SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) --By 2.08pm Shanghai time on March 8, it was clear that Xiang Guangda's giant bet on a fall in nickel prices was going spectacularly wrong.Futures had just skyrocketed above US$100,000 a ton and his trade was more than US$10 billion underwater. It was threatening not only to bankrupt Mr Xiang's company, but to trigger a Lehman Brothers-like shock through the entire metals industry and possibly topple the London Metal Exchange (LME) itself.But Mr Xiang was calm. Within hours, more than 50 bankers had arrived at his office wanting to hear how he planned to respond to the crisis. He told them simply: "I'm confident that we will overcome this."And he did.

Investing is as much about avoiding costly mistakes as it is about finding winning stocks. In a market like this one, pummeled by sky-high inflation, interest rate concerns, and recession fears, staying away from stocks that are unlikely to produce decent returns in the long run is particularly important.There are bad stocks, and then there are Beyond Meat, Peloton, and Coinbase. All three companies are struggling with plunging demand, losing heaps of money, and dependent on fads or frenzies. It's best to keep your distance.Beyond MeatAs inflation puts pressure on consumers, fake meat products have been tossed out of the grocery cart. Overall sales of refrigerated plant-based meat products in the U.S. are contracting at a double-digit rate as people become unwilling to pay a hefty premium.

One of the main pillars of the bearish thesis on Apple stock is the rich valuation. But compared to the peer group, maybe AAPL is not so pricey after all.Apple stock is considered a buy by the majority of analysts that cover the name. According to TipRanks, more than 80% of Wall Street experts think that owning shares is a good idea, while only one analyst has a sell rating on the stock.Among skeptics, one of the main arguments against owning AAPL is the elevated P/E ratio. But a closer look at the peer comparison suggests that Apple stock may be more affordable than many seem to believe.Figure 1: Is Apple Stock Overvalued? What The Peer Comparison SaysApple’s valuations: fair, too rich, or a bargain?The following graph probably explains why so many value investors are cautious about Apple

ShopifyThere was a time when the shares of companies announcing layoffs would move higher, as the market would be relieved to see the top brass take action to get costs under control. Things didn't play out that way when Shopify announced that it would be cutting 10% of its staff late last month, as the stock took a 14% hit that day alone.Shopify has proven mortal. The stock is now trading 80% below the all-time high it hit just nine months ago. The company's initial pandemic projections that years of heady growth were coming had it invest aggressively in building out its offerings. The deceleration has been rough. Revenue rose a mere 16% in its latest report, well short of analyst expectations. Gross merchandise volume rose a mere 11%.Business has slowed, and that makes the stock's valuat

Nvidia reported horrible Q2 numbers and provided disappointing guidance for the next quarter.However, with cryptocurrency mining GPU demand in deep decline, Nvidia's problems could last longer than a few quarters.Nvidia's valuation is still high, and earnings estimates should see more downward revisions.I'm comfortable about revisiting this stock in the $100-120 range, but for now, Nvidia is a sell.NVIDIA Corporation's (NASDAQ:NVDA) market cap reached an absurd high of more than $800 billion during the tech-top in November 2021. During this bubble phase, Nvidia's stock hit an all-time high of around $350, trading at more than 100 times TTM non-GAAP EPS (approximately 40 times TTM sales). Then, the Fed pricked the ultra-high multiple bubble, and many stocks, including Nvidia, crashed.I warn

Tesla shareholders voted in favor of a 3-for-1 stock split at the company's annual meeting on Aug. 4.Shareholders will see more shares of Tesla stock in their account after the stock split takes place on Aug. 24.The shares will trade at a split-adjusted price on Aug. 25.Tesla is moving forward with its second stock split on Aug. 24. Shareholders approved the 3-for-1 stock split at the company's annual meeting this month.If you're confused about stock splits, below is a breakdown of how they work, so you can set your expectations.Image source: Getty Images.Stock splits are taking over headlines in 2022Large tech companies have been dominating stock-split news this year. Amazon pursued its first stock split since the dot-com boom, completing a 20-for-1 stock split on June 3. E-commerce giant

By Isabel WangA stock market rally that followed a healthy gain in U.S. employment in August gave way to losses on Friday with the three major indexes closing at their lowest levels since late July, as Wall Street assessed one of the last major economic reports the Federal Reserve will see before it raises its benchmark interest rate at its upcoming September meeting.U.S. stocks recorded a loss for the third week in a row on Friday after Russia's Gazprom said it will hold off on reopening the Nord Stream pipeline to Europe The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ finished 337.98 points lower, or 1.1%, to 31,318.44, after rising as much as 370 points at its session high. The $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ slipped 154.26, or 1.3%, to end at 11,630.86, recording its longest losing stre

Major technology stocks such as Apple and Alphabet extended losses Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would stick with its plan to raise interest rates to fight inflation.Growth stocks are particularly vulnerable to higher interest rates. Growth companies, such as the U.S. tech giants, generate most of their cash flow far in the future. Higher interest rates mean future cash isn’t as valuable as it was when rates were lower.The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.9% on Monday. The index declined 3.9% on Friday, its worst day since June.Apple was down 2% on Monday after tumbling 3.8% on Friday after Powell, in a short speech Friday at the Jackson Hole economic conference, said the Fed would remain aggressive in raising interest rates until it return

Three months ago, Do Kwon was a multi-billionaire on paper. He had a million followers on Twitter. And he commanded a sprawling crypto empire nearing $100 billion in value, which had seemed to explode from obscurity to ubiquity overnight.If there were a Mt. Rushmore of crypto, Kwon’s face would have been half-chiseled into stone by May of this year. And one of those faces would have been an anonymous slab in a hoodie, so that’s saying something. His algorithmic stablecoin “UST,” created by his company Terraform Labs (TFL), had crypto’s most coveted investors lining up to give him their money.The Terra ecosystem’s astronomical growth was unprecedented. If it survived the crucible of early adoption, it was poised to become the backbone of the entire decentralized economy — “crypto’s reserve

. SpotifyAfter years of decline, music industry revenue has surged to its highest level in more than 20 years. The reason? Music streaming companies like Spotify.While physical and digital music sales have continued to wane, audio streaming has exploded over the last seven years and now accounts for over $15 billion of music industry revenue. Moreover, Spotify isn't satisfied with just delivering great music to its users. The company has invested in podcasts and audiobooks, landing exclusive deals with celebrities as varied as Joe Rogan and Meghan Markle.Operationally, the company is firing on all cylinders. In its most recent quarterly report, Spotify announced a 19% year-over-year increase in daily average users (DAUs) to 433 million and a 14% jump in paid subscribers to 188 million. The

These stocks should weather the storm if rates continue rising.Albemarle(ALB): Raised its 2022 guidance for the third time, driven by significant pricing increases from renegotiated lithium contracts.Bank of America (BAC): Q2 net interest income jumped 22% year-over-year to $12.4 billion.Charles Schwab (SCHW): Added 1 million new accounts during the second quarter.CME(CME): The derivatives exchange is expected to benefit from rising interest rates due to increased hedging against market volatility.Equinix(EQIX): The data center REIT reported record bookings, fueled by strong capacity demand.Marathon Petroleum (MPC): Operating income from the Refining & Marketing segment skyrocketed to $7.1 billion.T-Mobile (TMUS): Postpaid subscriber additions in Q2 surpassed the combined subscriber ad

Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher Thursday as an upbeat sales forecast from Cisco Systems helped to lift the technology sector, while data showed the economy remained relatively strong.Investors were still assessing Wednesday's minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting, which they initially saw as supporting a less aggressive stance by the central bank.But the minutes did not clearly hint at the pace of rate increases and showed policymakers committed to raising rates to tame inflation."We're at a point where people are trying to make a judgment about whether the inevitable higher interest rates are going to choke off the upside of the market," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey."There are really two camps - one who feels the worst is be

Data shows strong jobs growth, uptick in jobless rate Starbucks, DoorDash jump on upbeat results U.S-listed China firms rise on reopening hopes Dow up 1.26%, S&P 500 up 1.36%, Nasdaq up 1.28% U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday in volatile trade to snap a four-session losing streak as investors wrestled with a mixed jobs report and comments from Federal Reserve officials on the pace of interest rate hikes. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each rose as much as 2% in the early stages of trading while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed as much as 1.9% on the heels of the closely watched labor market report, before paring gains and briefly falling into negative territory. The report showed an uptick in the unemployment rate in October, indicating some signs of slack may finally be star

With US stock futures trading higher this morning on Thursday, some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are as follows:Wall Street expects Accenture plc to report quarterly earnings at $2.57 per share on revenue of $15.39 billion before the opening bell. Accenture shares fell 1.7% to $260.93 in after-hours trading.KB Home reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter. The company also said it sees Q4 housing revenue of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion. KB Home shares fell 0.1% to $28.00 in the pre-market trading session.Analysts expect FedEx Corporation to post quarterly earnings at $3.35 per share on revenue of $24.01 billion after the closing bell. FedEx shares gained 0.4% to $153.89 in pre-market trading.Lennar Corporation reported upbeat earnings for its third

Buying while others are fearful, these five Warren Buffett stocks have become larger holdings in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio.Ally Financial : Buffett's firm increased its position in this financial services firm by 234% last quarter.Apple : Shares in the big tech company fit well into Buffett's "wonderful business at a fair price" criteria.Activision Blizzard : This typically "buy and hold" style investor could reap a fast profit from this merger arbitrage position.Occidental Petroleum : Recently getting the go-ahead to buy up to 50% of the energy company, the investing legend likely sees more upside.Paramount Global (PARA): There's a lot pointing to Buffett's contrarian wager on the media company ultimately paying off.With the latest updates to Berkshire Hathaway’s list of equity hol

Has the US market really bottomed ?When it comes to the US market, there have been a lot of mixed signals between what is mentioned by Wall Street and the Stock market behaviour over this and last week especially. Overlay this with all the results that are coming out, one would have thought that the natural reaction in the market would be to fall. Lo and behold, the market overall is still on an uptrend.How should we as retail investors make sense of the situation ? Lets take stock.1. CPI (July) stands at 8.5%, down from June 9.1% historic high in 40 years.2. PPI (July) stands at 139.81; slight dipped when compared to June's value.3. US GDP estimated to be 2.5%.4. Employment rate (July) stands at 60%.5. Unemployment rate (July) stands at 3.5%.From the above statistics (assuming actuals) it

The Federal Reserve raised rates this week, by another 0.75%, toughening up its anti-inflationary stance. At the same time, Fed chair Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank may slow its pace on rate hikes, which gives some hope for a ‘soft landing,’ that may curb inflation while avoiding a deep recession. Markets rallied strongly in response to the Fed news.The rally has made its way to cryptos, too, which have been tracking US stocks closely this summer. In particular, the largest crypto, Bitcoin, is up 21% this month.Nexo crypto wallet co-founder Antoni Trenchev sees these developments as net gains, and predicts further near-term rally in BTC in his comments on the Fed meeting: “The conclusion of Wednesday’s Fed meeting opens up a summer window for a Bitcoin relief rally, given we

The energy industry had some of the hottest stocks on the market over the past two years, but with fears of a recession potentially dampening demand for oil and gas, the S&P 500 Energy index is down 25% since its peak last month.The cost of a barrel of oil is down to around $100 per barrel, and gasoline at the pumps has broken from its record high last month of $5 a gallon. But upstream, midstream, and downstream energy stocks are still taking a beating.That makes it a critical time to consider where you've been putting your money to work and whether you should be investing in dividend stocks to protect your downside. History shows income-generating stocks outperform non-dividend stocks even in the worst of times, so if we're heading into a new period of market turbulence, it may be th

U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday after weak results from retailer Target rekindled fears about the health of U.S. consumers, while growth stocks came under renewed pressure as bond yields climbed.Market SnapshotAt 07:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 212 points, or 0.62%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 35.75 points, or 0.83%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 133.5 points, or 0.98%.Pre-Market MoversLowe’s(LOW) – Lowe’s rose 1% in the premarket after it reported quarterly earnings of $4.67 per share, 9 cents above estimates. The home improvement retailer saw both revenue and comparable store sales come in below analyst forecasts but predicted full-year earnings would come in at the top end of its guidance range.Target(TGT) – Target fell 3.3% in premarket trading after the retailer r

Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale initiated coverage of Palantir Technologies with a Strong Buy rating and $20 price target.The company's software platform unifies, manages, and secures data across the enterprise, supporting low code/no code environment that connects business functions to operators, Gesuale tells investors in a research note. After falling 75% from its early 2021 peak, the stock's risk/reward is "compelling" for a software business with a 30% growth rate, gross margin structure in the 80% range with escalating contribution margins, and a balanced commercial and government customer mix, says the analyst. Gesuale says Palantir has a $120B total addressable market, equally split between commercial and government markets.