2023-11-01 20:08

SAO PAULO, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Latin America's e-commerce behemoth MercadoLibre (MELI.O) reported on Wednesday a better-than-expected 178.2% surge in third-quarter net profit, compared with the previous year, after revenue grew across markets, especially in Brazil. The company posted a profit of $359.0 million for the July-September period, while analysts polled by LSEG expected $298.1 million. "We had another super solid quarter," Andre Chaves, senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, told journalists, highlighting the acceleration of revenue growth in e-commerce and the firm's fintech arm in its major markets. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 108.7% to $820 million. Its operating margin stood at 18.2% in the period, compared to 16.3% in the second quarter and 11% a year earlier. Total net revenue was around $3.8 billion in the quarter ended in September, up 39.8% year-on-year. Analysts had expected adjusted EBITDA of $636.5 million and revenue of $3.6 billion. Margin growth was driven by the marketplace, said Chaves, attributing the movement to the increase in revenue and efficiency gains in logistics and expenses. "All cost lines are growing, but the business is growing much faster and costs are growing in a disciplined manner." Within the e-commerce operation, net revenue rose to $2.1 billion, up 45.2%. "Brazil was the star of the quarter," said Chaves. The country's share of marketplace revenues rose from around 53% to almost 57% from the year-ago period, but revenue from Mexico and Argentina also grew. In its financial services arm, Mercado Pago, net revenue grew 33.2% to $1.6 billion, as the company increased the pace of lending, while its total volume of payments processed also jumped. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/mercadolibres-third-quarter-profit-soars-past-expectations-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 19:29

NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The founder and two top executives at SafeMoon, whose namesake crypto token was once valued at more than $8 billion, have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with running a fraud that diverted tens of millions of investor dollars so they could buy luxuries and line their pockets. An indictment unsealed on Wednesday in Brooklyn charged founder Kyle Nagy, 35; Chief Executive Braden John Karony, 27; and former Chief Technology Officer Thomas Smith, 35, with three criminal counts each of conspiring to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed related civil charges against the defendants, and over the Provo, Utah-based company's alleged unregistered sale of the SafeMoon token. Lawyers for SafeMoon and the individual defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Created in March 2021 with the minting of 1 quadrillion tokens, SafeMoon allegedly lied by promising investors that their money was "locked" safely in pools to help bolster the token's liquidity, and could not be withdrawn by anyone. According to court papers, SafeMoon also promised investors that the token's features would "drive the price to stratospheric all-time highs" and "Safely to the Moon." That didn't happen, investigators said, as investors suffered significant losses after learning that the pool was not locked, while the defendants withdrew money to buy McLaren and Porsche sports cars, expensive travel and luxury homes. "Insatiable greed," Ivan Arvelo, agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New York, said in a statement. The indictment quotes Smith as once telling an unnamed co-conspirator, as they discussed buying luxury vehicles following Smith's sale of tokens traceable to the liquidity pool, "BRO WE DID IT." SafeMoon was valued at about $50 million on Wednesday afternoon, losing more than half its value after the charges were announced, according to CoinMarketCap. Karony was arrested in Provo, and Smith was arrested in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Nagy is at large. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said speculative excesses in cryptocurrency undermine investor trust in U.S. capital markets. https://www.reuters.com/legal/safemoon-executives-charged-us-with-fraud-related-crypto-token-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 18:11

BEIJING, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Hazy weather hung over Beijing on Wednesday with conditions in other parts of north China possibly worsening, forecasters said, although cold air sweeping in from the northwest is expected to help dissipate the smog. Experts attributed the haze in Beijing, which has lasted for several days, to poor atmospheric diffusion because of unseasonably weak cold air currents from the north. Visibility in most parts of Beijing dropped to less than 500 metres (546 yards), the China Meteorological Administration said. "I didn't expect the smog to be so bad these days. The masks I've brought are almost used up," said a 24-year-old Beijing tourist surnamed Gao. In some places, heavy winter fog was adding to the murky conditions and visibility was less than 50 metres in parts of Hebei province and Tianjin city. Moderate to heavy air pollution was expected in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and surrounding cities until Thursday, with short bouts of severe conditions, the environment ministry said after a meeting of its agencies. While the north of the region will improve in the first half of this month, pollution may persist in southern areas, it said. "The overall environment is getting better these years but in recent days the smog has come back. We're not sure what's exactly causing it," said an 82-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Liu. Temperatures were unusually similar to early summer, with some places recording 10 degrees Celsius above normal and likely to persist until Thursday, forecasters said, adding that records are likely to be broken in big cities such as Jinan, Zhengzhou and Shijiazhuang. Beijing's observatory in the last ten days of October recorded an average temperature for 3.4 degree Celsius higher than normal, breaking records for the same period since 1961, local media said. The average temperature for the month was second highest in 62 years, after 2006's record. But from Thursday night, cold air is expected to push temperatures lower, possibly to new lows. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/haze-lingers-beijing-fog-blankets-parts-north-china-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 17:46

BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France, Nov 1 (Reuters) - France's weather service put some northern and western regions, including Brittany, under high alert and authorities urged people to stay indoors, saying storm Ciaran was set to hit overnight with heavy rain and winds of up to 170 kph. "To all those concerned, be careful ... and avoid moving around overnight," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-told-stay-indoors-storm-ciaran-nears-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 16:10

NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Options traders betting that Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting and highly anticipated macroeconomic events later this week could cause gyrations in markets may be rewarded, if recent trends hold. Data from Susquehanna Financial Group showed that using options to bet on volatility around key macroeconomic news events has started paying off in recent weeks, after a months-long period of muted moves. In nine out of 10 instances, stock market moves after events such as Fed meetings and key data releases in the period from early June to mid-September fell short of the volatility priced in the options market, Susquehanna's analysis showed. That trend changed with the September Fed meeting and September jobs report, published in early October, which produced larger-than-expected reactions in the stock market, Susquehanna data showed. The firm’s analysis focused on investors buying straddles on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY.P) - a bet on volatility that involves the simultaneous purchase of call and put options with the same expiration. "While owning that volatility more lately has by no means been a home run, at least the streak of underperforming event moves has come to an end, with a few of the most recent moves actually outpacing the straddle," Christopher Jacobson, a strategist at Susquehanna Financial Group, said in a note on Wednesday. "Against that backdrop, we believe the setup for owning that macro volatility into this week's remaining events has become more attractive," he said. SPY options are pricing a 1.4% move for the ETF's shares between now and the close of trading on Friday, with traders on watch for some major catalysts that could potentially move markets including Wednesday's Fed policy decision, Apple's (AAPL.O) quarterly results on Thursday and a nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday. Recent weeks have seen volatility rise in broader markets, with the Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX), known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, hitting its highest level since March amid geopolitical worries and a surge in U.S. Treasury yields that has weighed on stocks. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/stock-options-bets-volatility-around-macro-events-are-finally-paying-off-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 15:42

LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - PayPal has been registered to offer cryptoasset activities in Britain, the Financial Conduct Authority said on its website, as the global payments giant builds a post-Brexit base in Britain. While the crypto market in Britain awaits its first set of rules, companies that want to offer cryptoassets must show the FCA that they have sufficient safeguards against them being used for laundering money or financing terrorism. The regulator has also brought in tougher safeguards on marketing cryptoassets, which have snarled rivals like Binance. PayPal, which first launched crypto buying and selling in 2021, said in August that it was temporarily pausing the ability of UK customers to buy cryptoassets from Oct. 1, and that it expected to restart in early 2024. PayPal said on Wednesday that the FCA has approved the company as an authorised electronic money institution and consumer credit firm, as well as its registration as a cryptoasset business, although the pause in UK crypto services would continue as previously announced. The approvals mean that from Nov. 1 PayPal's UK customers will be transferred to a new entity based in Britain from PayPal Europe, which had hitherto served UK customers, reflecting Britain's departure from the European Union. "PayPal continues to offer our customers the same products and services in the United Kingdom," it said. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/payments-giant-paypal-obtains-crypto-marketing-green-light-britain-2023-11-01/