The yield on the 2-year Treasury note fell sharply on Friday as the shutdown of Silicon Valley Bank sparked a flight to safer assets such as government bonds. The yield shed 46 basis points in the past two days, a sudden decline not seen since September 2008, when the financial markets were in the throes of the global financial crisis. Perhaps by no coincidence, the flight to bond safety this week was caused by the biggest bank failure since the financial crisis. Earlier in the week, the yield on the 2-year Treasury note traded above the key 5% level. It...
SVB Financial falls more than 50% as tech bank looks to raise more cash
In this photo illustration of the TradingView stock market chart of SVB Financial Group seen displayed on a smartphone with the SVB Financial Group logo in the background. Igor Golovniov | Lightrocket | Getty Images Shares of tech-focused bank SVB Financial plunged by more than 50% on Thursday after the company announced a plan to raise more than $2 billion in capital to help offset losses on bond sales. Trading in the stock was halted for volatility multiple times during the session, and the drop brought SVB’s market cap below $8 billion. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon SVB Financial fell...
Russia tried to influence U.S. elections in 2022: top intel agency
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after trilateral meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Sochi, Russia October 31, 2022. Sergey Bobylev | Sputnik | via Reuters Russia conducted malign influence operations in the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and is using increasingly clandestine means to “penetrate the Western information environment,” the U.S. intelligence community said in a new report Wednesday. Moscow will also work to “strengthen ties” to Americans in media and politics as it works to carry out “future influence operations,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in...
Yellen warns climate change is causing major financial losses in U.S.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivers remarks on “Next Steps in the Evolution of Development Finance” at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023. Leah Millis | Reuters Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday warned that climate change is already taking a significant economic toll in the U.S. and could cause extensive losses to the financial system in the coming years. Yellen made the remarks during the first meeting with the Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee (CFRAC), an advisory board that was set up last year by the Financial Stability Oversight Council in an...
Toblerone to drop Matterhorn from packaging due to ‘Swissness’ laws
Toblerone chocolate bars with a representation of the Matterhorn mountain (back) and of a generic mountain (front) in Geneva. The Swiss Matterhorn peak will be removed when some of the chocolate’s production is moved from Switzerland to Slovakia and replaced by a more generic mountain under strict “Swissness” rules. Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images Toblerone chocolate packaging will no longer feature Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn mountain, as its U.S. owner Mondelez moves some production to Slovakia later this year. The company will also remove a reference to Toblerone being “Swiss chocolate,” instead declaring it, “Established in Switzerland in 1908.”...
One of the biggest autonomous vehicle tests is deep underwater
Boeing’s lineup of unmanned, undersea vehicles (UUV) can operate autonomously for months at a time on a hybrid rechargeable propulsion power system. Pictured above is the 18-foot Echo Ranger. The aerospace and defense contractor also makes the 32-foot Echo Seeker, and its latest innovation, and the largest autonomous sub, is the Voyager at 51-feet. Boeing More than 80% of the ocean remains unexplored by humans but could soon be mapped by autonomous underwater robots. But is that all unmanned submarines will be used for? Autonomous robot submarines — also referred to as autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs — are able...
Google execs say in all-hands meeting Bard A.I. isn’t all for search
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google Inc., speaks during the Google I/O Developers Conference in Mountain View, California, U.S., on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Google executives are continuing to deal with the fallout from last month’s fumbled announcement of the company’s artificial intelligence engine called Bard, but their efforts to clean up the mess are causing further confusion among the workforce. In an all-hands meeting on Thursday, executives answered questions from Dory, the company’s internal forum, with most of the top-rated issues related to the priorities around Bard, according to audio...
The cheapest and most expensive U.S. airports to fly out of
Finding a really good deal on a flight is always exciting. But despite whatever budget travel hacks you might use, one thing that can make it all more challenging is which airport you fly out of. CivMetrics, a nonprofit journalism organization, collected the average cost of flights in and out of the 100 busiest U.S. airports based on 2022 Q3 data from the Bureau of Transportation Services. Among the busiest airports, Ted Stevens Anchorage International in Alaska was the most expensive, with an average flight price of $540. On the other end, St. Pete Clearwater International in Florida, where flight...
Salesforce stock jumps a day after broad-based earnings beat
Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, speaks at an Economic Club of Washington luncheon in Washington, DC, on Oct. 18, 2019. Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images Salesforce shares surged 12% on Thursday and headed for their biggest single-day rally since August 2020, after the cloud software vendor issued earnings and guidance that trounced analysts’ estimates. The results show the company, led by co-founder Marc Benioff, is making concessions to activist investors who have built stakes in the business and have raised concerns lately about the company’s revenue and income performance. After the close of regular trading on...
David Einhorn says investors should be ‘bearish on stocks and bullish on inflation’
Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn said Wednesday he’s keeping his negative stance on the stock market as inflation and interest rates could shoot higher. “I think we should be bearish on stocks and bullish on inflation,” Einhorn said on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” “I think we’re in a policy now, which is probably pretty good for Main Street, but it’s going to be difficult and increasingly difficult for financial assets.” The star hedge fund manager believes the Federal Reserve could have more work to do to combat stubborn price pressures, lifting interest rates even higher than consensus expectations. The central bank has...