Raphael Stevens

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    in Business

    NHL strikes first-ever deal with prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket

    The NHL signed a multi-year licensing deal with Kalshi and Polymarket, becoming the first major U.S. sports league to partner with prediction market platforms.
    The agreement gives both companies access to NHL data and logos, and grants the league new customer protections.
    Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour called it a “seminal moment” for prediction markets and hinted that similar deals with other leagues could follow.

    The National Hockey League said Wednesday it’s reached a multi-year licensing agreement with prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket. More sports leagues may be coming soon.
    Tarek Mansour, Kalsh’si co-founder and CEO, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” the deal marked a “seminal moment” for prediction markets and the company.

    “A league like the NHL partnering with us is a strong sign that prediction markets are here to stay,” Mansour said.
    As part of the NHL deal, Kalshi and Polymarket will gain access to the league’s proprietary data and rights to use NHL marks and logos. In return, Mansour said, the hockey league will get a suite of customer protections. The NHL said both companies will receive brand exposure during broadcasts.
    Mansour said the NHL deal could be replicated across other leagues: “Be on the lookout for more announcements soon,” he told CNBC.
    Representatives for the NBA and NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment. MLB declined to comment.
    In August, the NFL expressed its concern about prediction markets, which allow customers to trade on the outcomes of events across entertainment and culture like election results or the length of the ongoing government shutdown.

    Kalshi and other event trading platforms are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Yet many states, regulators and tribes are pushing back on prediction markets, arguing they amount to unregulated gambling. Multiple state and federal lawsuits are in progress over the alleged risks.
    The American Gaming Association said in a statement Wednesday that the NHL deal “sends a troubling message.”
    “The platforms in question fail to comply with essential standards,” the AGA said. “Worse, they are currently offering sports wagers in all 50 states to anyone 18 years of age—some of which have not authorized any form of legal sports betting and those that have largely define 21 as the prevailing legal age for wagering.”
    Keith Wachtel, president of NHL Business, told CNBC he feels comfortable with Kalshi and Polymarket from a regulatory and integrity standpoint, noting that sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings have also struck partnerships with prediction platforms.
    He said the league’s interest in prediction markets lies in the opportunity to reach new fans.
    “What’s great about prediction markets is it goes beyond sport,” he said. “It gives opportunity to watch a different audience grow significantly.”
    Mansour said criticism of the market is par for the course for a disruptor and that he feels confident in Kalshi’s regulatory setup. He said Kalshi has spent years working with the federal government to create a regulated prediction markets.
    “When we think about the announcement today, the NHL deal is really about that. It’s essentially a validation of the fact that we have established the right set of customer protection and the right set of market integrity measures to protect our markets, but also the game,” he said. More

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    in Finance

    Western Alliance CEO says alleged loan fraud is ‘incredibly frustrating’ but isolated issue

    Western Alliance is one of the regional banks facing concerns over loans made to non-bank financial players.
    The bank’s CEO said he believes the alleged loan fraud that sparked a selloff last week is an isolated case.
    The Cantor Group episode forced Western Alliance to review other loans in its note finance portfolio, CEO Kenneth Vecchione said Wednesday.

    Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    Western Alliance, one of the regional banks at the center of concerns over loans made to non-bank financial players, said Wednesday it believes the loan that sparked last week’s selloff is an isolated case.
    The bank reported third-quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon and noted it had set aside $30 million in reserves for possible losses on a $98 million loan made to the Cantor Group. Last week, Western Alliance disclosed that it had sued the borrowers behind the Cantor Group for alleged fraud related to the collateral for the loans.

    “While incredibly frustrating, we believe this is a one-off issue in our note finance business and have adjusted our onboarding and ongoing portfolio monitoring practices,” Western Alliance CEO Kenneth Vecchione told analysts on Wednesday.
    Shares of Western Alliance rose almost 2% in midday trading.
    Regional banks are getting a reprieve this week after Western Alliance and Zions, which also had exposure to the alleged loan fraud, reported results that didn’t include any new loan meltdowns. Each of the banks posted rising hauls from net interest income on lower funding costs, while some of their metrics around credit quality actually improved from previous quarters.
    The Cantor Group episode forced Western Alliance to review other loans in its note finance portfolio, Vecchione said Wednesday.
    “Today we have reverified titles and liens for all notes greater than $10 million and have found no irregularities,” he said.

    Analysts grilled Vecchione during the Wednesday call for more details around the bank’s loan collateral and lending to non-depository financial institutions, or NDFIs.
    “What are you doing to validate your collateral and safeguard against future frauds?” Autonomous Research analyst Casey Haire asked. “It just seems like as long as you’re not afraid to go to jail, it seems easy to double pledge collateral.”
    Besides the recent review, Western Alliance periodically checks collateral to make sure the bank is still in a position to collect if the loan sours, executives said. Much of the bank’s NDFI book is tied to residential mortgages, which Western Alliance considers low-risk, they added.

    ‘Can’t unsee’

    Western Alliance is also exposed to another recent blowup, the bankruptcy of the auto parts maker First Brands.
    But in this case, a loan facility made to a fund managed by a subsidiary of the investment bank Jefferies “remains current, and we continue to receive principal and interest payments as modeled,” said Vecchione.
    While this week’s reassurances have calmed markets for now, the sharp selloff in regionals last week is leaving a lasting mark on the industry. Shares of both Western Alliance and Zions plunged on Thursday after the banks disclosed problems with the Cantor Group.
    Investors are ready to hit “sell” on any signs that the losses aren’t isolated, and share gains for the group will be capped for the foreseeable future because of these worries, said Timur Braziler, who covers mid-cap banks for Wells Fargo. He cut his recommendation on Western Alliance to “sell” on September 29.
    “You can’t unsee these events,” Braziler said in an interview. “The timer for any kind of sustainable outperformance within the regional group has gotten reset once again.” More

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    in Finance

    The biggest crypto wipeout was led not by bitcoin, but much smaller tokens. Here’s what happened

    Watch Daily: Monday – Friday, 3 PM ET

    Chesnot | Getty Images

    The crypto industry recently had one of its worst days ever. And while bitcoin and ether holders seem to have put some of the carnage behind them, traders of many lesser-known tokens are still feeling a lot of pain.
    More than 1.6 million traders suffered a combined $19.37 billion erasure of leveraged positions over a 24-hour period beginning Friday, Oct. 10. That’s the largest ever liquidation event tracked by crypto-focused data analytics firm CoinGlass. The wipeout marked a dark spot for the digital assets market in an otherwise strong year for cryptocurrencies that saw bitcoin and ether hit record highs. More than a week after the event, its ripples are being felt most in smaller coins.

    Bitcoin and ether are trading between roughly 11% and 12% below their respective Oct. 10 highs, with the former token trading above its critical $100,000 resistance level and the latter hovering within striking distance of its key $4,000 price, according to a CNBC analysis of CoinMetrics data. Lesser-known coins such as XRP, solana, dogecoin and BNB are trading between 15% and 24% off their pre-liquidation crisis highs.
    Bitcoin and ether’s comparative resilience is largely due to the fact that the two largest cryptos by market capitalization are older and more well established than alternative digital assets, GSR head of content and special projects Frank Chaparro told CNBC.

    Stock chart icon

    Bitcoin vs Solana 1-mo chart

    “They’re just bigger, more established assets, with ETFs and other structured products behind them,” Chaparro said. “The long-tail tokens are less mature, less liquid, and naturally more prone to volatility.”
    Chaparro also noted that bitcoin and ether suffered less losses compared to alternative crypto-assets in this month’s massive liquidation event.
    Solana, dogecoin, XRP and BNB are often used for leveraged trading on centralized or decentralized exchanges. Midcap and small-cap digital assets fell between 60% and 80% at the peak of the liquidation event, while bitcoin and ether lost just 11% and 13%, according to crypto-focused market maker Wintermute.

    “There’s always been a lot of leverage in crypto,” Fundstrat Global Advisors head of research Tom Lee said last week on CNBC. “The volatility and leverage is what has drawn people into that space, especially when you get outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum, [which] are generally not held on margin.”
    Leverage refers to the funds traders borrow to open positions that are larger than the initial capital invested, or margin, that they put up front. A position is liquidated, or forcibly closed, when the collateral a trader used to secure that position is no longer sufficient to cover their losses.

    ‘Doom loop’

    The crypto wipeout came after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed earlier on Oct. 10 to impose “massive” tariffs on China, sending ripples across financial markets. And although fallout from major geopolitical announcements is par for the course in the digital assets market, traders suffered more in this instance due to the unwinding of many leveraged positions.
    “You have effectively what’s been described as a doom loop in which the initial price drop triggers some liquidations. And when you’re unwinding those positions into an order book that’s thin…the spot prices of the assets that are being unwound crater,” Chaparro said.
    Those price drops prompt crypto exchange’s margin systems to view traders’ collateral differently, leading to more positions being unwound, according to Chaparro. “If you have one bitcoin as collateral when it’s 100k, your collateral position is a lot different than when it’s trading at 70k, and so then more accounts become under collateralized, and the cycle repeats itself.”
    “You’re pouring gasoline on fire in a way that’s not the case in other highly leveraged markets,” the executive said.

    100x crypto leverage?

    In the U.S. and abroad, there are now more ways for traders to gain exposure to crypto. Last year, the U.S. approved the launch of several spot bitcoin ETFs as well as exchange traded funds that track ether, with issuers later rolling out offerings boasting two- or three-times leverage on the tokens’ movements.
    Offshore, decentralized exchanges such as Hyperliquid and Binance Labs-linked Aster are becoming popular with traders that want to make bets on crypto with even more leverage. The former offers maximum leverage of 40-times for bitcoin and 25-times for ether, while Aster offers as much as 1,001x leverage, depending on the token.
    Trading products with more leverage appeal to investors because they offer higher returns. However, with the potential for higher rewards comes even greater likelihood of losses, according to Zach Pandl, head of research at crypto-focused asset manager Grayscale.
    “More leverage means more risk in every financial market,” Pandl told CNBC.
    On top of that, crypto’s infrastructure for leveraged trading hasn’t evolved to suit the market’s particularities, Chaparro said.
    “We have a 24/7 market that’s built effectively on a nine-to-five exchange infrastructure. And, with crypto markets, you don’t have the same traditional forces that can as easily prevent or remedy stress, like circuit breakers,” Chaparro said.
    “The liquidation event is a blip in the story of the functionality and utility of these underlying assets, but it’s not a blip in terms of thinking about the fragile infrastructure of our offshore derivatives markets,” he added.

    What’s next?

    Crypto researcher Molly White wrote in her blog that the Oct. 10 liquidation event could be a harbinger of things to come for the crypto market and beyond.
    “The meltdown reminded us just how quickly crypto markets can unravel when an abrupt shock pierces the euphoria of traders who’ve been watching prices steadily rise, and seem to forget they can do anything else,” crypto researcher Molly White said last Friday in the post. “As crypto grows more interconnected with mainstream finance, future crashes will reach far more widely.”
    Juan Leon, senior investment strategist at Bitwise, also noted the possibility that we “see a big correction or bear market that is at least partly fueled by by large liquidations due to these leverage effects.”
    But unlike White, Leon thinks traditional finance institutions’ entrance into the cryptocurrency market could help counterbalance the effects of crypto-native players using massive amounts of leverage.
    “There’s bigger and bigger quantum of capital in the space controlled by players, as opposed to many small retail traders,” Leon said. “And as more institutional capital comes into this space, it mitigates some of that risk, because large institutions don’t take on 50x leveraged positions … and they tend to hold longer.” More

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    Walmart pauses H-1B visas for job candidates as Trump hikes fees

    Walmart is pausing the hiring of candidates who need H-1B visas, a person familiar with the matter said.
    President Donald Trump raised the fees for those visas to $100,000.
    Walmart is one of the largest U.S. employers of those visa holders.

    A Walmart store is shown in Oceanside, California, on May 15, 2025.
    Mike Blake | Reuters

    Walmart is pausing the hiring of job candidates who need H-1B visas to work in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the decision, an example of the ways the Trump administration’s immigration policies are shaping corporate strategy.
    Walmart’s decision comes after President Donald Trump in September announced higher fees for the visas, which allow companies to temporarily hire skilled workers from other countries such as China and India. The Trump administration said it would now require companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each new visa application. It said the decision was intended to protect American workers’ jobs and end abuse of the visa.

    In a statement, a Walmart spokesperson said, “Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach.”
    Exceptions to the pause on H-1B hiring are possible in some cases, said the person familiar with the decision, who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. 
    H-1B visas, which Congress created in 1990, have been a way for companies to bring in skilled workers from other countries when they can’t find qualified applicants in the U.S. It’s been frequently used for filling science, technology, engineering and math roles.
    The program has an annual cap of 65,000, along with an additional 20,000 visas for foreign professionals with a master’s degree or doctorate from a U.S. institution, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If demand is above the cap, a lottery system is used.
    For the Trump administration, the steeper fee on H-1Bs is intended as a deterrant for companies who are weighing whether to hire a foreign worker over an American. It fits into Trump’s broader goal of using trade policy and an immigration crackdown to compel companies to invest in their U.S. operations and hire U.S.-born workers.

    Walmart is the nation’s largest private employer with about 1.6 million employees in the country at the end of the most recent fiscal year, and most work in the company’s big-box stores and warehouses. However, H-1B visas are typically used for a small portion of Walmart’s corporate ranks. 
    The retail giant’s corporate workforce is based in its headquarters of Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as major U.S. cities like the San Francisco Bay Area.
    Walmart had 2,390 employees on H-1B visas, making it the ninth largest U.S. employer to issue the visas, according to U.S. government data as of June 30. Microsoft is No. 1 with 5,189, followed closely by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
    Yet the decision has faced pushback by some in the corporate world. Earlier this month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit challenging the new H-1B visa fee.
    In a news release, the U.S. Chamber’s Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said the fee “will make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the U.S.”
    Walmart’s policy change was first reported by Bloomberg. More

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    in Finance

    How to make immigration palatable in a populist age

    Businesses hiring migrants have a surprising new idol. The inspirational figure is neither a liberal nor a devotee of globalisation. It is Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, who in 2022 climbed to power on a hard-right platform. She intends to issue 165,000 low-skilled work visas next year, up from 30,000 five years ago. Italy has also signed a labour-mobility deal with India that a recruiter praises as “one of the [world’s] most progressive”. More

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    WBD rejected three Paramount takeover offers, the last for just under $24 per share, sources say

    Warner Bros. Discovery has rejected three takeover offers from Paramount Skydance, CNBC’s David Faber reported.
    The last offer came in just under $24 per share and was comprised of 80% cash, Faber reported.
    WBD said this week it had received “unsolicited interest” from multiple parties.

    CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav speaks to members of the media as he arrives at the Sun Valley lodge for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 8, 2025 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
    Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Warner Bros. Discovery has rejected three Paramount Skydance takeover offers as it fields broad buyout interest, CNBC’s David Faber reported Wednesday, citing sources.
    Paramount’s last offer was for just under $24 per share and comprised of 80% cash, according to Faber, who previously reported a bid could come in at between $22 and $24 per share.

    WBD said on Tuesday it had received “unsolicited interest” from multiple parties and that it would expand its strategic review process to review all bids. At the same time, the company is moving ahead with previously announced plans to separate into two entities: a streaming and studios business and a global networks business.
    Faber reported Tuesday that Netflix and Comcast were among the interested parties.
    This story is developing. Please check back for updates. More

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    Here’s how much prices are rising across the fashion industry

    Prices across the fashion industry are on average $17 higher this year compared to last.
    Jackets and outerwear saw the steepest increase with prices on average 24% higher while swimwear saw the lowest at 2% higher. 
    Prices have been moving higher over the last few years but tariffs are expected to quicken the pace of cost increases.

    People shop for clothing at a Costco store in Monterey Park, California on November 22, 2022.
    Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images

    Prices are rising across the fashion industry – with jackets and outerwear seeing the steepest year-over-year increases, according to a new report from consulting firm AlixPartners published Wednesday. 
    The firm analyzed how much prices have climbed between 2024 and 2025 across nine categories, from swimsuits to dresses. Prices in all of the categories it tracked have risen by an average of $17 year over year. 

    Jackets and outerwear saw the largest increase, with prices on average 24% higher, while swimwear saw the smallest hike at 2% on average. 
    As the U.S. starts to cool down and winter approaches, consumers looking for new coats and jackets could be spending a lot more at the register – if they choose to buy. One factor that’s weighed on the category is a late start to fall, which typically leads to weak demand for outerwear. Coupled with higher prices, retailers that bet big on outerwear in the fall and winter months might have a harder time moving product, which could lead to inventory challenges in the spring, said Sonia Lapinsky, the head of AlixPartners’ global fashion practice and the report’s author.
    “[Retailers] have a normal discounting cadence that says by late November, early December, you’re already starting to put this stuff on sale, on discount, and a consumer may not have even thought about it by then,” said Lapinsky.
    “We’ve had so many discussions with retailers about the whole flow of their seasons, and some have made decisions to push some product out further because fall is starting to feel more like late summer,” she added. “Not all of them have been that reactive. So it’s absolutely a cause for concern if they haven’t made any adjustments.”
    Here’s how much prices have risen in the fashion industry by category.  More

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    Beyond Meat shares surge for a third day in a row as meme traders jump on board

    Beyond Meat shares are soaring for a third straight day, surging 111% at one point in the premarket Wednesday. The stock was above $6.43 on Wednesday, after closing Tuesday at $3.62.
    Roundhill Investments, which develops thematic exchange traded funds, on Monday added BYND to its Roundhill Meme Stock ETF.
    The ETF addition seemed to dive a short squeeze in the stock as investors who bet against Beyond Meat stock rushed to cover their positions.

    Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

    Beyond Meat rallied for a third straight day Wednesday as meme traders jump on the stock.
    The food company known for its plant-based burgers and sausages surged 111% at one point in the premarket Wednesday. It last traded above $6.43 per share in extended trading, up 77%, after closing Tuesday at $3.62.

    It’s the latest in an extraordinary week for the stock. On Monday, the stock rallied more than 127% after Roundhill Investments, which develops thematic ETFs, added the name to its Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (MEME).
    That decision appeared to have the added effect of driving a short squeeze in the stock, as investors rushed to cover their position. According to FactSet data, more than 63% of the shares available for trading were sold short.
    On Tuesday, Beyond Meat soared 146% in its best day ever, after saying it will expand distribution at Walmart’s stores.

    Stock chart icon

    Beyond Meat, year-to-date performance

    Shares of Beyond Meat have been under pressure for a long time. After making its public debut in 2019, when the stock soared past $230 per share, it has since become a penny stock. The stock has slid in each of the last five years, falling more than 47% in 2021, 81% in 2022, 27% in 2023, and 57% in 2024. It’s down more than 3% in 2025.
    The latest bad news for the stock came last week, when shares tumbled more than 67% to end the week at just 65 cents after Beyond Meat said it has finalized a debt deal.

    This week’s comeback, however, is reminiscent of the height of the pandemic, when retail traders took to on online message boards such as WallStreetBets to coordinate moves behind high-risk, aggressive trades.
    In 2021, Bank of America said Beyond Meat was a Reddit stock to watch, though it ended that same year with losses.
    The return of Beyond Meat could be the latest signal of a frothy market, one that is relentlessly climbing higher in spite of concerns around elevated valuations and a possible AI bubble. Indeed, Roundhill shut its meme ETF down at one point because of lack of interest. It revived it earlier this month as retail traders dove back into the bull market.
    In response to someone on Reddit’s online forum WallStreetBets saying they bought 10,000 shares of Beyond Meat for $7.50, one commenter wrote Wednesday, “Youre already down 7k, impressive.”
    Another posted: “You know the economy is cooked when BYND stock is making a comeback.” More