Raphael Stevens

Greg Rosenbaum at the 2016 OlympicsU.S. Army photo by Tim Hipps, IMCOM Public Affairs | WikipediaA banking executive and minor league baseball team owner launched an effort to help save various teams by hiring lobbyists to secure federal Covid relief funds as the new season gets underway.Greg Rosenbaum, who owns a Cincinnati Reds farm team, is the executive pushing the effort.Minor league baseball, which represents over 100 teams across the country, was hammered by the coronavirus pandemic last year as it canceled its season.A report by Sportico noted that minor league baseball clubs combined lost $800 million in revenue last year alone. Baseball America reported in March that minor league clubs were shut out of receiving Covid relief money in the $1.9 trillion package recently signed into law by President Joe Biden.CNBC discovered Rosenbaum’s involvement in the effort after reviewing a lobbying disclosure report signed this month that lists the address for his Maryland-based investment firm, Palisades Associates, as the address of the client. The Rosenbaum-listed business on the lobbying registration form is Minor League Baseball Relief, Inc.The lobbying report shows that the Rosenbaum-led venture registered lobbyists in April from the influential firm Akin, Gump, Strauss. Ed Pagano, one of the lobbyists listed on the registration form, has experience working in former President Barack Obama’s White House. Another has direct ties to former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.The focus of the lobbying campaign, according to the registration report, is “emergency assistance for Minor League Baseball Clubs impacted by Covid-19.” It remains unclear how much the lobbyists will be seeking from the federal government.The form does not say whether the lobbyists will engage with Biden’s administration or Congress. None of them responded to CNBC’s requests for comment.Jeff Lantz, a spokesman for Minor League Baseball, said it’s his understanding that multiple teams are involved with the effort, but he referred CNBC to Rosenbaum for further comment.Although Rosenbaum declined to provide further details, including how much the campaign is going to cost, he did not deny his involvement or that he is leading this effort. “We do not have anything further to provide beyond what appears in the lobbying disclosure filing,” he said in an email to CNBC on Thursday.A spokesman for Major League Baseball did not respond to a request for comment.Infielder D.J. Burt #9 of the Amarillo Sod Poodles fields a throw during the game against the Midland RockHounds at HODGETOWN Stadium on May 23, 2021 in Amarillo, Texas.John E. Moore III | Getty ImagesRosenbaum has ties to the Democratic Party and Wall Street. Mergr, a website that provides data on private equity deals, says that prior to founding Palisades Associates, Rosenbaum was a founder and managing director of the Carlyle Group. He also had a stint at the Boston Consulting Group.Rosenbaum’s role as a player within the Democratic Party has gone largely under the radar.He is listed as a member of the board of directors for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive 501(c)(4), that was once led by current Biden White House advisor Neera Tanden. Rosenbaum was also the chair of the National Jewish Democratic Council and was nominated in 2016 as a vice chair of the platform committee for the 2016 Democratic National Convention.Though he did contribute to Biden’s 2020 campaign for president, Rosenbaum’s bigger donations came prior to the most recent election cycle, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In 2016, he gave over $33,000 to the Democratic National Committee when Hillary Clinton was running for president. Rosenbaum gave $25,000 to the DNC during the 2012 cycle when Obama was running for reelection.Rosenbaum and his associates bought the Ohio-based Dayton Dragons in 2014. The team is a Class A affiliate of MLB’s Cincinnati Reds.The Dayton Dragons ownership group, Palisades Arcadia Baseball LLC, did receive a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan worth over $860,000, according to data from ProPublica. The PPP loan application portal closed days ago. More

In this articleBBBYBBAMCJoe Moglia, former CEO of online trading platform TD Ameritrade, issued a stern warning Thursday about using leverage to try to outsize returns in meme stocks.”My biggest concern is what’s going on with the individual investor” using borrowed money to trade more than they have, Moglia told CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” as AMC Entertainment shares whipsawed in early trading and dropped as much as 30%. Shares turned positive in the afternoon, before dipping once more to close down nearly 18%. The stock’s year-to-date gain, despite Thursday’s earlier sharp pullback, was more than 2,300%. AMC shares nearly doubled in the prior session.Another Reddit favorite, BlackBerry, soared Thursday before cutting those gains after closing up nearly 32% in the prior session. Shares returned to positive territory in the afternoon and were up 4.1% at the end of the day.Bed Bath & Beyond, also caught up in the meme stock mania, closed down 27.8% on Thursday. It soared 62% on Wednesday. “They got to be able to understand when they use leverage what that really means. Leverage on the way up is a great thing. Leverage on the way down can rip your arms off,” added Moglia, currently chairman of Capital Wealth Advisors.The wild swings in AMC on Thursday started after the movie theater chain filed to sell 11.55 million shares “from time to time.” As a disclosure, the company said, “We caution you against investing in our Class A common stock, unless you are prepared to incur the risk of losing all or a substantial portion of your investment.”On Thursday afternoon, the movie theater operator announced it completed the share offering and raised $587.4 million.AMC revealed Tuesday in a securities filing that it raised $230.5 million in a stock sale to depressed debt firm Mudrick Capital Management, which reportedly sold those new AMC shares immediately for a profit.With meme stock prices and headlines about the companies’ businesses moving quickly, brokerages —particularly those catering to individual investors — need to do a better job of educating their clients about the risks of what seems like an easy way to make money and when to sell, Moglia said.”For example, if you bought AMC at $10 and its goes to $20, is that not enough of a profit? If it goes to $30, $40, at what time do you start to trim that position or in effect get rid of that position altogether. We have to do a better job with the day traders,” he added.Disclosure: The $22 billion Charles Schwab-TD Ameritrade merger closed in October 2020. More

Alex Raths | Getty ImagesScientists may have found a promising new treatment for Covid-19 after an experimental oral antiviral drug demonstrated the ability to prevent the coronavirus from replicating, the National Institutes of Health said Thursday, citing a new study.The drug, called TEMPOL, can reduce Covid-19 infections by impairing an enzyme the virus needs to make copies of itself once it’s inside human cells, which could potentially limit the severity of the disease, researchers at the NIH said. The drug was tested in an experiment of cell cultures with live viruses.”We urgently need additional effective, accessible treatments for COVID-19,” Dr. Diana W. Bianchi, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, wrote in a statement. “An oral drug that prevents SARS-CoV-2 from replicating would be an important tool for reducing the severity of the disease.”The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science.While vaccines have been incredibly useful in driving down Covid-19 cases in the United States and other parts of the world, scientists say treatments are still badly needed for those who get infected with the virus.The U.S. is still reporting an average of roughly 16,300 infections per day as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir is the only drug that has received full U.S. approval from the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of Covid, and that needs to be administered in a hospital intravenously.Pfizer, which developed the first authorized Covid-19 vaccine in the U.S. with German drugmaker BioNTech, is also developing an oral drug for Covid that can be taken at home at the first sign of illness. Researchers hope the medication will keep the disease from progressing and prevent hospital trips. It began an early stage trial in March.The NIH researchers said they plan to conduct additional preliminary studies and will seek opportunities to evaluate the drug in a clinical study of Covid.The study’s findings were “hopeful,” said Dr. Tracey Rouault, another NIH official who led the study.”However, clinical studies are needed to determine if the drug is effective in patients, particularly early in the disease course when the virus begins to replicate.” More

In this articleEXPRA shopper carries an Express Inc. bag while walking in the Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, U.S., on Friday, June 24, 2016.Charles Mostoller | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesStock of the retailer Express ended trading Thursday down nearly 20%, after the clothing retailer announced plans to sell up to 15 million shares.Express plans to sell the stock, which could represent more than 22% of its shares outstanding, via an “at-the-market” equity offering. This means the newly issued stock will be sold from time to time at market prices. Its advantage is that it gives Express control over when it will offer the stock and how much it will offer.In a press release, Express said it plans to use any proceeds for general corporate purposes, which could include repaying debts or investing in e-commerce.Express’ sell-off Thursday comes after the stock shot up more than 35% on Wednesday, as part of a meme stock trading frenzy that has also boosted shares of AMC Entertainment, GameStop, BlackBerry and Bed Bath & Beyond.Express shares had rallied nearly 110% over the past month. The so-called meme stocks, generally shunned by Wall Street, are being cheered by retail investors on online forums like Reddit’s WallStreetBets.Roxanne Meyer, managing director at MKM Partners, told clients that daily trading volumes of Express shares are still well above historic levels, fueled by Reddit speculation.By 10:30 a.m. ET, about 11.5 million Express shares had already changed hands. Over the past 10 days, its average daily volume was nearly 27 million shares. Shares of Express are up more than 615% year to date, as of Wednesday’s market close. The retailer has a market value of $349.5 million.Earlier Thursday morning, Express’ stock had jumped after the retailer reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. It said its business hit an inflection point after Easter, as more consumers were vaccinated and states began lifting Covid-related restrictions. It also saw people return to its stores buying occasion-based and work-related apparel merchandise.MKM’s Meyer noted, however, that weak store traffic, ongoing softer demand for dressing up and product shipping delays remain headwinds for the mall-based retailer. Express operates more than 500 retail and factory outlet stores in the United States and Puerto Rico.Last year, in the thick of the Covid pandemic, Express was on many analysts’ watch lists as a retailer that could be heading for bankruptcy. But the company managed to come up with additional financing, outside of a court restructuring, to keep its business afloat and outlast the health crisis.About 7.7% of Express’ outstanding shares are sold short, according to FactSet data. Short sellers borrow the stock from an investment bank and sell it in the hopes of buying it back at a lower price and returning the shares, pocketing the difference.The latest stock offering could provide Express with additional liquidity. The clothing retailer would not be alone in using the newfound interest in its shares to help raise funds. AMC also said Thursday it plans to sell more than 11 million shares, sending stock of the movie theater chain tumbling. More

In this articleAMCAMC Entertainment said it has completed its new stock offering announced just Thursday morning, raising $587.4 million in additional capital.The company said it sold 11.55 million shares at an average price of approximately $50.85 per share in an at-the-market equity program launched earlier Thursday.When AMC announced the offering, it said in a filing it may sell some of the 11 million shares “from time to time.” Apparently that time was now as it completed the offering in about three hours.In a curious move typical of the meme stocks, the shares rallied off their lows on news of the completed sale as retail investors cheered the capital raised and looked past the dilution of their stakes.Shares of the movie theater chain reversed higher at one point following the news. The stock ended the day 18% lower, paring its week-to-date gain to 96%.”Bringing in an additional $587.4 million of new equity on top of the $658.5 million already raised this quarter results in a total equity raise in the second quarter of $1.246 billion, substantially strengthening and improving AMC’s balance sheet, providing valuable flexibility to respond to potential challenges and capitalize on attractive opportunities in the future,” AMC President and CEO Adam Aron said in a statement.AMC, the star of the show in Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum, has soared more than 140% this week alone as retail traders continued to encourage each other to pile into the speculative name. The shares have skyrocketed more than 2,900% this year.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsOn Wednesday, the company announced a new portal to connect with individual investors and offered free popcorn, exclusive screenings and other perks to those who hold its stock. The shares rallied 95% that day.So-called short covering could be contributing to AMC’s massive rally as of late. On Wednesday, short sellers betting against the stock lost $2.8 billion, bringing their year-to-date losses to more than $5 billion, according to S3 Partners. Short sellers are forced to buy back the stock to cut their losses amid a sudden rally.While AMC’s latest surge is reminiscent of the GameStop mania earlier this year, many on Wall Street believe the movie theater chain won’t cause a turmoil in the overall market like GameStop did. Back in January, GameStop’s short squeeze caused liquidity headaches at hedge funds and brokerage firms that spiked volatility in the broader market and raised concerns about financial stability. More

In this articleLULULululemon is set to report earnings after the bell Thursday.The one-time coronavirus pandemic darling has come under pressure this year with investors fearing a slowdown in demand as consumers switch from sweatsuits to swimsuits. The shares are down 8% in 2021 after a 50% rally in 2020.Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, said $343 is a key trading level that could serve as a breakout or breakdown point for Lululemon.  “The stock, even though it’s been in a downward sloping trend actually really since last September, it’s been rallying nicely since early March, and it’s made one nice higher low, higher high sequence. And just recently, it made another higher low,” Maley told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Thursday.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards”If this earnings report can give it the impetus to trade above that $343 level, it’ll give it another higher high and take it above its 200-day moving average, so that would really I think switch a lot of people’s feelings on the stock, give it a lot more upside momentum,” said Maley.Lululemon last traded at $319 a share. It would need to gain 8% to reach $343, a level it last traded at in late April.Delano Saporu, founder of New Street Advisors, is optimistic Lululemon can navigate post-pandemic growth.”When you’re seeing people open up wallets, you see the spending being done, that bodes well for premium brands and Lululemon is a premium athleisure brand. I think that’s going to be one of the sticking points of why you would buy not only going into earnings but past earnings. I think that’s a big sticking point, a big reason why investors will come back into this stock,” Saporu said during the same interview.Analysts surveyed by FactSet anticipate earnings of 91 cents a share in its April-ended quarter, far higher than 22 cents a year earlier. Sales are forecast to have risen by 73%.Disclosure: Saporu holds LULU.Disclaimer More