Finance

Scammers are sending fake e-mails about third stimulus checks to try to steal personal or financial information, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
It’s a type of government impersonator scam in which criminals are pretending to be from the IRS.
The IRS is issuing stimulus checks through 2021 to those who haven’t already gotten one automatically. Eligible individuals can file a 2020 tax return or use a non-filer tool to get a payment.

Gabe Ginsberg | Moment | Getty Images

Criminals are using the promise of a third stimulus check to steal money from unsuspecting victims, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed in March, authorized a third round of pandemic-era payments, of up to $1,400 a person. The IRS is sending the payments to eligible households through the end of 2021.

The IRS determines eligibility and check amount based on income and other factors. The agency issued most payments automatically, based on data from a recent tax return or an online tool for people who don’t typically file a return.
However, some eligible people still haven’t received payments; others who got a first or second round may think they qualify but may not due to different criteria required to receive the third round.
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Scammers are now sending bogus e-mails that appear to be from the IRS, claiming individuals can get a third Economic Impact Payment if they click a link to access a form for additional information and get help with an application, according to an alert the FTC issued Wednesday.
“But the link is a trick,” wrote Cristina Miranda, an official in the agency’s Division of Consumer and Business Education. “If you click it, a scammer might steal your money and your personal information to commit identity theft.”

The fraud is a type of government impersonator scam, whereby criminals pretend to be from the Social Security Administration, IRS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or some other government agency.

Con artists typically threaten that something bad will happen or that individuals will miss out on a benefit if they refuse to share personal or financial information or to make a payment in cash or via gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency.
Nearly 12,500 Americans have filed fraud reports during the Covid pandemic linked to a government imposter scam, according to FTC data. They reported losing about $17.6 million.
“The IRS doesn’t initiate contact by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information — even information related to the Economic Impact Payments,” according to the tax agency. “Also, watch out for emails with attachments or links claiming to have special information about Economic Impact Payments or refunds.”

Consumers should visit the IRS website directly for trustworthy information, according to the FTC.
Most households received the third round of stimulus checks payments automatically based on a 2020 tax return. The IRS issued about 163.5 million payments worth about $390 billion as of June 3, according to federal data.
“You do not need to take any action other than file a 2020 tax return as soon as possible to give the IRS time to process and issue your payment before the end of 2021 if you are eligible,” the IRS said.
Households that aren’t required to file a tax return can use the IRS Non-Filer Sign-Up Tool, which is available from the Advance Child Tax Credit page. (They would click “Enter Information Here” under the Non-Filer: Submit Your Information heading. Households don’t need to have children to use the tool to receive the third stimulus check.)

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U.K. digital bank Starling expects to go public in one or two years, CEO Anne Boden told reporters Tuesday.
Starling counts the likes of Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund as investors.
Boden said Starling’s IPO was likely to take place in London, where the company is headquartered.

Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden.
Starling Bank

LONDON — British digital bank Starling expects to go public in two years’ time, CEO and founder Anne Boden said Tuesday.
An initial public offering is “a year or two off,” Boden told reporters. “It’s at least one year away. But we’re talking about one or two years away.”

Starling, which counts Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund as investors, is one of the U.K.’s leading challenger banks.
Along with other start-up competitors like Monzo and Revolut, Starling has attracted millions of users through only an app and a linked payment card — no physical branches.
Boden said Starling’s IPO was likely to take place in London, where the company is headquartered.
“I very much hope we can do it in London,” she said. “I think that would be the default option, unless we’re persuaded otherwise.”
A stock market debut for Starling would add to a series of high-profile floats in the U.K.’s fledgling technology sector.

Fellow fintech firm Wise listed directly on the London Stock Exchange at an $11 billion valuation earlier this year. Food delivery giant Deliveroo had less success with its IPO, with shares sinking as much as 30% on the first day of trading.

Though Britain has produced successful tech companies like Google-owned artificial intelligence firm DeepMind and Arm, the chip designer being sold by SoftBank to Nvidia, it has yet to mint publicly-listed tech companies of a scale matching that of those in the U.S. or China.
Founded in 2014, Starling began life offering fee-free checking accounts through an app. It has since branched into lending and business banking, both of which helped the company break even recently.
The early days of Starling were marred by a bitter dispute between Boden and co-founder Tom Blomfield, who left to start rival online bank Monzo. The spat was the subject of a book released by Boden last year, called “Banking On It.”
“It occurred to me that, up until now, I’d always marked our progress against Monzo, since they were our rival challenger bank and had launched at almost the same time,” Boden said in a new print version of her book, which is due to be released Thursday.
“The extraordinary experiences of the year 2020 made it clearer than ever that our competitors are now Lloyds, Barclays et al.”
Still, the challengers remain some way away from stealing significant market share from much larger incumbents. Starling, which was last privately valued at $1.5 billion, made £97.6 million ($133.2 million) in 2019, a figure that pales in comparison to that of traditional lenders like HSBC, Barclays and NatWest.

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Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:
Pfizer (PFE) – Pfizer jumped 4% in the premarket after the drugmaker reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for the third quarter. Pfizer earned $1.34 per share, 25 cents a share above estimates. The company also issued an improved full-year forecast on strong demand for both its Covid-19 vaccine and non-Covid treatments.

Under Armour (UAA) – The athletic apparel maker’s shares surged 9.2% in premarket trading after it more than doubled the 15 cents a share consensus estimate, with quarterly earnings of 31 cents per share. Under Armour also raised its full-year outlook, as consumers maintain a high interest in comfortable daily wear.
Generac (GNRC) – Generac shares slid 5.5% in the premarket after beating bottom-line estimates but reporting lower-than-expected quarterly sales. Separately, the maker of home and commercial generators announced it is buying Canada-based smart thermostat maker Ecobee in a cash-and-stock deal that could be worth up to $770 million, depending on whether Ecobee reaches certain performance targets.
DuPont (DD) – DuPont fell 1.9% in premarket action after the chemical maker beat estimates but cut its full-year outlook citing decelerating orders from customers due to the worldwide chip shortage. DuPont came in 3 cents a share above estimates, with third-quarter profit of $1.15 per share. Separately, DuPont announced the acquisition of materials technology company Rogers Corp. (ROG) in a $5.2 billion deal, with Rogers soaring 27.3% following news of the deal.
Estee Lauder (EL) – The cosmetics maker’s stock dropped 1.9% in the premarket, as it beat Street forecasts but cut its annual sales outlook due to inflation and supply chain disruptions. Estee Lauder earned $1.86 per share for the quarter, compared to a $1.70 share consensus estimate.
Avis Budget (CAR) – Avis Budget reported quarterly earnings of $10.74 per share, well above the $6.52 a share consensus estimate. Revenue also topped Wall Street forecasts. Heavy demand for rental cars and higher rental rates gave a significant boost to Avis Budget’s results. The stock rallied 7% in premarket trading.

Simon Property (SPG) – Simon nearly doubled the $1.09 per share consensus estimate, with quarterly earnings of $2.07 per share. The mall operator’s revenue also came in above analysts’ projections. Simon saw improved occupancy rates for its shopping malls during the quarter as well as an increase in shopper traffic. Simon shares rallied 4.1% in premarket action.
Clorox (CLX) – Clorox beat estimates by 18 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share. The household products maker posted better-than-expected revenue as well, and Clorox backed its prior full-year forecast. Its stock was up 2.2% in the premarket.
Chegg (CHGG) – Chegg shares tanked 31.5% in the premarket after the online education company reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales and merely matched Street estimates, with quarterly earnings of 20 cents per share. Chegg said enrollment did not bounce back as it had expected.
Nutrien (NTR) – Nutrien raised its full-year profit outlook, amid strong global demand and higher prices for the Canadian fertilizer maker’s products.
McKesson (MCK) – The drug distributor earned $6.15 per share for its latest quarter, easily beating the consensus estimate of $4.66 a share. Revenue topping estimates as well, driven by strong delivery numbers for more expensive specialty drugs as well as its government contract to distribute Covid-19 vaccines. McKesson shares gained 3.4% in the premarket.

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About half the flights to and from Beijing city’s two airports were cancelled Tuesday, according to aviation industry data site VariFlight.
China has a strict “zero tolerance” policy for controlling the coronavirus. Local authorities are on high alert after a handful of locally transmitted coronavirus cases over the weekend indicated the latest spike in cases might be spreading beyond just a few regions.
Beijing’s health commission announced Monday that residents who had left the city for business trips or leisure trips to areas with confirmed cases should “postpone” returning, according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese text.

People scan a QR health code as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus, before entering a shopping mall in Beijing on November 2, 2021.
Jade Gao | AFP | Getty Images

BEIJING — About half the flights to and from Beijing’s two airports were cancelled Tuesday as the capital tightened travel restrictions after a trickle of new cases in the city and other parts of the country in the last few days.
That’s according to aviation industry data site VariFlight, which tracks about 800 to 1,000 flights each for Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport.

China has a strict “zero tolerance” policy for controlling the coronavirus.
Local authorities, especially in the capital city, are on high alert after a handful of locally transmitted coronavirus cases over the weekend indicated the latest spike in cases might be spreading beyond just a few regions. To be clear, the numbers pale in comparison to most major cities in the world.
Beijing’s health commission announced Monday that residents who left the city for business trips or leisure trips to areas with confirmed cases should “postpone” returning and stay where they are, according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese text. Residents should avoid leaving the city unless necessary, the commission said.

Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3 stands far emptier than usual on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021.
Iris Wang | CNBC

The official announcement followed anecdotes on Chinese social media over the weekend of people who weren’t able to book travel back into the capital city. It was not clear how many people were affected.
Shanghai Disneyland abruptly closed entry to new visitors on Sunday, Halloween, and more than 33,000 people who had been to the park since Saturday were tested for the virus. None tested positive, according to the city.

Critically for Beijing, the city is set to hold a high-level political gathering next week, and is gearing up to host the Winter Olympics in February.
Airport personnel contacted by CNBC said people coming from a city or county where a confirmed coronavirus case has been found cannot enter Beijing. Those coming from areas with no Covid cases need to present Covid test results from the last 48 hours and monitor their health for 14 days after entering the city.

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

China’s “zero tolerance” policy for Covid-19 means all travelers from overseas are required to undergo quarantines in designated hotels upon arrival in the country. For those wanting to enter Beijing, they must first complete a 21-day quarantine in other cities, the airport personnel said.
Mainland China reported 54 new locally transmitted cases for Monday, bringing the total number of current cases to just over 900, according to the National Health Commission. Beijing city reported 4 additional Covid-19 cases as of Tuesday morning.
Those figures are far smaller than those reported in other countries such as the U.S., with a daily coronavirus case count of over 80,000.
The highly contagious virus first emerged in China in late 2019. The country managed to contain the nationwide spread of the virus by the start of the second quarter last year, and has seen almost no deaths from the virus since the initial outbreak.
In the meantime, the virus has spread overseas in a global pandemic that has killed at least 5 million people as of Monday.

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The number of Chinese provinces with significant power shortages fell to two in mid-October, down from 18 at the start of the month, a Commonwealth Bank of Australia report said.
“The number of coal power plants with dangerously low coal stockpiles (less than 7 days) has also decreased by 90% in the same time frame,” the analysts said.
Chinese authorities have allowed more production and imports of coal, and cracked down on speculation in soaring prices.

Large machines unload coal from a train at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Lianyungang) International Logistics Park station in east China’s Jiangsu province, on October 28, 2021.
Wang Jianmin | Barcroft Media | Getty Images

BEIJING — China’s coal shortage is easing thanks to new government policies, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note Tuesday.
According to the report, the number of Chinese provinces with significant power shortages fell to two in mid-October — down from 18 at the start of the month. The bank said that’s based on a shortfall in supply versus demand of more than 10%.

“The number of coal power plants with dangerously low coal stockpiles (less than 7 days) has also decreased by 90% in the same time frame,” the analysts said.
China’s coal shortage worsened in September, which prompted local authorities to abruptly announce power cuts for many factories. As a result, factory production dropped, prompting several economists to reduce their forecasts for GDP growth.
The official Purchasing Managers’ Index, a measure of manufacturing activity, fell into contraction territory in September and October. Third-quarter GDP came in weaker than analysts expected, and many banks had already trimmed their full-year growth forecasts.

However, in the weeks since, Chinese authorities have sought to address the coal shortage with measures ranging from addressing speculation in coal futures to allowing more production of coal. That’s despite pressure to meet targets for reducing carbon emissions — which the national economic planning agency called out 20 regions for failing to meet in August.

Chinese authorities intervene

The immediacy of the power shortage has prompted authorities to take a different approach on coal development to ensure energy supply.

In mid-October, the People’s Bank of China said financial institutions shouldn’t “blindly” cut off loans for coal projects, according to a CNBC translation of the Mandarin-language comments.
Around the same time, China’s State Administration of Coal Mine Safety said that national coal production can likely increase by about 600 tons a day, for total production of 55 million tons in the fourth quarter.
China also bought coal to fill the shortfall. The country’s imports of the fossil fuel jumped 76% in September from a year ago.
Imports of thermal coal, the primary fuel for electricity production, have climbed — particularly from Russia and Indonesia.

Limiting coal price speculation

Thermal coal futures traded on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange nearly tripled from Dec. 2020 through Oct. 19. But since hitting a record high of 1,982 yuan ($310) per metric ton then, thermal coal prices have plunged by more than 50%, according to Wind Information.
Since the state sets the price of electricity in China, electricity producers in China have run into operational difficulties due to a surge in costs from soaring coal prices.
China’s national economic planner said in mid-October it would allow the market to play a greater role in setting the electricity price, and repeatedly said over the last few weeks that it would crack down on speculation in coal prices.

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

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If the market’s record rally continues into year end, PNC Financial’s Amanda Agati predicts value stocks will lag and growth stocks will play a dominant role.
Agati, the firm’s chief investment officer, blames a slowing economy and earnings — as well as the monetary and fiscal policy backdrop.

“We are absolutely bullish on the growth-oriented side of this equation,” she told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Monday. “There’s a lot of runway left.”
Agati, who has $183 billion in assets under management, believes investors will unquestionably pay up for growth stocks, which includes Big Tech. She expects the group to get a boost from a Federal Reserve which will likely hold rates steady for longer than Wall Street thinks.
“We’ll start to see supply chain disruptions settle down. We think the optics around inflation ratings year-over-year is going to settle down,” she said. “The consensus thinks that inflation is going to run so red hot that it’s going to force the Fed’s hand to both taper and raise rates earlier in 2022. We just don’t see that.”
And neither does the stock and fixed income markets, according to Agati.
“Usually, we’re arm wrestling between which one is the right signal,” Agati said. “Both sides of the equation are signaling that inflation is likely to be much more transitory in nature, and so you’re seeing the market price that in.”

Overall, Agati bullish on the broader market. However, she believes the next two months will get choppy due to policy uncertainty and a revved up rotation into growth.
“We’ve been cautioning our clients and investors to buckle up heading into year end,” she said. “Significantly, higher corporate tax rates and even significantly different changes on the personal side could definitely lead to putting the brakes on this market rally.”
But she suggests investors should not sit on their hands. Within the growth trade, Agati likes the Invesco QQQ Trust, an ETF which tracks the Nasdaq 100 and includes Apple, Google and Microsoft.
“On the Nasdaq 100, they just continue to put up really strong fundamental numbers, and we think that’s going to carry into 2022,” she said. “It’s not really a stay at home trade anymore. It’s just follow the tech, follow the innovation and follow the growth in a slightly slower growing world.”
Agati also sees opportunities in emerging markets.
“We’ve seen a fairly significant reset from a sentiment perspective in terms of emerging markets this year. But it hasn’t impacted the fundamental story,” Agati said. “We actually think on the EM side of the trade, the valuation story is really driving an attractive opportunity.”
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Stock futures were flat in overnight trading after the S&P 500 eked out a fresh record close Monday to kick off November.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 5 points. S&P 500 futures were near the flatline and Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed.

All three major U.S. stock indexes hit new intraday highs and closed at records during Monday’s regular session.
The Dow rose 94.3 points, helped by gains in Boeing and Dow Inc. The S&P 500 rose nearly 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.6%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 2.7%, its best daily performance since August.
Eight out of 11 S&P 500 sectors finished the session higher, led by energy.
Investors are eyeing a number of potentially market-moving events this week. The Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated Federal Open Market Committee meeting takes place this week. The October jobs report drops Friday. Third-quarter earnings season continues.
“The November FOMC meeting, October payrolls … and a host of earnings updates sets up a catalyst heavy week of trading ahead,” Goldman Sachs’ Chris Hussey said in a note.

Investors await earnings reports Tuesday from companies including Under Armour, Pfizer and Lyft.
Better-than-expected corporate earnings results boosted the U.S. stock averages to finish October at record highs, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting their best months since November 2020.
As of Monday evening according to FactSet, 55.8% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly financial results, with 82% beating earnings estimates.

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FOR MUCH of the past two years, central bankers found themselves playing second fiddle to governments. With interest rates in the rich world near or below zero even before the pandemic, surges in public spending were needed to see economies through lockdowns. Now central bankers are firmly in the limelight. During the past month, as inflation has soared, investors have rapidly brought forward their expectations for the date at which interest rates will rise, testing policymakers’ promises to keep rates low.The expected date of lift-off in some countries is now years earlier. In the last days of October Australia’s two-year government-bond yield jumped from around 0.1% to nearer 0.8%, roughly the level at which five-year bonds traded as recently as September, prompting the Reserve Bank of Australia to throw in the towel on its pledge to keep three-year yields ultra-low. The bank formally ditched this policy of yield-curve control on November 2nd, though it said it would wait for sustained inflation to emerge before raising rates.Expectations of rate rises in Britain and Canada have also been rapidly brought forward over the past two months. The Bank of Canada announced the end of its bond-buying scheme on October 27th (though it will still reinvest the proceeds of maturing securities). The bond market had already reached the same conclusion before the announcement, and is pricing in a small interest-rate increase over the next year. In Britain, investors’ expectations for a rate rise have ratcheted up ahead of the Bank of England’s meeting on November 4th.Such moves have been mirrored in America and the euro area, albeit on a smaller scale. The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a tapering of its asset purchases after its meeting ends on November 3rd. The MOVE index, which tracks the volatility of American interest rates, is now at its highest level since the early days of the pandemic. On October 28th Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, pressed back against growing market expectations that interest-rate increases could begin as soon as the second half of 2022, noting that an early rise would be inconsistent with the bank’s guidance. That failed to stop two-year German bond yields inching up the day after, to their highest level since January 2020.The movements so far are not large enough to constitute a bond-market tantrum on the scale of that seen in 2013, when the Fed also announced a taper. But the fact that the mood is much more febrile than it has been for most of this year reflects the uncertainty over the economic outlook, particularly that for inflation.Whether the markets prove to be right on the timing of interest-rate rises or whether central bankers can meet their original promises will depend on how persistent inflation looks likely to be. Central bankers have said that price rises so far are transient, reflecting an intense supply crunch. But some onlookers believe that a new inflationary era may be on the way, in which more powerful workers and faster wage growth place sustained pressure on prices. “Instead of decades in which labour has been coming out of people’s ears it’s going to be quite hard to find it, and that’s going to raise bargaining power,” says Charles Goodhart, a former rate-setter at the Bank of England.Recent moves also highlight the sometimes-complex relationship between financial markets and monetary policy. In normal times central bankers set short-term interest rates, and markets try to forecast where those rates might go. But bond markets may also contain information on investors’ expectations about the economy and inflation, which central bankers, for their part, try to parse. Ben Bernanke, a former chairman of the Fed, once referred to the risk of a “hall of mirrors” dynamic, in which policymakers feel the need to respond to rising bond yields, while yields in turn respond to central banks’ actions.All this makes central bankers’ lives even harder as they confront a fog of economic uncertainty. Yet there is some small relief to be had, too. If investors thought inflation had become more sustained, instead of being driven largely by commodity prices and supply-chain snarls, yields on long-dated government bonds would have begun to move significantly. So far, however, investors have dragged interest-rate increases forward rather than baking in the expectation of permanently tighter monetary policy. The ten-year American Treasury yield, for instance, is still not back to its recent highs in March.Furthermore, some bond markets are still quiescent. In Japan, consumer-price growth was just 0.2% higher in September than a year ago, and is still in deflationary territory once energy and fresh food are stripped out. The Bank of Japan’s yield-curve-control policy remains in place, contrasting sharply with the sudden collapse in Australia. Setting monetary policy is a little easier when investors are more certain of the outlook. That, sadly, is not a luxury many central bankers have. More