Monday Morning Rebel Brief: 6 Quick Stories

Goldman Warns Of Recession

Goldman Sachs ($GS) Senior Chairman Lloyd Blankfein was interviewed on Face the Nation Sunday regarding his outlook for the US economy. He gave a bearish prediction: a “very, very high risk” of recession. This comes as the bank lowers its outlook for 2022 US GDP from 2.6% to 2.4%.

Saudi Aramco (The Most Valuable Company In The World) Crushes Earnings

After reporting that its net profit had grown 80% this quarter, Saudi Aramco secured its lead over Apple as the world’s most valuable company. Net income rose 82% year-over-year. With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of letting up, this trend could continue for a long time to come.

Musk’s Twitter Saga Continues: 90% of Accounts are Bots?

On Friday, Elon Musk accused Twitter of misreporting the percentage of their user base that accounts for bots and spam accounts. The percentage was reported by the social media company as “less than 5%”. On Saturday, Musk asserted that Twitter’s legal team claimed he broke an NDA by disclosing the sample size that Twitter uses to analyze their user base. On Sunday, the billionaire said “There is some chance it might be over 90% of daily active users.”, in reference to what percentage of the social media site is bot accounts.

McDonald’s McFalls After Cutting Ties With Russia

McDonalds stock ($MCD) fell by more than a percent in early trading after releasing news that it had begun selling its Russian restaurants to a local buyer. The process will cost the company between $1.2-$1.4 billion — which will significantly dampen next quarters earnings.

JetBlue Launches a Tender Offer for Spirit Airlines

JetBlue ($JBLU) decided to skip the line, going directly to shareholders with an offer of $30/share for the low-cost airline ($SAVE). Spirit stock is currently up 12% on the news, though it’s still trading about $11 lower than JetBlue’s $30 tender offer. The Spirit board does not recommend that shareholders accept the deal. 

No More Wheat From India

Wheat ETFs ($WEAT) are soaring alongside the cost of the commodity. After cutting its wheat harvest forecast, India’s government decided to ban exports of wheat to all countries whose food security is not endangered. Wheat prices were already up dramatically this year, partly due to the war in Ukraine, and this export ban is not going to help the situation. $WEAT is currently up 3.74% on the day, and 66.09% YTD.