US FINANCIAL MARKET

Stocks Fall, Oil Again Tops $100 Amid Sanctions – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2022

• U.S. stock indexes fell and bond yields slipped, while oil prices rose to multiyear highs, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to whipsaw through markets.
• The S&P 500 fell 0.7% early Tuesday.
• The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.5%.
• Stocks tied to Russia’s economy were hardest hit, with Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank, which has big operations in Ukraine and Russia, down 6.9%.
• Polymetal International, a London-listed firm with gold mines in Russia, was down 21%.
• Arms makers were among the best performers.
• In the U.S., the war has further soured investors’ sentiment on markets. Though only 1% of revenues among S&P 500 companies stems from Russia and Ukraine, according to FactSet, investors are still worried about ripple effects on the global economy.
• The geopolitical crisis came when market sentiment was already fragile.
• Economies are facing the highest inflation in several decades, heaping pressure central banks to raise interest rates.
• Oil prices rallied, rising back above $100 a barrel, to their highest level since 2014.
• Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose over 5% to $103.11 a barrel.
• Benchmark European natural-gas prices jumped over 16%.
• Members of the International Energy Agency could agree as early as Tuesday to release supplies from oil reserves in an effort to keep a lid on rising crude prices.
• Energy companies’ stocks gained alongside oil prices, with Occidental Petroleum rising 5.3% and Chevron adding 3.6%. Meanwhile, Target’s shares jumped 11% after it reported strong sales during the holiday period.
• On Tuesday, the Russian ruble regained 3.2% of its value against the dollar, after falling almost 30% Monday. Market-data services have shown limited price updates this week, suggesting few transactions are taking place. The Russian stock market remained closed, after plummeting last week.
• In Europe, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.7%. The London Stock Exchange suspended trading in shares of Russia’s VTB Bank after it said Bank of New York Mellon had resigned as the depositary for the company.
• JPMorgan Chase also halted trading of two funds because of the crisis in Ukraine.
• In Asia Pacific, stock markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.2%.

Zoom’s Sales Growth Slows as Retreat From Pandemic High Continues – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2022

• Zoom Video Communications sales growth faltered in the fourth quarter, signaling that demand for the company’s videoconferencing application is no longer as entrenched in daily life as more conditions from the Covid-19 pandemic begin to recede.
• The San Jose, Calif.-based company said its sales rose to $1.07 billion for the three months ended Jan. 31, compared with $882.5 million a year earlier.
• Analysts were expecting $1.05 billion in sales for the quarter.
• At 21%, the year-over-year sales gain is the company’s slowest on record, according to data from FactSet.
• In the October quarter, sales increased by roughly 35% year-over-year.
• The company said it had 2,725 customers contributing more than $100,000 over the prior 12 months, a 66% increase from the year-ago period.
• Zoom said it had approximately 509,800 customers with more than 10 employees, up about 9% from the prior-year quarter.
• Zoom posted $490.5 million in net income attributable to common stockholders for the fiscal fourth quarter, up from $260.4 million in the year-ago period.
• Adjusted earnings of $1.29 a share were ahead of analysts’ expectations of $1.07.
• Zoom forecast total revenue between $1.07 billion and $1.08 billion in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year, below analysts’ expectations of $1.1 billion. The high-end of its guidance would mean sales growth of roughly 12%.
• For the year, the company said it expects revenue to range from $4.53 billion to $4.55 billion, up about 11% for its recently completed fiscal 2022.

Sea Pledges E-Commerce Growth While Gaming Arm Faces Decline – Bloomberg, 3/1/2022

• Sea Ltd. said it expects e-commerce revenue growth to continue unabated as it expands in Latin America, trying to reassure investors after losing half its market value in a matter of months.
• The Singapore-based company expects e-commerce sales, its main source of revenue, to rise to $8.9 billion to $9.1 billion in 2022 from $5.1 billion in 2021, according to its statement on Tuesday.
• Bookings at Sea’s other major business, the gaming division which is facing headwinds in India, are set to decline for the first time ever.
• Total revenue in the fourth quarter more than doubled to $3.2 billion.
• Net loss widened to $617.6 million from $523.6 million as Sea spent more to gain market share in new geographies.
• Sea forecast $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion in bookings at its digital gaming arm, saying online activity will moderate as economies reopen after the pandemic. That compares with last year’s bookings of $4.6 billion.
• For the first time, Sea gave a revenue forecast for financial-services arm SeaMoney, projecting $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion for this year.
• Fourth-quarter revenue from Shopee, Sea’s e-commerce unit, rose 89% to $1.6 billion.
• Revenue from Garena, Sea’s digital entertainment unit, doubled to $1.4 billion.
• Total payment volume for Sea’s mobile wallet rose 70% to $5 billion.
• Sales and marketing expenses climbed 83% to $1.2 billion.

Target Profit Rises as Annual Revenue Crosses $100 Billion – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2022

• Target reported strong sales gains in the holiday quarter, capping off a two-year pandemic run during which the retailer grew its business by nearly $30 billion in revenue.
• For the full year, Target’s revenue hit $106 billion, compared with $77.1 billion for the year ended Feb. 1, 2020, before the pandemic upended the global economy and consumer buying patterns.
• Comparable sales, which include sales from stores or digital channels operating for at least 12 months, rose 8.9% in the quarter ended Jan. 29 from a year prior, the company said.
• Digital sales increased 9.2%.
• Overall profit rose nearly 12% to $1.54 billion, or $3.21 a share, in the quarter compared with the same period last year.
• Strong revenue growth helped offset higher supply-chain costs and spending on wages.

EV start-up Lucid slashes 2022 vehicle production forecast, causing shares to plummet – CNBC, 2/28/2022

• Lucid Group is cutting its car production forecast for this year by as much as 40%, sending shares of the electric vehicle start-up tumbling 14% during after hours trading.
• The company on Monday cited supply chain constraints and parts quality issues for slashing production to between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles, down from initial expectations of 20,000.
• Lucid announced the production forecast and sales as part of reporting its fourth-quarter results.
• The automaker, which went public via a SPAC deal in July, reported a loss of $1 billion during the fourth quarter on revenue of $26.4 million. It lost $4.8 billion in 2021, the company reported.
• Lucid said customer reservations now exceed 25,000 units, reflecting potential sales of more than $2.4 billion.
• That’s up from 20,000 units in November.

Kohl’s issues better-than-expected outlook as margins withstand supply chain strain – CNBC, 3/1/2022

• Kohl’s on Tuesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter sales that came in below analysts’ estimates for the key holiday quarter, but investors lifted shares as the company issued upbeat revenue outlook for 2022 despite ongoing supply chain obstacles that roiled retailers and shrunk inventories.
• Net sales grew to $6.22 billion from $5.88 billion a year earlier. That was light of estimates for $6.54 billion.
• Kohl’s net income for the three-month period ended Jan. 29 fell to $299 million, or $2.20 a share, compared with $343 million, or $2.20 per share, a year earlier.
• Earnings beat analysts’ estimates of $2.12 a share, according to Refinitiv.
• For fiscal 2022, Koh’s is calling for net sales to rise 2% to 3%.
• Analysts had been looking for year-over-year growth of 2.2%, according to Refinitiv.
• For fiscal 2022, on top of its sales targets, Kohl’s sees earnings per share in the range of $7.00 to $7.50, excluding items, compared with analysts’ expectations of $6.55 a share.

Domino’s shares slide as company announces CEO retirement, weak fourth-quarter results – CNBC, 2/28/2022

• Domino’s Pizza on Tuesday announced a C-suite shake-up and quarterly results that missed expectations on most metrics, sending the stock sharply lower.
• Net sales dropped 1% to $1.34 billion, missing expectations of $1.38 billion.
• The company said currency fluctuations, an extra week in 2020 and advertising incentives from promotions contributed to the fourth quarter’s decline in revenue.
• U.S. same-store sales rose just 1% in the quarter, dragged down by weak performance by Domino’s company-owned restaurants.
• Analysts were expecting U.S. same-store sales growth of 2.9%, according to StreetAccount estimates.
• Outside the U.S., the chain’s performance also disappointed.
• International same-store sales rose 1.8% in the quarter, falling short of StreetAccount estimates of 6.6%.
• The pizza chain reported fourth-quarter net income of $155.7 million, or $4.25 per share, up from $151.9 million, or $3.85 per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting earnings per share of $4.28.

HP Raises Annual Profit Outlook, Despite Impact of Russian Sanctions – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2022

• HP raised its annual profit outlook, boosted by strong sales of computers to businesses, but warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would dent its bottom line this quarter.
• The roughly $17 billion in net revenue for the January-ended quarter beat the analyst consensus and reflected sales growth across notebooks and desktops along with a continued recovery in workstations.
• Analysts polled by FactSet expected $16.52 billion.
• Printing revenue fell 4% to $4.83 billion, missing analysts’ $4.91 billion forecast, according to FactSet.
• Commercial PC revenue rose 26% in the latest quarter, the company said, while consumer PC sales declined 1%.
• Peripherals revenue rose 40% in the latest quarter, driven by gaming, the company said.
• HP’s first-quarter profit rose to $1.09 billion, or 99 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, profit rose to $1.10 a share.
• For the quarter, it projected a profit of 95 cents to $1.01 a share, or $1.02 to $1.08 a share as adjusted, roughly in line with analysts’ forecasts, according to FactSet.
• The company estimated a hit of 2 cents to 3 cents to its per-share profit this quarter related to the invasion of Ukraine.

Chevron raises buybacks and says exposure to Russia is limited – Reuters, 3/1/2022

• U.S. oil and gas producer Chevron on Tuesday outlined a plan to raise buybacks and expand oil production through 2026, adding to long-term supply amid a tight market.
• The announcement, part of Chevron’s previously scheduled investor outlook, comes at a time when oil supplies are strained and prices are jumping with countries putting sanctions on oil exporter Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
• Chevron is “relatively less exposed than others in our industry” to the conflict, which played no influence in a decision to raise output by more than 3% per year through 2026, Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth said.
• The second-largest U.S. oil producer plans to pump “well over” 3.5 million barrels of oil and gas per day (boepd) by 2026, Wirth said, up from 3.1 million boepd last year.
• The company now expects to buy back between $5 billion and $10 billion of its shares every year, from $3 billion to $5 billion before. The program would be sustainable for five years with oil prices at $50 per barrel, Wirth said.

IEA Will Deploy Emergency Oil Stocks to Ease Soaring Prices – Bloomberg, 3/1/2022

• The U.S. and other major economies have agreed on a coordinated release of oil stockpiles after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed crude above $100 a barrel, according to people familiar with the matter.
• The International Energy Agency, which represents key industrialized consumers, has agreed to deploy 60 million barrels from stockpiles around the world, the people said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public.
• Half of that amount will come from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with the rest from IEA members in Europe and Asia, one of the people said. That will be the second release from American crude reserves within a few months as soaring fuel costs become a growing political problem for President Joe Biden.
• Crude prices shot above $105 a barrel in London for the first time since 2014 on fears that oil and gas supplies from energy giant Russia could be disrupted, either by the conflict in Ukraine or retaliatory western sanctions.

War in Ukraine Disrupts Ships Around the Globe – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2022

• The world’s biggest container ship operators—A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Mediterranean Shipping Co.—said they would temporarily suspend services to Russian ports, including those far from the conflict in Ukraine.
• The Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing major disruptions for the global shipping industry, with hundreds of vessels trapped at ports, cargo being derailed and freight rates surging.
• On Monday, the U.K. banned entry to all Russian vessels to its ports. Shipping executives and port officials in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany said containerized cargo destined for Russia would be stopped and inspected.
• Ship movements in the Black Sea, a key oil and foodstuff export route whose northern side is shared between Russia and Ukraine, have been frozen. More than 200 vessels are waiting to cross the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, which monitors ship movements.

More supply chain pain as airspace closures hit air cargo – Reuters, 3/1/2022

• Global supply chains, already hit hard by the pandemic, face new disruption and cost pressure as airspace bans following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raise concerns over a fifth of air freight.
• Transport between Europe and north Asian destinations like Japan, South Korea and China is in the front line of disruption after reciprocal bans barred European carriers from flying over Siberia and prevented Russian airlines from flying to Europe.
• Airlines responsible for moving around 20% of the world’s air cargo are affected by those bans, Frederic Horst, managing director of Cargo Facts Consulting, told Reuters on Tuesday.
• In December, air cargo rates were 150% above 2019 levels, according to the International Air Transport Association, spurring inflation that has rocked economies around the world.

Starbucks Threatened to Shutter Stores Over Organizing, Union Claims – Bloomberg, 3/1/2022

• The labor group organizing workers at Starbucks has filed 20 complaints over the past week accusing the company of workers’ rights violations that range from a threat to shut down all stores in the Buffalo, New York, market to discriminatory enforcement of policies.
• The complaints, filed with the Buffalo regional office of the National Labor Relations Board, represent an escalation of the sprawling legal struggle between Starbucks and Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.
• The group claims that the company illegally coerced employees during “effectively mandatory” anti-union meetings, while pro-union employees were barred from the sessions.
• It also accuses Starbucks of enforcing rules on dress codes, language and Covid-19 quarantines in a way that discriminates against union-affiliated workers, and illegally restricting employees from talking to reporters.
• Workers United is organizing staff at more than 100 Starbucks locations.