Finance

A trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., August 11, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Stock futures edged higher in overnight trading on Monday following a broad-based rally on news that U.S. regulators granted full approval for Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid vaccine.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both rose 0.2%.

The market started the week on a high note as shares sensitive to an economic recovery jumped on optimism that the vaccine approval would clear path for more mandates in the face of the spread of the delta variant.
“Considering the recent spike in cases and some of the disappointing economic data, this is another step in the right direction, and it helps give confidence to those who might still be holding out on getting the vaccine,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial.

The S&P 500 closed Monday’s session 0.8% higher after touching an intraday record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose about 1.5% to hit a record closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 200 points on Monday.
Investor are eyeing the Jackson Hole symposium later this week, which is expected to be a market-moving event where central bankers could detail their plans for tapering monetary stimulus. The Federal Reserve has started discussions to pull back its $120 billion a month bond-buying program by the end of this year.

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The summit takes place virtually on Thursday and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will give a speech on Friday.

“The Fed may make a taper announcement in September or November, but it will probably be a slow taper with no commitment over interest rate hikes.” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.
The second-quarter earnings season is winding down with more than 90% S&P 500 companies having reported results. S&P 500 is poised to grow its earnings by 94.7% year over year, according to Refinitiv.
Best Buy is set to release numbers before the bell Tuesday, and Nordstrom will report after the close.

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IN A SPEECH in 2016 Xi Jinping, China’s president, explored the roots of an idea that is now troubling the country’s tycoons and depressing the stockmarket—an idea that may be motivating China’s crackdown on private tutoring, its antitrust fines on internet firms, its new guidelines on the treatment of gig workers and its steps towards a property tax, as well as inspiring large charitable donations from some of the country’s most prominent enterprises. That idea is common prosperity.Common prosperity, Mr Xi pointed out, has been an ideal of the Chinese people since ancient times. It was espoused by his predecessors as Communist Party leader. (Even Deng Xiaoping, who was famously happy to let some “get rich first”, insisted that they then help others to catch up.) The ideal appears not just in Marx but also in Confucius, Mr Xi said. He quoted a well known line from “The Analects”, which says something to the effect that a wise leader worries not about poverty but about inequality; not that his people are too few, but that they are too divided. (It is snappier in the original Chinese.)The idea, then, is not new. But it is newly important. The term has appeared 65 times in Mr Xi’s speeches or meetings this year, according to Bloomberg. A recent example is the powerful Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, which sets and enforces the party line on the economy. It focused on the idea at its meeting on August 17th.But what precisely does it mean? The party has clarified what it does not entail: it does not imply that everyone will end up enjoying equal prosperity. Entrepreneurs who create their own wealth, “work hard with integrity and have the guts to start their own businesses” should be encouraged. Nor will the egalitarian turn be abrupt. It should be pursued “step by step” in a “gradual” manner, the commission reiterated this month.But the goal also rules out a continuation of the status quo. “We must not allow the gap between rich and poor to get wider,” Mr Xi insisted in January. People in the top fifth of Chinese households enjoy a disposable income more than ten times as high as people in the bottom fifth, according to official figures. Disposable incomes in cities are two and a half times as high as in the countryside. And the top 1% own 30.6% of household wealth, according to Credit Suisse, a bank (compared with 31.4% in America).Unfortunately, defining what will count as common prosperity is complicated by the sheer volume and variety of aspirations and exhortations that often follow in the term’s trail, aspirations that could be laudable or lamentable depending on details that have yet to be formulated, let alone divulged.Common prosperity will require a stronger safety-net for the unfortunate, better pensions, more equal access to public services, including education and health. It will result in an “olive-shaped” distribution of income that is fat in the middle but thin at the bottom and top. China has about 400m people living on incomes between 100,000 and 500,000 yuan (roughly $15,000-77,000) for a family of three or the equivalent. It wants to double that number to 800m people in about a decade, according to the Development Research Centre, a think-tank attached to China’s State Council. The party says it will increase the role of taxation in fighting inequality. It will adjust high incomes “reasonably”. But it has yet to quantify that reasonableness by specifying future tax rates or thresholds. Besides, the government overhauled personal taxes as recently as 2018, making it unlikely to have another go soon, according to Gabriel Wildau of Teneo, a risk-advisory firm. A crackdown on tax evasion and illicit income is more likely. This week the party’s corruption watchdog said it had instructed over 24,800 party cadres in the city of Hangzhou to undertake “self-examination” and confess to any illegal borrowing from local firms or other conflicts of interest.Most egalitarian governments content themselves with tweaking taxes and transfers. But China’s reach is broader. It is also championing two other kinds of redistribution: “voluntary” donations by the rich (Tencent, an internet giant, ploughed $7.7bn into its social initiatives soon after the August 17th meeting) and what is sometimes called “pre-distribution”. This can entail altering the split of national income between wages and profits. A common prosperity “demonstration zone” in Zhejiang province, for example, includes a target to raise labour’s share of the province’s income from 47.8% (in 2017) to over 50%.The labour share is not easy to measure let alone manipulate. It has declined steadily in many developed economies, thanks to deep forces like globalisation and technological change. But China’s wage-earners might benefit from policies like the government’s new guidelines on gig workers, which seek to improve their wages and bargaining position. Certainly, investors in the gig economy fear these policies will leave a smaller slice of the cake for them. The share price of Meituan, a food-delivery giant, has fallen by 18% since the guidelines were released. As with many of its signature initiatives, the party will not impose a common approach to common prosperity. “Local authorities will be encouraged to explore effective ways that suit local conditions,” it said on August 17th. Cities in Zhejiang are scrambling to add the label to various initiatives, from narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas to promoting the “spiritual” riches of the populace. Over time, the successful projects will be said to conform to Mr Xi’s vision; in reality, his vision will coalesce around them.Just because common prosperity remains nebulous does not, however, mean it is vacuous. “Achieving common prosperity is not only an economic issue, but also a significant political issue,” Mr Xi said in January. The party hopes that reviving this ancient ideal will help strengthen the foundations of its rule. Confucius again got there first. “Where there is contentment,” the sage says, “there will be no upheavals.” More

A Boeing 737 MAX 10 airliner pauses while taxiing on the flight line before its first flight at Renton Municipal Airport on June 18, 2021 in Renton, Washington.
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Boeing — Shares of Boeing jumped 3.2% after Virgin Orbit, a satellite-launching spinoff of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, announced it will go public at a $3.7 billion valuation. Boeing is set to invest in the deal’s private investment in public equity round. Virgin Orbit is combining with special purpose acquisition company NextGen Acquisition Corp. II, which saw its shares gain 1.9% after the news.

Pfizer, BioNTech — Shares of the drugmakers rose on Monday after the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine – becoming the first in the U.S. to win the coveted designation. Shares of Pfizer rose 2.5% and BioNTech surged 9.6%. Shares of Moderna rose 7.6% in hopes that the approval will pave the way for the company’s own approval.
General Motors — Shares of the automaker ticked 1.3% lower after General Motors expanded the recall of its Chevy Bolt electric car on Friday. It will include newer models, a move which will cost the automaker an additional $1 billion. The recall will address an issue that can increase the risk of battery fires.
Occidental Petroleum, Devon Energy — Energy stocks gained after oil prices jumped on Monday, snapping a seven-day losing streak that crude’s longest since 2019. Occidental Petroleum rose 6.9%, Devon Energy added 6.1%, Diamondback Energy gained 5.9% and Marathon Oil increased 5.4%.
Robinhood — Robinhood shares jumped 6.2% despite bearish calls on the newly public brokerage stock from Wall Street analysts. Many investment firms initiated coverage of Robinhood on Monday with neutral or equal weight ratings, and the stock even received a rare underweight rating from JPMorgan’s Kenneth Worthington.
Didi Global — The Chinese ride-hailing app’s shares gained 3.4% despite Beijing’s probe into the company. The Financial Times reported that Didi may be forced to hand over shares containing special rights to the Chinese government and the company may be asked to lower the commissions it takes from drivers.

Tesla — Shares of Tesla jumped 3.8% after Deutsche Bank reiterated its buy rating on the electric vehicle maker. The firm said Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence day last week has set forth a “bold vision” and analysts “came away with greater appreciation for Tesla’s efforts in AI.”
Abercrombie & Fitch — The retail apparel stock added 2.3% after Tesley reiterated its outperform rating on Abercrombie & Fitch, seeing “margin expansion” ahead. The company is set to report earnings later this week.
— CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald and Yun Li contributed reporting

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States that withdrew from federal unemployment programs in June saw slightly higher job growth through early August relative to states that didn’t end benefits, according to a new study.
Still, 7 in 8 people who saw benefits reduced or eliminated did not find employment, according to researchers.

Los Angeles County Regional Food Bank workers help with food distribution in Willowbrook, California on April 29, 2021.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

States that withdrew early from federal unemployment programs pushed few people back to work and fueled a nearly $2 billion cut in household spending, potentially hurting their local economies, according to new research.
Twenty-six state governors — all Republican, except one — opted out of the pandemic-era programs several weeks before their official expiration on Labor Day. Enhanced benefits were keeping the unemployed from looking for jobs and fueling a labor shortage, they claimed.

That bet seems to have had a limited payoff so far, according to a paper authored by economists and researchers at Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Toronto. The research was published Friday.
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The data suggests unemployment benefits aren’t playing a big role in hiring challenges and that other factors are having a larger impact — a similar thrust to other recent research analyzing the policy decisions.
The new paper uses anonymized bank-account data from financial services company Earnin to track 18,648 individuals who were receiving unemployment benefits in late April. Researchers compared individuals in 19 states that withdrew federal benefits in June against those in the 23 states that kept them intact.

States that ended federal benefits early saw larger job gains among the unemployed: Their employment jumped 4.4 percentage points relative to jobless individuals in states that kept benefits flowing, according to the paper, which analyzes data through the first week of August.

However, that translates to just 1 in 8 unemployed individuals in the “cutoff states” who found a job in that time period. The majority, 7 out of 8, didn’t find a new job.
“Yes, there was an uptick [in employment],” University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professor Arindrajit Dube said. “Most people lost benefits and weren’t able to find jobs.”
Dube co-authored the research paper.

The employment dynamic — a loss of benefits without resulting job income for most people — led households to cut their weekly spending by 20%, according to the paper. As a result, economies of the cutoff states saw a reduction of nearly $2 billion in consumer spending from June through the first week of August.
“They turned down federal transfers and that money didn’t come back into the state [from new job income],” University of Toronto assistant professor Michael Stepner said. He also co-authored the paper.
A 20% spending cut amounts to a big reduction in quality of life for these households, which are largely lower-income, Stepner said.

The governor’s offices in Alabama, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Utah — a subset of the states — didn’t return CNBC’s request for comment on the policies.
“We have announced the end date of our state of emergency, there are no industry shutdowns, and daycares are operating with no restrictions,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in May when announcing the withdrawal. “Vaccinations are available for all adults. Alabama is giving the federal government our 30-day notice that it’s time to get back to work.”
The research findings come as U.S. job openings broke a record in June, while the economy remains nearly 6 million jobs below its pre-pandemic level. Retail sales nationwide fell more than expected last month amid renewed Covid-19 fears.

The Biden administration is encouraging states with high unemployment rates to use federal funds provided by the American Rescue Plan to keep benefits flowing past Sept. 6.
Most job growth in the withdrawing states wasn’t due to the loss of a $300 weekly supplement, as may have been expected, Dube said. Instead, it was largely due to workers like the self-employed and long-term unemployed who lost their aid entirely since they’re ineligible for traditional state benefits.
Relative differences in the states’ economies also don’t seem to account for the research results, Dube and Stepner said. And a spike in job growth is unlikely in coming weeks, since the pace of hiring in the cutoff states had plateaued by mid-July, they said.

The research results suggest enhanced unemployment benefits are a small-but-incomplete explanation for hiring challenges, they said.
“There is a gap in the labor market,” Stepner said. “There are lots of open jobs, below-average labor force participation, and yet these open jobs are not being filled.
“I think it’s an open question [as to why],” he added. “I don’t think any labor economist has a clear explanation.”
Economists point to ongoing Covid health concerns and continued challenges posed by caregiving responsibilities as other possible factors.
Workers may also expect more pay, benefits and flexibility from a prospective employer. Stimulus checks and other pandemic aid may have provided a financial cushion so workers feel they can be more selective when looking for a new job.

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Cryptocurrency platform Poly Network was hit by a major attack this month which saw the hacker steal more than $600 million worth of tokens.
In a strange twist, the attacker then returned nearly all of the money. But over $200 million was trapped in an account that required a password from the hacker.
Now, the hacker has finally given Poly Network access to the final tranche of stolen funds.

Zephyr18 | iStock | Getty Images

The hacker behind the biggest cryptocurrency heist of all time has granted access to the final tranche of stolen funds.
Poly Network, a platform in the decentralized finance or “DeFi” space, was hit by a major attack this month which saw the hacker, or hackers, steal more than $600 million worth of digital tokens. The thief exploited a vulnerability in Poly Network’s code which allowed them to transfer the funds to their own accounts.

In a strange twist, the Poly Network hacker didn’t run off with the haul. Instead, they opened a dialogue with the organization that was targeted, promising to return all the funds. And, sure enough, the hacker gave back nearly all of the money — with the exception of $33 million of tether, or USDT, a dollar-pegged coin, which was frozen by its issuers — last week.
There was a catch, however. More than $200 million of assets was trapped in an account that required passwords from both Poly Network and the hacker. For the past few days, the hacker refused to hand over their password, simply saying they would only do so once “everyone is ready.”
Poly Network pleaded with the hacker, which it is calling “Mr. White Hat,” to return the remaining funds. The platform promised to grant the unidentified person a $500,000 bounty for helping it identify a flaw in its systems, and even offered them a job as “chief security advisor.”
Now, the hacker has finally given Poly Network access to the final tranche of stolen funds. In a blog post Monday, the firm said Mr. White Hat shared the so-called private key needed to regain control of the remaining assets.

“At this point, all the user assets that were transferred out during the incident have been fully recovered,” Poly Network said. “We are in the process of returning full asset control to users as swiftly as possible.”

It’s one of the most bizarre stories about cryptocurrencies more recently. The theft was thought to be the biggest crypto heist of all time, surpassing the $534.8 million stolen from Japanese digital currency exchange Coincheck in a 2018 attack and the estimated $450 million worth of bitcoin that went missing from Tokyo-based Mt.Gox in 2014.
Last week, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid said it was hit by a cyberattack that saw hackers make off with a reported $97 million worth of digital coins.
In Poly Network’s case, though, the attacker maintained a public conversation with their victim, ultimately restoring the assets they stole. Security experts said it was likely the attacker realized it would be difficult for them to launder the money and cash, since all transactions are recorded on the blockchain, the public ledgers that underpin most major digital currencies.
In a message embedded in a digital currency transaction, an anonymous person claiming to be the hacker said they were “(quitting) the show.”
“My actions, which may be considered weird, are my efforts to contribute to the security of the Poly project in my personal style,” the person said.
“The consensus was reached in a painful and obscure way, but it works. Some people even suspect that the whole story is a PR stunt.”
Poly Network said its team “confirmed that the private key is genuine.”
“As of now, Poly Network has regained control of the $610 million (not including the frozen $33 million USDT) in assets that were overall affected in this attack. Once again, we would like to thank Mr. White Hat for keeping his promise, as well as the community, partners and the multiple security agencies for their assistance.”

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
Boeing (BA) – Boeing added 1.2% in the premarket, following news that it planned to invest in a SPAC merger planned later this year by Richard Branson’s satellite launch company Virgin Orbit. Virgin Orbit plans to merge with blank-check company NextGen Acquisition II (NGCA), whose shares jumped 6% following the announcement.

Coinbase (COIN) – Coinbase jumped 3.2% in premarket trading, with the cryptocurrency exchange’s stock benefiting from bitcoin rising to its highest level since early May. Shares of the business analytics company MicroStrategy (MSTR) – which has extensive bitcoin holdings – rallied 3.9%.
Pfizer (PFE), BioNTech (BNTX) – The drug makers are expected to receive full FDA approval for their Covid-19 vaccine as soon as today, according to multiple reports. The vaccine had received emergency use authorization in late 2020. Pfizer added 3.9% in premarket action while BioNTech surged 7.7%. Moderna (MRNA) is also in the process of applying for full FDA approval of its Covid-19 vaccine and its shares rose 2.9%.
Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL) – Pfizer said it would buy the portion of the cancer therapy specialist that it doesn’t already own in a deal worth $2.26 billion or $18.50 per share in cash. That compares to Trillium’s Friday close of $6.09 per share. Pfizer had invested $25 million in Trillium in September 2020. Trillium shares nearly tripled in premarket trading.
General Motors (GM) – General Motors expanded the recall of its Chevy Bolt electric car to include newer models, a move that will cost the automaker an additional $1 billion. The recall will address an issue that can increase the risk of battery fires. GM fell 2.1% in the premarket.
Uber (UBER), Lyft (LYFT), DoorDash (DASH) – These stocks are on watch after a California judge ruled the state’s “gig workers” law was unconstitutional. California voters had approved a ballot measure last November allowing those companies to treat workers as independent contractors rather than employees. The companies – which lobbied extensively for passage of the measure – plan to appeal. Uber tumbled 5.8% in premarket trading, with Lyft sliding 4.5% and DoorDash also losing 4.5%.

Didi Global (DIDI) – The China-based ride-hailing company may be forced to hand over shares containing special rights to the Chinese government, according to a report in the Financial Times. Didi rose 1.9% in premarket trading.
PayPal (PYPL) – PayPal will allow customers in the UK to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies beginning this week, its first rollout of cryptocurrency services outside the United States. PayPal added 1% in the premarket.
Robinhood (HOOD) – The company behind the popular trading app was added to coverage at a handful of investment firms following its late July initial public offering, including Goldman Sachs (neutral rating), Mizuho (buy), JMP Securities (outperform), Barclays (equal weight) and Piper Sandler (neutral). Robinhood added 2.7% in the premarket.
JD.com (JD) – The Chinese e-commerce company reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for the second quarter while adding a record number of new users.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the ticker for NextGen Acquisition II.

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PayPal will let British customers buy, hold and sell digital currencies, starting this week.
It marks the first international expansion of PayPal’s crypto product since it launched in the U.S. last year.
PayPal is one of many firms taking a leap into the mostly unregulated world of cryptocurrencies.

PayPal has launched its cryptocurrency service in the U.K.

LONDON — PayPal is launching its cryptocurrency service in the U.K.
The U.S. online payments giant said Monday it would let British customers buy, hold and sell digital currencies, starting this week.

It marks the the first international expansion of PayPal’s crypto product, which first launched in the U.S. in October last year.
“It has been doing really well in the U.S.,” Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s general manager for blockchain, crypto and digital currencies, told CNBC. “We expect it’s going to do well in the U.K.”
PayPal’s crypto feature lets customers buy or sell bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum or litecoin with as little as £1. Users can also track crypto prices in real-time, and find educational content on the market.
Like the U.S. version of the product, PayPal is relying on Paxos, a New York-regulated digital currency company, to enable crypto buying and selling in the U.K. PayPal said it has engaged with relevant U.K. regulators to launch the service.

A spokesperson for the Financial Conduct Authority, Britain’s financial services watchdog, was not immediately available for comment on the announcement.

Growing adoption

PayPal’s crypto service is similar to one from U.K. fintech firm Revolut. As is the case with Revolut, PayPal users can’t move their crypto holdings outside the app. Although Revolut recently started testing a feature that lets users withdraw bitcoin to their own personal wallets.
PayPal says its foray into crypto is about making it easier for people to participate in the market. “The tokens and coins have been around for a while but you had to be a relatively sophisticated user to be able to access that,” da Ponte said. “Having that on a platform like ours makes a really good entry point.”
The payments processor is one of many large finance companies taking a leap into the mostly unregulated world of cryptocurrencies. Despite ongoing concerns about price volatility, consumer protection and potential money laundering in the industry, major firms including Mastercard, Tesla and Facebook have been warming to crypto lately.

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Bitcoin, the world’s biggest digital currency, hit a record high of nearly $65,000 in April before tumbling below $30,000 in July as Chinese regulators extended a crackdown on the market. It has since recovered to a price of $48,400.
While PayPal started with crypto trading, the company is betting digital currencies will take a greater role in e-commerce in the long run. Earlier this year, PayPal started letting U.S. consumers use crypto to pay at millions of its online merchants globally. The firm also expanded crypto buying and selling to Venmo, its popular mobile wallet.
“We definitely have ambitions to continue to expand the product range in the U.S., the U.K. and other markets,” da Ponte said.
“We are very deliberate about starting with initial functionality, and then we’ll see where the market is going to take us. Different markets have different appetite for products.”

‘Britcoin’

The launch of PayPal’s crypto service in the U.K. also comes as regulators become increasingly wary about the rise of digital currencies. In June, the FCA banned the British subsidiary of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, citing a failure to meet money-laundering requirements.
“It makes sense that, as there is increased consumer interest and increased volume, the regulators are putting more attention into this space,” da Ponte said, adding that PayPal has built “strong regulatory relations.”
Meanwhile, central banks are exploring the potential issuance of their own digital currencies, as cash use in a number of developed countries dwindles rapidly. In April, the U.K. Treasury and Bank of England said they would evaluate the potential launch of a digital version of the British pound, dubbed “Britcoin” by the U.K. press.
Da Ponte said central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, were a “fantastic prospect” but it would take policymakers some time to iron out the key issues involved.

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A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., August 20, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Stock futures were flat in overnight trading on Sunday after volatile week on Wall Street as investors eye a key event where the Federal Reserve could hint at prospects for tapering stimulus.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 15 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both slightly higher.

Major averages were coming off a losing week as investors grew worried that the Fed’s potential move to pull back monetary stimulus could slow down the economic recovery that is already challenged by the spread of the delta Covid-19 variant.
The blue-chip Dow fell 1.1% last week, while the S&P 500 declined nearly 0.6%, breaking a two-week winning streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 0.7% during the week.
“We suspect investor conviction is being challenged by the potential for upcoming monetary policy changes, shifting growth vs. value rotations, and a rising trajectory of new coronavirus cases,” Craig Johnson, technical market strategist at Piper Sandler, said in a note.
Traders are eagerly awaiting the Jackson Hole symposium for clues on the Fed’s timeline for dialing back its $120 billion a month bond-buying program. The event takes place virtually on Thursday and Friday.

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For the month of August, major benchmarks are poised to post modest gains. The S&P 500 is up 1.1% month to date, while the blue-chip Dow has gained 0.5% and the Nasdaq has climbed 0.3%.

“August is a historically volatile month for markets and this year is no different, with investors currently climbing multiple walls of worries,” said Rod von Lipsey, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management. “Upticks in Covid-19 cases and a downward spiral in Afghanistan are creating a crisis of confidence, at a time when many investors are on holiday.”
Bitcoin traded as high as $49,821 over the weekend as the world’s largest cryptocurrency continues to rebound after months of weakness.

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