Month: October 2022

Posted on

Rig Counts declined last week!

Baker Hughes reports U.S. rig count down 3 to 768 rigs

Baker Hughes (BKR) reports that the U.S. rig count is down 3 from last week to 768 with oil rigs down 2 to 610, gas rigs down 1 to 156 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2.

The U.S. Rig Count is up 224 rigs from last year’s count of 544 with oil rigs up 166, gas rigs up 56 and miscellaneous up 2.

The international offshore rig count for April 2018 was 194. Stockwinners

The U.S. Offshore Rig Count is down 1 to 14, up 1 year-over-year.

The Canada Rig Count is up 2 from last week to 212, with oil rigs up 1 to 145, gas rigs up 1 to 67.

The Canada Rig Count is up 46 rigs from last year’s count of 166, with oil rigs up 47, gas rigs down 1.

The Baker Hughes rig counts are counts of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the U.S., Canada and international markets.

The Company has issued the rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of the U.S. and Canadian drilling activity. The monthly international rig count was initiated in 1975.

https://stockwinners.com

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is down $1.18 to $87.84 per barrel (down from a high of $123.70). Brent crude is down $1.27 to $93.77 per barre (down from a high of $127.98). Gasoline last traded at $2.564 per gallon (down from a high of $4.31 per gallon).

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

STOCKWINNERS

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Posted on

ECB plays catch up, raises refinancing rate to 2 percent

ECB raises Main Refinancing Rate by 75bps to 2.00%

The ECB stated:

“The Governing Council today decided to raise the three key ECB interest rates by 75 basis points. With this third major policy rate increase in a row, the Governing Council has made substantial progress in withdrawing monetary policy accommodation.

The Governing Council took today’s decision, and expects to raise interest rates further, to ensure the timely return of inflation to its 2% medium-term inflation target.

Christine Lagarde: ECB President

The Governing Council will base the future policy rate path on the evolving outlook for inflation and the economy, following its meeting-by-meeting approach. Inflation remains far too high and will stay above the target for an extended period. In September, euro area inflation reached 9.9%.

In recent months, soaring energy and food prices, supply bottlenecks and the post-pandemic recovery in demand have led to a broadening of price pressures and an increase in inflation.

The Governing Council’s monetary policy is aimed at reducing support for demand and guarding against the risk of a persistent upward shift in inflation expectations. The Governing Council also decided to change the terms and conditions of the third series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III).

During the acute phase of the pandemic, this instrument played a key role in countering downside risks to price stability.

Today, in view of the unexpected and extraordinary rise in inflation, it needs to be recalibrated to ensure that it is consistent with the broader monetary policy normalisation process and to reinforce the transmission of policy rate increases to bank lending conditions.

Accordingly, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will be increased to 2.00%, 2.25% and 1.50% respectively, with effect from 2 November 2022.

Asset purchase programme (APP)

The Governing Council intends to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the APP for an extended period of time past the date when it started raising the key ECB interest rates and, in any case, for as long as necessary to maintain ample liquidity conditions and an appropriate monetary policy stance.

STOCKWINNERS

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Posted on

Kroger in talks to buy Albertsons

Kroger in talks to acquire Albertsons in all-cash deal, CNBC says

Kroger (KR) is in talks to buy Albertsons (ACI) in an all-cash deal that it hopes can be announced as soon as tomorrow morning, CNBC’s David Faber reported on-air, citing his sources. He could not learn of the deal price being discussed, Faber noted. Earlier, Bloomberg also reported earlier that Kroger is in discussions to merge with Albertsons.

Shares of Albertsons (ACI) are up $2.45, or 10%, to $28.12 after both CNBC and Bloomberg said the grocer is in talks to merge with industry peer Kroger (KR), whose shares are down about 1% to $45.53.

Kroger (KR) is in discussions to merger with Albertsons (ACI), Bloomberg’s Michelle Davis reports. According to people familiar with the matter, an agreement could be reached as soon as this week, but caution that no final decisions have been made.

Albertsons Companies, Inc. engages in the operation of food and drug stores in the United States. As of February 26, 2022, it operated 2,276 stores under various banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s, Star Market, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Haggen, Kings Food Markets, and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market; and 1,722 pharmacies, 1,317 in-store branded coffee shops, 402 adjacent fuel centers, 22 distribution centers, and 20 manufacturing facilities.

The Kroger Co. operates as a retailer in the United States. The company operates combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouses. As of January 29, 2022, the company operated 2,726 supermarkets under various banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

STOCKWINNERS

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Posted on

ForgeRock sold for $2.3 billion

ForgeRock to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $23.25 per share in cash

ForgeRock announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $23.25 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.3B.

The offer represents a premium of approximately 53% over ForgeRock’s closing share price on October 10, the last full trading day prior to the transaction announcement, and a premium of approximately 44% over the volume weighted average price of ForgeRock stock for the 30 days ending October 10.

The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the ForgeRock board of directors, is currently expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by ForgeRock’s shareholders and the receipt of required regulatory approvals.

ForgeRock, Inc. operates a digital identity platform to secure, manage, and govern the identities of customers, employees, partners, application programing interfaces (APIs), microservices, devices, and the Internet of things worldwide. It offers identity management products to automate onboarding/registration and progressive profiling, identity lifecycle and relationship management, identity provisioning and synchronization, user self-service, personalization, delegation, and privacy and consent management. 

Upon completion of the transaction, ForgeRock’s common stock will no longer be publicly listed and ForgeRock will become a privately held company.

FORG is up $7.38 to $22.53.

STOCKWINNERS

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Posted on

Ambac shares jump on its legal victory!

Bank of America to pay $1.84B to Ambac Financial to resolve pending lawsuits

In a regulatory filing, Bank of America (BAC) disclosed that the corporation and certain wholly owned subsidiaries entered into an agreement with Ambac Assurance Corporation (AMBC) to resolve all pending Ambac lawsuits against the corporation and its subsidiaries previously disclosed in the corporation’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 2021, and in prior U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reports.

As disclosed in those filings, the pending lawsuits, with damages claims of more than $3B, were brought by Ambac against Countrywide entities and other legacy entities related to bond insurance policies that Ambac provided before the 2008 financial crisis.

Under the terms of the agreement, in exchange for the corporation’s payment of $1.84B to Ambac, Ambac, among other things, will cause all pending litigation between the parties to be dismissed with prejudice, and release the corporation and its subsidiaries from all outstanding claims related to Ambac’s issuance of bond insurance policies for certain of the corporation’s and legacy entities’ securitized pools of residential mortgage loans.

The corporation previously accrued for certain amounts of the settlement payment. As a result of the previous accruals and in consideration of the settlement payment, Bank of America said it expects to incur a pre-tax expense in the third quarter of 2022 of approximately $354M, or 3c per share on an after tax basis.

Ambac had been seeking to recover billions of dollars in claims it paid out on bonds originally underwritten by Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America acquired after the mortgage firm’s collapse during the financial crisis. BofA has already paid more than $50 billion to resolve regulatory probes and litigation stemming from its $4 billion purchase of Countrywide.

A trial was underway before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed and was expected to last months. The eventual final payment from Bank of America will resolve all legal matters, according to the filing.

Ambac shares are up 14% to $14.55.

STOCKWINNERS

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Posted on

Aluminum stocks move on Russian exposure!

LME issues discussion paper on Russian metal

The London Metal Exchange, or LME, has issued a discussion paper on Russian metal, stating in a summary:

“Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, specific sectoral sanctions and related measures against Russia have been introduced; however, there has been no comprehensive government-led action to prevent the widespread use of Russian metal.

In parallel, the LME has been closely monitoring the usage and throughflow of Russian metal on the LME, to ensure that LME warehouses do not see a significant inflow of unwanted Russian stocks, posing a risk of creating a disorderly or unfair market.

Through 2022, the LME’s understanding is that consumers have broadly been willing to take deliveries of Russian metal, which is supported by data as to the flow of Russian stocks both into and out of LME warehouses.

Russian aluminnum looking for a new home

However, as the current negotiation period for 2023 supply agreements progresses, the LME understands that an increasing number of consumers may be expressing an unwillingness to accept Russian metal in 2023.

As a result, and in light of the potentially changing market landscape, the LME now considers it appropriate to gather further data and views.

Alcoa is U.S.’ largest aluminum smelter

This paper considers the role of the LME in this scenario, provides background and data on the subject, and asks for market feedback on possible routes forward.”

Aluminum stocks that have previously moved in reaction (now recovering) to reports that the London Metal Exchange was launching a discussion of a potential ban on new supplies of Russian metal include Alcoa (AA), Century Aluminum (CENX), Kaiser Aluminum (KALU), Constellium (CSTM) and Arconic (ARNC). 

STOCKWINNERS

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Posted on

Musk offers to buy Twitter at original price!

Twitter jumps after Musk offers deal on original terms

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter (TWTR) for the original offer price of $54.20 per share, Jeff Feeley and Ed Hammond of Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Elon Musk

Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, sources told Bloomberg. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) moved well off their highs after Bloomberg reported, and CNBC followed, that its CEO Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter (TWTR) for the original offer price of $54.20 per share. Shares of Twitter are halted at $47.93 pending news while Tesla shares paired their gains to up about 2% to $247.29.

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has offered to close his acquisition of Twitter (TWTR) on the terms he originally agreed to, Cara Lombardo and Dana Cimilluca of WSJ report, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Musk’s lawyers communicated the proposal to Twitter’s lawyers overnight Monday and filed a letter confidentially with the Delaware Chancery Court ahead of an emergency hearing on the matter Tuesday, the person said.

The two sides are discussing how to ensure the deal can be closed, according to Lombardo and Cimilluca. The judge overseeing the case requested they come back to her by the end of the day with a potential plan that would allow the litigation to be dropped, a source told the Journal.

STOCKWINNERS

To read timely stories similar to this, along with money making trade ideas, sign up for a membership to Stockwinners.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

Translate »