Finance

In this articleSOFIDASHMEABNBDISCheck out the companies making headlines before the bell:Walt Disney (DIS) – Walt Disney reported adjusted quarterly earnings of 80 cents per share, well above the 55-cent consensus estimate, with revenue beating forecasts as well. Disney’s performance was boosted by a rebound in U.S. theme park attendance as well as stronger-than-expected growth for its Disney+ streaming service. The company did, however, warn of uncertainty surrounding the impact of the delta coronavirus variant. Disney shares rallied 5.5% in the premarket.Airbnb (ABNB) – Airbnb lost 11 cents per share for its latest quarter, smaller than the 47-cent loss that analysts were anticipating. Revenue exceeded estimates, nearly quadrupling from a year earlier as domestic travel rebounded from its pandemic lows. However, the company pointed to uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the delta variant, and Airbnb shares slid 2.8% in premarket trading.23andMe (ME) – The genetic research company reported revenue of $59 million in its first quarter as a public company, up 23% from a year ago, while reporting a smaller loss. 23andMe shares climbed 2.1% in premarket action.DoorDash (DASH) – DoorDash posted a quarterly loss of 30 cents per share, wider than the 20 cents that Wall Street had projected. However, the food delivery service’s revenue did beat estimates, with gross order volume up 70% from a year ago. DoorDash also raised its full-year guidance for gross order volume. DoorDash shares fell 4.2% in the premarket.SoFi (SOFI) – SoFi lost 48 cents per share for its second quarter, compared with analyst forecasts of a 6 cents per share loss. The digital financial services company’s revenue exceeded estimates, as membership more than doubled from a year earlier, but the stock tanked 9.6% in premarket action.Pfizer (PFE), BioNTech (BNTX), Moderna (MRNA) – The FDA authorized Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for immunocompromised people utilizing the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Pfizer added 0.2%, BioNTech climbed 2.4% and Moderna gained 2.3%.Embraer (ERJ) – The Brazilian jet maker posted its first recurring quarterly profit since the first quarter of 2018, as travel demand rebounded from the lowest levels of the pandemic. Shares jumped 3.6% in the premarket.Kansas City Southern (KSU) – Kansas City Southern rejected an improved takeover offer from Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), saying it did not constitute a “superior proposal” to its agreement with Canadian National Railway (CNI). The Canadian Pacific offer is worth $27 billion compared to $29 billion for Canadian National, but Canadian Pacific feels its bid has a better chance of regulatory approval.ZipRecruiter (ZIP) – ZipRecruiter posted a quarterly loss of 55 cents per share, compared with a consensus estimate of a 22 cents per share loss. However, the online employment marketplace operator saw revenue well above Street forecasts and made upbeat comments about the remainder of 2021. ZipRecruiter surged 14.3% in the premarket.Rocket Companies (RKT) – Rocket shares gained 5.4% in premarket action despite a miss on the top and bottom lines for the online mortgage platform operator. Rocket did see a surge in closed loan origination volume over a year ago and gave upbeat current-quarter guidance for a variety of metrics.ContextLogic (WISH) – The e-commerce platform company’s stock tumbled 27.8% in the premarket, following top and bottom line misses for its latest quarter. The operator of wish.com said it saw slowing demand for its products, fewer users and active buyers, and higher costs.Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – The videogame maker’s stock added 1.1% in premarket trading after Citi upgraded it to “buy” from “neutral”, saying the current risk/reward profile looks favorable following the stock’s recent pullback.TVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | More

The Poly Network logo displayed on a phone screen with a physical representation of some cryptocurrencies.Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto via Getty ImagesNearly all of the $600 million stolen in one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists ever has now been returned by hackers.Poly Network, the crypto platform targeted in the attack, said Thursday that all of the funds bar $33 million worth of the digital coin tether had been transferred.The issuer of tether, a so-called stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, used a built-in failsafe to freeze the assets soon after the theft.In an unusual turn of events Wednesday, an anonymous person claiming to be the hacker said they were “ready to return” the funds. The identity of the hacker, or hackers, is not yet known.Poly Network requested they send the money to three digital currency wallets. And, sure enough, the hacker had returned more than $342 million of the funds to those wallets by Thursday.But there’s a catch. While almost all of the haul has been sent back to Poly Network, the last $268 million of assets is currently locked in an account that requires passwords from both Poly Network and the hacker to gain access.”It’s likely that keys held by both Poly Network and the hacker would be required to move the funds — so the hacker could still make these funds inaccessible if they chose to,” Tom Robinson, chief scientist of blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, said in a blogpost Friday.In a message embedded in a digital currency transaction, the suspected hacker said they would “provide the final key when _everyone_ is ready.”Record ‘DeFi’ hackPoly Network is what’s known as a “decentralized finance,” or DeFi, system. DeFi projects aim to use blockchain — the technology which underpins most cryptocurrencies — to replicate traditional financial services like loans and trading.In Poly Network’s case, the DeFi system allows users to transfer tokens from one blockchain to another.Someone exploited a vulnerability in Poly Network’s code which allowed them to transfer tokens to their own crypto wallets. The platform lost more than $610 million in the attack, according to researchers at security firm SlowMist.Poly Network called it “the biggest in defi history.”The self-proclaimed hacker claims they carried out the theft “for fun” and that it was “always the plan” to eventually return the funds.CNBC could not independently verify the authenticity of the messages.In a further message, the hacker claimed Poly Network offered them a $500,000 bounty to send all of the money back, and that they turned it down. The hacker shared what appears to be a statement from Poly Network promising that they would “not be held accountable for this incident,” effectively granting them immunity.Poly Network did not return a request for comment from CNBC by the time of publication.”Offering immunity may have sounded like a smart move from Poly Network to dangle a carrot, but it is unlikely that the authorities would agree with this decision nor even allow it,” said Jake Moore, a specialist at cybersecurity firm ESET.”This attack is likely to have been watched closely by cybercriminals and law enforcement alike, potentially opening up the possibility of copycat attacks.”Identifying the hackerRobinson said the hacker “might well still find themselves being pursued by the authorities.””Their activities have left numerous digital breadcrumbs on the blockchain for law enforcement to follow.”Cryptocurrencies are often the go-to for cybercriminals, particularly in ransomware attacks which lock down organizations’ systems or steal data while demanding a ransom payment to recover access.That’s because the people sending and receiving digital currencies aren’t revealing their identities. However, it has become possible to trace the location of the funds by analyzing the blockchain, which contains a public record of all historical crypto transactions.TVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | More

VIETNAM’S FIRST two rapid-transit rail lines are inching closer to completion, after years of delays. The projects, one in each of the country’s two largest cities, have become symbols not just of Vietnam’s modernisation, but of the duelling interests of Asia’s two biggest sources of infrastructure investment. Hanoi’s line has been funded by Chinese development assistance; Ho Chi Minh City’s was launched with help from the Japanese government.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

LONDON SO FAR has missed out on the dizzying investment boom in special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) centred on America. Those that have come to Europe have conspicuously swerved the City, choosing Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris or Stockholm instead. On August 10th, in an attempt to change that, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) loosened its listing rules.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

WHEN INDIA introduced a retroactive tax on the sale of shares in foreign companies with domestic assets in 2012, the measure was reviled by foreign businesses and decried by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), then in opposition, as “tax terrorism”. So foreign investors had reason to cheer on August 5th, when the BJP government said it would repeal the law. The reversal illustrates the tug-of-war the country has long faced—between wanting to invite foreign investment into the country and resenting the legal tussles it brings.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Source: NYSEStock futures held steady in overnight trading on Thursday as the S&P 500 seeks to end a winning week on a high note.Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose just 20 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both little changed.Shares of Disney jumped more than 4% in after-hours trading after the media giant reported blowout fiscal third-quarter earnings, crushing Wall Street expectations on subscriber growth, revenue and earnings.Airbnb shares fell more than 3% after the travel company issued a warning about volatility due to the Covid delta variant.The blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 are on track to close out a winning week after gaining 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively, through Thursday at record highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed this week, down 0.1%.Investors digested mixed economic data on Thursday. Weekly jobless claims came in at 375,000 last week, matching estimates and declining for a third straight week. Meanwhile, the producer price index, excluding volatile food, trade services and energy components, rose 0.9% last month versus a forecast for a 0.5% gain.”The hot PPI/home price figures took some of the sheen off the Wed CPI-induced ‘inflation has peaked party’ and this spurred very modest profit taking in cyclical groups following two days of outperformance,” Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note.Stocks are rising to records on the back of a stellar earnings season. The year-over-year earnings growth is expected to be 92.9%, according to Refinitiv. So far about 90% of the S&P 500 companies have handed in their quarterly report, and about 88% of them beat earnings estimates from Wall Street analysts, according to Refinitiv.Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:Wall Street analysts really love these five stocks in the DowJPMorgan’s top strategist Kolanovic has a dire warning for one part of the stock marketBarclays picks the global stocks to buy in the ‘cheapest’ sectors — energy and mining20 strategists predict when stocks will have the next big tumble — and how far they’ll fallTVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | More

A performer dressed as Mickey Mouse entertains guests during the reopening of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California, U.S., on Friday, April 30, 2021.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCheck out the companies making headlines after the bell: Disney — Shares of Disney jumped more than 4% in after-hours trading after the media giant reported blowout fiscal third-quarter earnings, crushing Wall Street expectations on subscriber growth, revenue and earnings.Airbnb — The travel rental company saw its shares falling more than 3% after issuing a warning about volatility due to the Covid delta variant. Airbnb did beat on top and bottom lines, however. Meanwhile, the company reported 83.1 million nights and experiences booked, up 29% from the first quarter.SoFi Technologies — Shares of the fintech company slid more than 10% in extended trading after the firm reported a quarterly loss amid higher noninterest expense. SoFi posted a 48-cent loss per share, compared with a loss a year ago of 3 cents a share.DoorDash — The food delivery company’s shares dropped over 6% in after-hours trading after its earnings report. DoorDash posted a loss of 30 cents per share in the second quarter, wider than the 6 cents analysts were expecting, according to FactSet. Its total orders jumped 69% as the economy started to reopen, the company said.Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:Wall Street analysts really love these five stocks in the DowJPMorgan’s top strategist Kolanovic has a dire warning for one part of the stock marketBarclays picks the global stocks to buy in the ‘cheapest’ sectors — energy and mining20 strategists predict when stocks will have the next big tumble — and how far they’ll fallTVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | More

In this articleSONOCOINHIMSMUMQBMBLMarqeta Headquarters in Oakland, Calif.Yalonda M. James | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers via Getty ImagesCheck out the companies making headlines in midday trading.Opendoor — Opendoor soared 24% after reporting a quarterly loss of 24 cents per share, 10 cents less than analysts estimated. Late Wednesday, the home buying and selling company also reported better-than-expected revenue and issued an upbeat sales forecast for the current quarter.Marqeta — Shares of Marqeta, the card issuing platform behind Square and “buy now, pay later” brands like Affirm and Klarna, are down more than 8% after their first release of quarterly results as a public company. On Wednesday, the company reported a loss of 29 cents per share. It also showed 350% growth in its “buy now, pay later” business, though a major member of that cohort, Afterpay, has agreed to be acquired by Square.Coinbase — The cryptocurrency exchange’s stock fell more than 7% as the price of bitcoin slipped below $45,000. Coinbase’s revenue comes mostly from trading fees, and the company’s stock price tends to trade in tandem with the price of bitcoin. The stock jumped higher earlier this week after reporting blowout earnings.Bumble — Shares of Bumble gained roughly 6% after the online dating platform reported mixed second-quarter financial results. Bumble reported a loss of 6 cents per share, while analysts expected earnings of 1 cent per share, according to Refinitiv. However, the company reported $186.2 million in revenue, topping Wall Street’s $178.7 million estimate. Bumble also raised its third-quarter and full-year revenue guidance.Hims & Hers Health — Shares of the telehealth platform operator jumped over 10% after the company posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss. Hims & Hers lost 3 cents per share for its second quarter, smaller than the 9 cent loss estimate from analysts, according to Refinitiv. Its revenue also topped expectations.Micron — Shares of semiconductor company dropped more than 6% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to equal weight from overweight. The investment firm said in a note to clients that the memory chip market is about to enter a downturn that will hit Micron and its rivals.Lordstown Motors — Shares of Lordstown Motors gained almost 3% despite the company’s wider-than-expected quarterly loss of 61 cents per share. The electric vehicle maker said it will begin limited production of its Endurance pickup truck in late September.Palantir — Palantir shares surged more than 11% after the data analytics company reported quarterly revenue topping Wall Street expectations. Revenue jumped 49% in the second quarter from the year prior. Sonos — The maker of audio products saw its stock jump about 7% following its earnings report late Wednesday, which came in at 12 cents per share. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected a loss of 17 cents per share. Sonos also recorded strong revenues of $378.7 million, compared with an estimate of $313.6 million. CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement that “with more video content going direct-to-home, consumers are demanding a theater-like audio experience in the home.” — CNBC’s Hannah Miao, Jesse Pound and Yun Li contributed reportingBecome a smarter investor with CNBC Pro. Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial todayTVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | More