Jack Dorsey collected a salary from Twitter last year for the first time since he returned as CEO in 2015 – but it isn’t even be enough to buy him a piece of avocado toast.
According to an SEC filing Monday, Twitter paid Dorsey a symbolic salary of $1.40 in 2018 because, well, it’s Twitter and famous for having a limit of 140 characters per tweet. Or at least it was famous for that before it doubled the character limit to 280 in 2017.
Don’t worry about Dorsey, though. His net worth is estimated to be $5.5 billion, based on his stakes in Twitter and Square, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The S&P 500 is enjoying its best win streak in a year and a half.
Shaking off early losses, US stocks closed mostly higher Monday.
The Dow, however, finished 84 points lower because of a 4.5% decline for Boeing (BA) after the company announced plans to slow 737 Max production.
Energy stocks led the way higher on Wall Street after US oil prices popped 2.1%. Crude settled above $64 a barrel for the first time since Halloween. Schlumberger (SLB) and Concho Resources (CXO) jumped about 2% apiece.
General Electric (GE) slumped 5% after an influential JPMorgan analyst downgraded the stock and warned of more trouble ahead.
US-listed shares of Sony (SNE) surged 8% on a Reuters report that hedge fund Third Point is building a stake in the company to push it to sell businesses.
Lyft (LYFT) tumbled 6%, closing back below its $72 IPO price.
Crude oil prices have now spiked more than 50% from their Christmas Eve lows.
US oil jumped another 2.1% on Monday to settle above $64 a barrel for the first time since Halloween.
The latest rally was sparked in part by a surge of violence in OPEC member Libya, which has deepened concerns about diminished supply.
Libya’s UN-backed government said it repelled an attack by rebels over the weekend after briefly losing control of Tripoli’s airport.
The recovery in oil prices since tumbling to $42 late last year has been driven primarily by OPEC’s aggressive supply cuts. US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran have put additional pressure on crude.
Monday’s oil rally lifted energy stocks on an otherwise negative day on Wall Street. Schlumberger (SLB), Concho Resources (CXO) and Diamondback Energy (FANG) rose more than 1% apiece.
Shareholders of New Age Beverages were jamming Monday after the company announced a new deal to distribute Marley-branded drinks with Walmart.
New Age Beverages (NBEV) surged more than 30% on the news. The company said Walmart (WMT) will start selling Marley Mate drinks, named after legendary reggae singer Bob Marley, this month.
The Walmart drinks will not contain any CBD – the non psychoactive component derived from cannabis that many think has health benefits – in them.
But New Age Beverages CEO Brent Willis told CNN Business earlier this year that the company does have a deal to make Marley-branded CBD drinks.
New Age Beverages, along with several Canadian cannabis stocks, have been on fire over the past year after industrial protection of hemp was legalized in the US following the passage of the Farm Bill and several states have also voted to allow for recreational and medical marijuana sales.
The drinks at Walmart will come in Be Jammin’ Berry, Ya Mon Mint and Jamaican Me Mango flavors.
Thanos may have wiped out half the planet in “Infinity War” with a snap last year. But it doesn’t look like movie theater chain AMC is going to have many (or any) empty seats for the tons of screenings of the eagerly awaited “Avengers: Endgame” movie later this month.
Shares of AMC Entertainment (AMC) soared more than 7% Monday after B. Riley FBR analyst Eric Wold upgraded the stock to a “buy” — citing the strong advance ticket sales for “Avengers: Endgame.” Ticket site Fandango said the movie broke a single-day record for pre-sales.
The strong sales are even more impressive given that AMC, as well as other sites, had some problems handling all the demand at first. Both the AMC and Fandango sites crashed on several occasions, leading some fans to go into a Hulk-like rage.
But investors clearly are betting that “Endgame” will be just the first of many box office blockbusters that fans will be lining up for. “Toy Story 4,” live action versions of “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” and the ninth episode of “Star Wars” all hit theaters later this year. And those, like “Endgame” are all Disney (DIS) films by the way.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) fell 3% on Monday after an activist investor backed away from a proxy fight at the company.
Activist group Starboard had been pushing the dollar chain to make changes, but withdrew its nominations for Dollar Tree’s board of directors late Friday.
Dollar Tree had been selling everything for $1, and Starboard wanted Dollar Tree to raise its prices to offset inflation.
Last month, Dollar Tree said it would start testing products at higher prices. That decision led Starboard to walk away.
Dollar Tree also said last month that it would close hundreds of Family Dollar stores this year. Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5 billion, but Family Dollar has struggled.
General Electric (GE) shares are down 8% after a JPMorgan analyst downgraded the stock earlier Monday:
The S&P 500’s seven-day winning streak is in jeopardy.
US stocks were under pressure early Monday afternoon.
The Dow’s losses were magnified by Boeing, which continues to grapple with a safety crisis. Boeing (BA) dropped 5% after announcing it will cut its 737 Max production pace.
General Electric (GE) tumbled 7%, leading the way lower in the S&P 500, after influential JPMorgan analyst C. Stephen Tusa, Jr. downgraded the stock in a 123-page report.
The energy sector (XLE) was the biggest winner Monday, buoyed by the red-hot crude market. US oil prices climbed nearly 2% to $64.20 a barrel. Schlumberger (SLB), Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) and Concho Resources (CXO) rose sharply.
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio says capitalism needs to be “reformed” and that the nation’s wealth inequality is a “national emergency.”
“I think the American dream is lost,” Dalio told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” last night. Dalio, the chairman of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, said the US economy is not “redistributing opportunity.”
He added:
Dalio also supports the idea that taxes on billionaires be raised. He said the idea of cutting taxes on the very wealth promotes productivity “doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”
Sony’s (SNE) stock is surging 7% after Reuters reported that Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund is building a stake in the electronics company.
It’s unknown how much of a stake Loeb’s Third Point has built in Sony. Sources told Reuters that the firm is “raising a dedicated investment vehicle, targeting between $500 million and $1 billion in capital, so it can buy more Sony shares.”
Third Point did not immediately reply to CNN Business’ request for comment.
Shares of GE (GE) are sliding nearly 6% after JPMorgan analyst Stephen Tusa slashed the stock from a neutral to underweight and cut its price target to $5 from $6 per share.
GE CEO Larry Culp warned a few weeks ago that the company is facing a tough year ahead.
The Dow opened down 130 points, or 0.5%, dragged lower by Boeing. The airplane manufacturer said the 737 Max delays will be longer than initially expected.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell a more modest 0.2%.
Airline stocks were down across the board.
GE (GE) fell 6% after an JPMorgan analyst downgraded the company’s stock because investors are “underestimating the severity of the challenges and underlying risks at GE.”
News over the weekend that American Airlines is canceling flights through June because of the Boeing 737 Max’s grounding sent shares of Boeing and some airlines lower.
Shares of Boeing (BA) fell 4%, while shares of American were down 1.5%. Shares of Southwest (LUV), which has more of the 737 Max planes than any other US airline, fell nearly 2%. It has already canceled flights into May and says it will continue to monitor the situation.
Shares of United Continental (UAL), the third US airline with the grounded planes in its fleet, were slightly lower.
The longer grounding by American is another sign that Boeing is going to take longer than originally hoped to find a fix to the automatic safety feature that is the focus of two fatal crashes in the last six months.
Pinterest has revealed more details about its upcoming IPO:
In the first trading day after Boeing (BA) announced it’s cutting its 737 Max production rate, Boeing’s stock slid 4% in early trading.
Boeing’s CEO said Friday it has “decided to temporarily move from a production rate of 52 airplanes per month to 42 airplanes per month starting in mid-April” for the company’s entire 737 production system, which includes more than just the Max line of jets.
Boeing is working to develop a software fix that will get the 371 grounded 737 Max jets back in the air following two crashes in less than six months.
Here comes the test for stock investors:
All are within spitting distance of record highs. It’s been the best start to the year since the Great Recession. Cue the earnings parade. Will the expected decline in profits in the first quarter spill into the rest of the year? Expect some volatility.
Oil prices spiked to their highest level in five months on Monday.
US crude futures advanced 0.4% to trade at $63.30 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, also rose 0.4% to $70.60 per barrel.
Crude prices have been boosted by continuing production cuts by OPEC and its allies, US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, as well as easing worries about weaker global trade.
A worsening security situation in Libya has also sparked concerns that supply from the major oil producer could be disrupted.
Jasper Lawler, a broker and head of research at the London Capital Group, said:
Here’s what investors are looking at:
Legendary investor Warren Buffett has urged Wells Fargo (WFC) to look outside Wall Street for a new chief executive.
Buffett, the largest shareholder in the battered US bank, told the Financial Times that the new CEO “probably shouldn’t come from JPMorgan or Goldman Sachs.”
Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan stepped down suddenly last month. Sloan said his decision to relinquish control of Wells Fargo could help the bank overcome a litany of scandals.
The bank’s board has pledged to find an outsider to replace Sloan, who will retire at the end of June.
