became CEO a little less than a year ago, and yet he says the shares “absolutely” have more room to run as he begins to lay the groundwork for a massive turnaround plan.
    “There’s a growing confidence that Ford will be one of the winners in this new digital transformation in the industry,” he told CNBC during a phone interview Monday shortly before the company announced plans to invest $11.4 billion in U.S. production of electric batteries and vehicles. “We have a lot of incredible upside.”

    Shares of the automaker closed Monday up by 2.8% to $14.16 a share, a 113% increase since Farley became CEO on Oct. 1. The stock was up by about 4% during premarket trading Tuesday. Still, Farley isn’t satisfied with the company’s current market valuation at $56 billion. It trails other key competitors, including General Motors at $77.5 billion or EV market leader Tesla at $755.5 billion.

    Farley said the joint venture with South Korean battery maker SK Innovation is a good example of company’s ongoing transformation under his Ford+ turnaround plan that was announced in May. The plan aims to make existing operations more profitable and better position the automaker for emerging segments such as data as well as connected, autonomous and electric vehicles.
    “I would say this is the largest transformation of Ford since the Model T scaled,” Farley said. “I don’t think we’ve been fully recognized, yet, for our winning status in this digital transformation of our industry.”
    Farley’s predecessor, Jim Hackett, was heavily criticized for not pivoting more quickly into new technologies such as electric and autonomous vehicles. He previously said that Ford saw “no advantage” in producing its own battery cells.
    The investment with SK is in addition to $30 billion the company previously said it would invest in electric vehicles through 2025, about $7 billion of which had already been invested before February.

    Aside from the harder pivot to EVs and turnaround plan, Farley has recruited high-profile executives to the automaker such as former Tesla and Apple executive Doug Field and Mike Amend, who was most recently president of online for Lowe’s.
    “I’m really proud of our team and I’m especially proud of the team we’ve assembled,” Farley said. “We have a lot of fantastic Ford leaders and we have incredible new talent in the company.”

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    Market bull issues 10% correction warning, blames inflation fallout and Washington policy uncertainty

    Long-time market bull Phil Orlando is delivering a 10% correction warning.
    Federated Hermes’ chief market strategist warns that uncertainty surrounding fiscal and monetary policies will prevent the market from breaking out of its recent rut.

    “There could be another shoe to drop over the course of the next five weeks or so,” Orlando told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Monday. “We’re seeing how events develop and evolve here.”
    Orlando went on pullback watch in midsummer. He saw signs that a 5% to 10% air pocket was materializing, and he estimated it would strike stocks in the August through October period. His worries spanned from hotter-than-expected inflation to Covid variants.
    According to Orlando, those risks still exist, but Washington policy is now setting stocks up for a major setback.
    “On the monetary policy side, inflation has been running much hotter than the Fed and the administration has been prophesying,” he said. “We think inflation is more sustainably higher. That’s going to result in the Federal Reserve changing monetary policy both in terms of their taper and their interest rate increases much more quickly than they originally told us.”
    He’s also concerned about a potential change at the Federal Reserve’s helm. Chair Jerome Powell’s term is up in January. The expiration gives President Joe Biden an opportunity to change a President Donald Trump appointee.

    Orlando also lists lawmakers’ debates over the debt ceiling and trillions in infrastructure spending as major market headwinds.
    “This is a very critical week,” he said. “All of those discussions are very much in flux, so any combination of these developments in Washington could be ripe for another leg down in stocks.”
    Orlando cautions that the backdrop makes the growth trade, which includes Big Tech, particularly vulnerable.
    “If we’re right that there’s a 5 to 10% air pocket coming due to some of these events, the technology stocks we think could get hit disproportionately,” said Orlando. “Maybe that would be a 10% to 20% move to the downside.”
    In lieu of technology, he would focus on buying stocks that are tied to the economic recovery and have pricing power on weakness. Orlando particularly likes energy, financials, industrials, consumer discretionary, materials, small-cap stocks and international developed markets.
    “There’s a tremendous catalyst to get their earnings and growth moving, and they’ve lagged the technology stocks — the growth stocks — pretty significantly,” he said. “There’s a catch-up trade coming.”
    Despite Orlando’s near-term correction warning, he has higher expectations for year-end. Orlando’s S&P 500 year-end target is 4,800, and his 2022 year-end forecast is 5,300.
    On Monday, the index slipped by 0.28% and closed at 4,443.11.
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    After a long wait, some of Southeast Asia's most popular islands are reopening to travelers

    CNBC Travel

    The islands of Southeast Asia are reopening to visitors — one small step at a time.
    The region is home to countries, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, that kept Covid rates low throughout 2020.

    That changed with the arrival of the delta variant, which forced many Southeast Asian nations to contend with big outbreaks for the first time.
    Plans to reopen popular hotspots such as Phuket and Bali were put on hold. Singapore, too, recorded a spike in cases and kept its borders largely sealed to tourists.
    Until now.

    Thailand

    Many Southeast nations are cautiously opening to travelers. One appears to be throwing its doors wide open.
    Thailand pioneered Southeast Asia’s tourism reopening on July 1 with its first-of-a-kind “sandbox” scheme.

    Thailand announced this week plans to reopen its popular tourist destinations and large cities by the year end.
    Getty Images

    Under the plan, vaccinated travelers who test negative for Covid-19 before and after arriving can enter Phuket without quarantining. The island welcomed 26,400 vaccinated visitors and generated tourism revenue of 1.63 billion Thai baht ($48.5 million) in July and August, according to a report by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
    Now vaccinated travelers can visit other parts of Thailand, including the island of Koh Samui and parts of the provinces of Krabi and Phang-Nga.
    On Monday, Thai authorities announced plans to open a large swath of the country in the next three months. Authorities approved a four-phase reopening timeline that prioritizes popular tourist destinations, including Bangkok.

    Thailand’s reopening plans

    Phase
    Starting date
    What’s happening

    Pilot
    Oct. 1
    Continue reopening of Phuket, Surat Thani, Krabi and Phang-Nga; more places opening in Krabi

    1
    Nov. 1
    Reopening of 7 more provinces, including popular spots like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Hua Hin

    2
    Dec. 1
    Reopening of 20 more provinces, including Ayutthaya, Chiang Rai, Songkhla, Sukhothai, Trang, Trat, and Yala

    3
    Jan. 1, 2022
    Reopening of 13 more border provinces, including Satun, Surin and Udon Thani

    Vietnam

    The Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc (pronounced “foo kwok”) is scheduled to reopen to vaccinated international visitors in October, according to VGP News, the Vietnamese government’s online newspaper.
    The island, Vietnam’s largest, is lesser known than other Southeast Asian islands, which is one reason travelers are attracted to it. Home to white-sand beaches and night markets, Phu Quoc has a UNESCO recognized biosphere reserve and one of the world’s longest cable cars, which links to the nearby island of Hon Tham (Pineapple Island).

    Phu Quoc’s cable car is one of the longest in the world and covers a distance of nearly five miles in 15 minutes.
    Vera Tikhonova | iStock | Getty Images

    Phu Quoc is scheduled to open in phases. In the first three months, the island is targeting 2,000 to 3,000 visitors per month, according to the Vietnamese authorities. These visitors can arrive via charter jets and visit a limited number of places on the island.
    During the second phase, which is also set to last three months, some 5,000 to 10,000 visitors can enter via commercial flights and experience more of the island, according to the news report.
    Vietnam is expected to welcome “visitors from markets with high tourism potential and epidemic safety … such as Northeast Asia, Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East,” according to the article.

    Singapore

    Singapore welcomed flights filled with European tourists this month, its first in roughly 1 1/2 years.
    Under Vaccinated Travel Lanes, vaccinated travelers from Germany and Brunei can visit Singapore without quarantining if they pass four Covid-19 tests.

    Singapore is welcoming visitors from select countries through two schemes — Air Travel Passes and Vaccinated Travel Lanes.
    Suhaimi Abdullah | NurPhoto | Getty Images

    If the program works well, Singapore plans to open travel lanes to other countries, according to Singapore authorities.
    Travelers from select parts of Asia can also enter Singapore regardless of their vaccination status if they apply for an Air Travel Pass. Currently, this scheme is open to travelers from Hong Kong, Macao, mainland China and Taiwan.
    After being postponed several times, plans for a travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong ended last month. The two governments decided to drop pursuing the travel bubble due to differences in their anti-Covid strategies.

    Indonesia

    Southeast Asia’s largest and most populous country is taking steps to welcome visitors soon.
    The islands of Bali, Bintan and Batam are part of a reopening pilot project, thanks to their vaccination rates, safety protocols, health infrastructure and international demand, a representative from Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism told CNBC.
    However, a reopening date has yet to be announced, the representative said.

    As of this month, Bali is on track to open to international tourists in October.
    Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

    Bali’s reopening has been postponed several times this year due to infection outbreaks on the island. As of Sept. 17, Bali was on track to open in October, according to the representative.
    Not everyone, however, will be able to enter when the island reopens.
    “As for now, only countries with a high level of Covid-19 containment are considered, such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand,” said the ministry’s spokesperson. “Australia most likely will be put into consideration once it already achieved 80% vaccination rate.”

    Malaysia

    Langkawi reopened this month as part of Malaysia’s Tourism Recovery Plan. However, the archipelago located 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Malaysia’s northwestern coast is open only to vaccinated domestic tourists.
    The government indicated it expects to welcome domestic visitors to other popular tourist destinations such as Tioman Island, Johor, Melaka and the state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.

    Langkawi reopened to travelers, but only those residing within Malaysia.
    By TourTrophy | Moment | Getty Images

    International travelers will be welcome at phase 4 of the plan, according to Malaysia’s tourism authority.
    Langkawi is a popular resort destination for regional tourists and is known for its beaches, rainforests and abundant wildlife.
    Malaysia has experienced a significant drop in tourism revenue due to pandemic-related restrictions. The country saw $9.08 billion taken off its annual earnings last year and gave up 83.4% of its 2019 visitor total — the third-highest of all countries, according to Next Vacay. More

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    CDC raises Covid travel advisory level for Singapore and Hong Kong

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday raised its travel advisories for Singapore and Hong Kong by one level each.
    Singapore was raised from Level 2 to Level 3, indicating a “high” level of Covid-19 in the country.
    The CDC also raised its travel health advisory for Hong Kong from Level 1 to Level 2, indicating a shift from “low” to “moderate” levels of Covid.

    People are silhouetted against Singapore Airlines Airbus planes at Changi International Airport in Singapore on October 24, 2020.
    Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday raised its travel advisories for Singapore and Hong Kong by one level each.
    Singapore was raised from Level 2 to Level 3, indicating a “high” level of Covid-19 in the country. The CDC said unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel to the Southeast Asian country.

    “Because of the current situation in Singapore, all travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants,” the agency said.
    Singapore’s Covid infections have surged to new highs in the past week. Tighter restrictions kicked in on Monday in a bid to slow virus transmission.
    The U.S. State Department also revised its advisory for Singapore to Level 3, recommending citizens “reconsider travel.” The city-state was previously classified as Level 2, which suggests travelers should “exercise increased caution,” due to Covid-19.

    Hong Kong travel

    Travelers should also reconsider travel to Hong Kong, according to a department advisory last updated June 16. In that notice, the State Department cited “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” as well as Covid-related travel restrictions.
    This week, the CDC raised its travel health advisory for Hong Kong from Level 1 to Level 2, indicating a shift from “low” to “moderate” levels of Covid.

    Unvaccinated travelers who are at increased risk of severe illness from the coronavirus should avoid nonessential travel to the Chinese city, the updated recommendation said.
    The agency says travelers going to Level 2 or 3 destinations should make sure they are fully vaccinated before visiting.
    Hong Kong’s daily reported Covid cases have been in the single digits for the past week. All the infections were imported cases.
    As of Sunday, the U.S. reported an average of 359 daily new Covid cases per million people in the past seven days, compared with 244 per million in Singapore and 0.62 per million in Hong Kong, according to Our World in Data.

    CNBC Health & Science

    Travel advisories

    The CDC has four levels in its Covid-19 travel health recommendations:

    Level 1: Low
    Level 2: Moderate
    Level 3: High
    Level 4: Very high

    All travelers are advised to avoid going to Level 4 destinations. The agency also notes it relies on data from the World Health Organization and other official sources to make its determinations. The CDC said, however, that there is insufficient data for regions listed as “level unknown” and travelers should follow Level 4 recommendations.
    The State Department also has four levels in its travel advisory system, but includes a wider range of factors in its classification. While the CDC focuses on health, the State Department also evaluates risk factors like crime, terrorism, unrest, natural disasters and kidnapping.

    Level 1: Exercise normal precautions
    Level 2: Exercise increased caution
    Level 3: Reconsider travel
    Level 4: Do not travel

    The department’s advisories now include information on Covid risks for each destination, often citing CDC travel health recommendations.

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    As China cracks down, foreign companies try to figure out where they fit in

    As foreign businesses watch a crackdown on domestic tech giants, the Chinese government has continued to promote opportunities for them — in increasingly specific ways.
    “Now you’ve really got to show you’ve got something that China wants, or China doesn’t feel is a competitor to its own interest and needs,” said Adam Dunnett, secretary general at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
    Leaders of U.S. and European business interest groups in China said the biggest challenge is still getting visas for executives and their families to travel between local operations and global headquarters.

    Visitors walk on the Bund in Shanghai, China, on Friday, February 12, 2021.
    Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    BEIJING — Foreign companies are trying to hold on to lucrative opportunities in China, even if new regulations and the pandemic have made international operations harder.
    As these businesses watch a crackdown on domestic tech giants, the Chinese government has continued to promote the world’s second-largest economy as opening further to overseas capital.

    In just the last few weeks, local authorities in the cities of Beijing and Shenzhen have followed those in Hainan — an entire island province that is becoming a free trade zone — in announcing new benefits for foreign capital in special development districts. Similar business-friendly policies have been rolled out in the past, with mixed results.
    “The main difference is it’s much more targeted than it was before,” said Adam Dunnett, secretary general at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
    “Now you’ve really got to show you’ve got something that China wants, or China doesn’t feel is a competitor to its own interest and needs,” he said.
    Chinese authorities kicked off their latest five-year development plan this year. It contains ambitious goals for technological advancement in the face of rising pressure from the U.S. Beijing also wants to build up the economy’s reliance on domestic consumption, rather than exports.
    “The way we see it is, some companies are going to get pushed out of the market,” Dunnett said. “They’ll fight as long as they can. Others have something to offer, and they’re willing to offer it because the market is there and it’s good and they’ll try to hold onto it as long as they can. And others, quite frankly, are in areas that are not deemed as being sensitive and will continue to do well in their own right with relatively little disturbance.”

    When it comes to the overall operating environment, leaders of American and European business interest groups in China said members haven’t seen significant progress on Trump-era calls for more equal access in the country. A paper released Thursday by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China noted in particular that government procurement policies still favor local businesses over foreign ones.
    Beijing’s regulatory crackdown is not helping sentiment. In July, Chinese authorities ordered ride-hailing app Didi to suspend new user registrations just days after its New York IPO, and told after-school tutoring companies to slash operating hours. Companies from Tal Education to Tencent have seen shares plunge.
    “Of late, we’ve seen some crackdowns on entire sectors and in ways that aren’t entirely understandable or predictable,” said Greg Gilligan, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. “Businesses need, of course, stability and predictability.”
    The other pressing challenge for businesses is getting visas approved for executives, their spouses and children, Gilligan said. “These restrictive travel policies are directly impacting foreign investment decisions in a negative way.”
    China’s national economic planning agency acknowledged this specific drag on investment at a press conference this month on encouraging foreign direct investment. There was no mention of support for employee relocation, but rather general statements on relaxing restrictions on foreign capital.

    Read more about China from CNBC Pro

    The country’s rapid growth into the world’s second-largest economy relied heavily on foreign investment. However, overseas businesses have complained for years of being required to transfer proprietary technology into the country in order the operate there. Chinese authorities also prohibited foreign businesses from operating in sensitive industries, or forced joint ventures with local players.
    The Chinese government has removed many of these restrictions in recent years, most notably in the finance and auto sectors.
    Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, said on a call with reporters that Chinese authorities have welcomed more European manufacturing in the last two years.
    “They don’t mind having [a] foreigner supply it,” he said, “as long as they’re within the Great Wall of China.”

    Slices of opportunity

    Local authorities are also relaxing controls in a targeted way.
    A “Two Zones” policy designation that rolled out in the last year in the capital city of Beijing removes local restrictions on full foreign ownership of aviation maintenance businesses, Liu Meiying, deputy director of the “Two Zones,” said at a forum hosted by think tank Center for China and Globalization in early September.
    She added that “Two Zones” has halved the amount of assets the parent of a new foreign investment company needs to $200 million, and the area is the only one in the country allowing foreign investment in audiovisual production.
    Also in early September, the central government announced the Qianhai free trade zone connecting the city of Shenzhen with Hong Kong would expand by eight times, to 120.56 square kilometers (46.5 square miles). The expansion of the finance hub, which is already home to UBS and HSBC, comes as the mainland has increased its control of Hong Kong, a global financial center.
    Klaus Zenkel, general manager at Imedco Technology (Shenzhen) and vice president at the EU Chamber’s chapter in south China, said he’s optimistic about plans for Qianhai, such as granting the district a high level of administrative autonomy.
    It’s still uncertain how well such plans will be implemented. When it comes to the southern island province of Hainan, where authorities have accelerated announcements of tax breaks and other business-friendly policies this year, these changes are not enough for foreign businesses to come right away, said Chen Jie, general manager at Hong Kong-based developer Keyestone Group.
    Chen noted that other than consumer brands, most businesses will first watch how others already operating on the island fare under the new policies. The company is building a Hello Kitty theme park in Hainan set to open in 2024.

    New laws require greater compliance

    China’s growing middle class and massive size remain a magnet for foreign businesses, regardless of government politics or policies. Official data show non-financial foreign direct investment into China rose 27.8% year-on-year in U.S. dollar terms in the first eight months of the year to $113.78 billion.
    The “market opportunity is very enticing,” said Matt Marguiles, vice president for China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council. “Most companies are either staying where they are, or growing. It’s going to be company specific.”
    But Marguiles said compliance is a growing issue due to new Chinese laws such as those on personal data protection.
    “There’s some concerns for data security, some laws in Europe, some laws in China, so you need to be careful which data you can use,” the EU Chamber’s Zenkel said. As is also the case with supply chains, there are “restrictions on both sides which need to be observed.”

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    Ford and SK Innovation to spend $11 billion, create 11,000 jobs on new U.S. EV and battery plants

    The investment includes two lithium-ion battery plants in central Kentucky and a 3,600-acre campus in west Tennessee called Blue Oval City.
    The plans bolster President Joe Biden’s call for companies to onshore supply chains amid a global shortage of semiconductor chips that has disrupted several industries, including automotive.

    DETROIT – Ford Motor and battery supplier SK Innovation plan to invest more than $11.4 billion in new U.S. facilities that will create nearly 11,000 jobs to produce electric vehicles and batteries.
    Ford is building twin lithium-ion battery plants in central Kentucky through a joint venture with South Korea-based SK called BlueOvalSK as well as a massive 3,600-acre campus in west Tennessee, the automaker said Monday night. The campus will include another a battery plant built with SK along with a supplier park, recycling center and a new assembly plant for electric F-Series trucks, Ford CEO Jim Farley told CNBC.

    The plans are the latest of Ford’s to increase development and production of electric vehicles — including batteries — under Farley, who began leading the automaker a year ago this week. They also bolster President Joe Biden’s call for companies to onshore supply chains amid a global shortage of semiconductor chips that has disrupted several industries, including automotive.

    A battery manufacturing complex U.S automaker Ford Motor Co and its South Korean battery partner SK Innovation plan to build in Kentucky, opening in 2025, is seen in an artist’s rendition released September 27, 2021.
    Ford Motor Co | Handout | via Reuters

    The investment is part of Farley’s “Ford+” turnaround plan to make the automaker’s traditional operations more profitable and better position it for emerging sectors such as autonomous, electric and connected vehicles.
    “This is the new Ford,” Farley told CNBC during a phone interview. “It’s time. We are putting shovels in the ground, 11,000 new workers. … It’s an enormous commitment to build these digital products.”
    Ford does not expect to take on any additional debt to fund the plans, according to Farley. He said moves will be funded through the company’s profits.

    Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

    The new investment comes on top of the $30 billion the company previously said would go to electric vehicles through 2025, about $7 billion of which had already been invested before February.

    Production at the plants, aside from one of the battery plants in Kentucky, is expected to begin in 2025, the company said. The second battery plant in Kentucky is expected to come online in 2026, according to Ford.

    ‘Pivotal moment’

    The “new Ford” is a drastic pivot from Farley’s predecessor, Jim Hackett, who previously said the automaker saw “no advantage” in producing its own battery cells. It comes as Ford’s crosstown rival General Motors spends $4.6 billion through a joint venture with LG Chem for battery production, starting in 2023.
    Farley said the investment should be further proof that Ford, which many on Wall Street believed was behind on EVs, is positioned to be a leader in the segment. “I don’t know of any other company making this announcement. Why would you ever think we’re behind? We’re ahead,” Farley said.
    Shares of Ford have more than doubled since Farley became CEO of the automaker almost a year ago.
    About $5.6 billion of Ford’s investment with SK will go to a new campus called Blue Oval City in Stanton, Tennessee and $5.8 billion for the two factories in Glendale, Kentucky. Ford will cover about $7 billion of the $11.4 billion, according to Lisa Drake, Ford’s North America chief operating officer.

    “This is a really pivotal moment for us and our country today,” Drake told reporters during a call. “We are announcing the largest single investment in new manufacturing facilities in the 118-year history of Ford.”
    The three new plants for BlueOvalSK will enable 129 gigawatt hours a year of U.S. production capacity for Ford — enough to power 1 million electric vehicles annually, Ford icials said. That’s more than half of the EV production capacity Ford expected to have globally by 2030.
    “This is truly a staggering project, and one that speaks to Ford’s ambition to the fast-growing U.S. EV industry,” SK Innovation global head of marketing Yoosuk Kim said during a call.

    New F-Series coming

    Ford expects the new vehicle manufacturing facility in Tennessee to be carbon neutral once fully operational, including zero-waste-to-landfill processes.
    Farley said the plant will build new electric F-Series pickups. He added the next-generation pickups will be solely designed to be EVs, unlike the upcoming F-150 Lightning that is based off the traditional pickup with an internal combustion engine.

    Ford has started initial pre-production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck at a new plant in Dearborn, Mich.
    Michael Wayland | CNBC

    “We’re going to build an all-electric bottom up, optimized product platform in this plant. It will be the largest plant in the history of our company,” Farley said. “We’re going to build lots of fantastic F-Series electric vehicles there. We’re not going to be specific about what type.”
    Farley said the company is “reinventing what a pickup truck would be,” including the range, with this announcement. Drake said Ford expects one-third of full-size pickups sold in the U.S. to be fully electric by 2030.
    Ford’s current F-Series lineup includes the F-150 and larger versions of the full-size truck as well as medium-duty trucks and chassis cabs meant for commercial buyers.

    Farley and Drake compared the significance of the new EV plants to company founder Henry Ford’s mass production of the Model T, which made vehicles more affordable and accessible to the general public.
    Ford previously said it expected at least 40% of its sales globally to be electric vehicles by the end of this decade. The target was announced prior to the Biden administration setting a target last month for half of all new auto sales to be electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid models, by 2030
    In addition to the manufacturing facilities, Ford said it plan to invest $525 million over the next five years, including $90 million in a pilot program in Texas, for training skilled technicians to service EVs.
    “This is just the beginning of our aspirations to lead America in the next century of sustainable transportation economy,” Drake said. “This investment is catapulting us ahead to lead the electric revolution.”

    The Mustang Mach-E is Ford’s first new all-electric vehicle under an $11 billion investment plan in electrified vehicles through 2022.
    Michael Wayland | CNBC

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    Coinbase dives deeper into banking by letting users deposit paychecks into their accounts

    Coinbase will let U.S. users deposit any percentage of their paychecks directly into their accounts in the coming weeks.
    Deposits can either be in U.S. dollars or immediately transferred into cryptocurrencies with no fees.
    The move comes as Coinbase faces increased criticism from regulators over digital assets.

    Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is going deeper into traditional financial services, allowing users to deposit paychecks directly into their online accounts.
    Coinbase said Monday that its U.S. customers will be able to use the direct deposit service for any percentage of their paycheck. They can hold their money in dollars or immediately transfer it into cryptocurrencies like bitcoin with no fees.

    “With direct deposit, customers can more easily access our crypto-first financial services and be ready for any trade or purchase,” Max Branzburg, vice president of product at Coinbase, said in a blog post. “We’re determined to deliver the most trusted full suite of crypto-first financial services to our 68 million users.”
    The launch, which goes live in the coming weeks, comes after customers complained that frequent transfers from their bank accounts to Coinbase are “time-consuming and inconvenient,” the company said. Coinbase added that it aims to give “instant access to the cryptoeconomy.”

    Read more about cryptocurrencies from CNBC Pro

    Coinbase said it will use an FDIC-insured bank partner for direct deposit but did not specify which one. The company works with MetaBank for its Coinbase rewards card.
    Other popular online finance apps already allow for direct deposit. Online banking companies like Chime and SoFi provide the service as part of a broad portfolio of products, while PayPal and stock trading app Robinhood also let users deposit their paychecks.
    Coinbase is rolling out new offerings while simultaneously trying to navigate a complicated regulatory environment. Last week, the company canceled plans for a high-interest lending product after the SEC threatened to sue over it.

    Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called it “really sketchy behavior coming out of the SEC recently.” Armstrong also said the agency refused to meet with the company, and gave “zero explanation as to why.”
    SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has sharpened his criticism of the cryptocurrency industry. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee earlier this month, Gensler called for more crypto oversight. He also asked for additional resources from Congress to ensure investor protection and contended that most digital assets traded need to register with the agency.
    Coinbase went public in April through a direct listing. The stock has dropped 40% since its debut, trading at $229.40 on Monday. Its moves often mirror the volatility of bitcoin, which is down 28% over the same stretch.
    WATCH: Bitcoin drops after China says crypto-related activities are illegal

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    Stock futures are flat as investors gauge a spike in bond yields

    U.S. stock futures were steady in overnight trading Monday following a rise in bond yields that pressured growth pockets in the market.
    Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell just 20 points. S&P 500 futures were flat, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2%.

    The 10-year Treasury yield rose on economic optimism and inflation fears, briefly topping 1.5% on Monday, its highest level since June.
    Equities saw an uneven session amid the spike in rates.
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday gained 71 points, and the small-cap Russell 2000 rallied 1.5%. However, the S&P 500 fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite was the relative underperformer, dipping 0.5%, as the drop in bond prices pressured growth names like Microsoft and Amazon.
    “The stock market increasingly indicates that the U.S. economy has entered another reopening cycle,” Leuthold Group chief investment strategist Jim Paulsen.

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    “A Covid-led resurgence in economic activity may well worsen supply chain woes and eventually reignite inflation concerns. But, for now, it has forced investors to reevaluate whether they have too much in growth and tech and not enough in economically sensitive investments,” Paulsen added.

    Traders were also poring through testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. In prepared remarks set to be delivered Tuesday, the central bank chief said that inflation could persist longer-than-expected.
    “Inflation is elevated and will likely remain so in coming months before moderating,” Powell said. “As the economy continues to reopen and spending rebounds, we are seeing upward pressure on prices, particularly due to supply bottlenecks in some sectors. These effects have been larger and longer lasting than anticipated, but they will abate, and as they do, inflation is expected to drop back toward our longer-run 2 percent goal.”
    The central bank indicated last week that it was ready to begin “tapering” — the process of slowly pulling back the stimulus they’ve provided during the pandemic. The Fed left rates unchanged but penciled in possibly one interest rate hike in 2022, followed by three apiece in the 2023 and 2024.
    The potential for a government shutdown also clouded the market Monday.
    Lawmakers must act on a funding plan before the government faces a shutdown Friday. While there could be a temporary solution extending funding, the bigger issue of raising the debt ceiling may not be resolved for several more weeks. Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a bill that would fund the government and suspend the U.S. debt ceiling.
    Wall Street is also looking ahead to Thursday, when the House is expected to vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill already approved by the Senate.
    Thursday marks the final day of trading of September and the third quarter. The Dow is down 1.4% for the month, and the S&P 500 is off by 1.8%. The Nasdaq Composite has lost 1.9% in September.
    The Covid-19 delta variant, the Federal Reserve’s tapering plan and inflation have worried investors. However, the Dow is still up nearly 14% year to date despite the weakness in September. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are also sharply higher.
    “I think the wall of worry continued to grow,” Lindsey Bell of Ally Invest told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Monday. “While there are very valid concerns by market participants I do think the one thing … is the strength of the consumer. While inflation could be coming, the consumer has been resilient.”
    — with reporting from CNBC’s Patti Domm.
    Correction: A previous version misspelled Lindsey Bell’s name.

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