2023-10-27 23:56
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Friday it was assessing a claim made by the Lockbit cybercrime gang that it had "a tremendous amount" of sensitive data stolen from the aerospace giant that it would dump online if Boeing didn't pay ransom by Nov. 2. The hacking group posted a countdown clock on its data leak website with a message saying, "Sensitive data was exfiltrated and ready to be published if Boeing do not contact within the deadline!" "For now we will not send lists or samples to protect the company BUT we will not keep it like that until the deadline," the hacking group said. The hacking group typically deploys ransomware on a victim organization's system to lock it up and also steals sensitive data for extortion. "We are assessing this claim,” a Boeing spokeswoman said by email. Lockbit was the most active global ransomware group last year based on the number of victims it claimed on its data leak blog, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The gang, whose eponymous ransomware was first seen on Russian-language-based cybercrime forums in January 2020, has made 1,700 attacks on U.S. organizations since then, CISA said in June. Lockbit did not say how much data it allegedly stole from Boeing, or the amount of ransom demanded. Boeing didn't comment further. The hacking gang also did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent on an address it mentioned on its data leak site. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-assessing-lockbit-hacking-gang-threat-sensitive-data-leak-2023-10-27/
2023-10-27 23:16
Amazon.com says growth in cloud business stabilizing Intel forecast better than expected Q4 revenue, lifts chips Chevron posts slump in third-quarter profit All three major U.S. stock indexes post weekly losses Indexes: Dow down 1.12%, S&P off 0.48%, Nasdaq up 0.38% NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, losing momentum as investors digested a hectic week of mixed earnings, and economic data that seemed to support the "higher for longer" interest rate scenario. The Nasdaq advanced, with tech and tech-adjacent momentum stocks led by Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Apple (AAPL.O) and Meta Platforms (META.O) providing much of the heavy lifting, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost ground. All three indexes notched weekly losses steeper than 2%. The benchmark S&P 500 closed 10.28% below its July 31 closing high. "It's hard to fight the trend in the market, and the trend has been lower," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "Earnings have been fine but they're not providing the kind of catalyst to spark a reversal to the upside." The Commerce Department's hotly anticipated Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report showed inflation gradually cooling down as expected, getting closer to the Federal Reserve's 2% annual target while consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy, posted a robust upside surprise. "The economy would be just fine with inflation around 3%," Mayfield added. "It's that last mile of getting where we are today to the Fed target. It just depends how aggressively (the Fed) want(s) to pursue a hard 2%. That's the big question." The data did little to move the needle regarding market expectations that the Fed will leave its key interest rate unchanged at its November policy meeting. Market participants are nearing the end of a busy earnings week, during which nearly one-third of the companies in the S&P 500 posted third-quarter results. As of Friday, the reporting season had essentially reached the halfway point, with 245 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 78% have delivered consensus-beating earnings. Analysts now expect aggregate annual S&P earnings growth of 4.3%, a sharp improvement over the 1.6% growth seen at the beginning of the month. "Big tech earnings were priced for perfection, and they were mostly just 'good.' That was not enough," Mayfield said. "But the broader picture is good. This could be the building blocks for a rally to year end." Amazon.com jumped 6.8% after the e-commerce giant reported its cloud business growth is stabilizing and predicted a revenue increase over the holiday season. Intel (INTC.O) surged 9.3% following the chipmaker's consensus-beating quarterly report, lifting the whole sector. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index (.SOX) advanced 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 366.71 points, or 1.12%, to 32,417.59, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 19.86 points, or 0.48%, at 4,117.37 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 47.41 points, or 0.38%, at 12,643.01. Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, energy (.SPNY) suffered the steepest percentage drop. Consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) tech (.SPLRCT) and communication services (.SPLRCL) were the only gainers. Chevron (CVX.N) dropped 6.7% after the oil and gas company reported lower third-quarter profit. Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) gave up early gains, falling 1.9% after it posted a 54% year-on-year drop in profit. Ford Motor (F.N) sank 12.2% after it withdrew its full-year forecast due to "uncertainty" over the pending ratification of its deal with the United Auto Workers union, and warned of continued pressure on electric vehicles. Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.69-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.08-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 67 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 10 new highs and 478 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.55 billion shares, compared with the 10.69 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-gain-amazon-intel-boost-key-inflation-data-awaited-2023-10-27/
2023-10-27 20:39
Oct 27 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, rolled out two new subscription plans on Friday, including a Premium+ tier for users willing to pay for an ad-free experience. The Premium+ plan, priced at about $16 per month, includes all the tools and features offered by the platform, minus the ads, the company said in a post on the platform. It will, however, be available for users accessing the platform through a web browser for now, it added. The basic tier is priced at $3 per month but is not ad-free. X is also planning to bundle video and audio calling for some users, in a push to turn the platform into an everything app. Musk has been exploring several options to extensively monetize the social media platform, which he acquired for $44 billion in October 2022. (This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 1) https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musks-x-launches-two-new-premium-subscription-plans-2023-10-27/
2023-10-27 20:36
NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Generative AI will be Amazon's (AMZN.O) secret weapon this holiday season, leveraging data from its more than 160 million Prime subscribers to improve ad targeting and allowing merchants to produce promotions quickly. Apart from fast shipping and the usual discounts for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the company is betting that targeted ads, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), will draw more shoppers and advertisers to its platform. Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy said on a call Thursday with analysts that machine learning is helping the company present more relevant ads to shoppers. "When (advertisers) have to think about budget decisions, they're going to choose (ads) that have large volume and perform better. I think both of those are real advantages in our advertising area right now," Jassy said. This week, the company said it is using generative AI to create better product images for advertisers, a move to direct more eyes to third-party sellers' products. The tool generates background pictures for merchandise based on product details. Amazon is not the first online retailer to deploy AI for advertising, but given its scale, Amazon's use is expected to increase adoption of the strategy. The main benefit of generative AI will be its "ability to show dozens, if not thousands, of variations of your ad personalized to the user," said Swiftly Chief Revenue Officer Andy Friedland, a former ad executive at Amazon. Swiftly is a retail technology platform. He said creating different ads for various audiences can be expensive and expects Amazon's AI tools to save money for advertisers. Brendan Witcher, a principal analyst at Forrester, said that Amazon's generative AI ad tool will be "good for attracting and keeping a segment of third-party sellers and brands advertising on Amazon." Other companies including Ascendly Marketing are using generative AI imaging tools that combine pictures of public figures with products. In a recent AI-generated campaign, deceased singer Elvis Presley is holding products from Ascendly's client, Fast Passports and Visas. Adding such "whimsical imagery" has increased social sharing significantly, Marshal Davis, Ascendly's President said. His clients are seeing a bump in sales and Google click-through rates, a trend that Amazon wants to see for its own generative AI ad tools during the holiday season. Analysts expect Amazon's advertising business to earn $14.2 billion during the holiday quarter, up from $11.56 billion a year earlier, according to LSEG estimates. The AI-image generator could encourage hesitant shoppers to open their wallets if targeted products are more relevant, Friedland said. Amazon's Prime membership, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 annually, creates a "huge advantage" in advertising and better targeting shoppers, which leads to customers making more frequent purchases, Witcher said. "Volume of traffic is a critical component for success in online advertising," he said. Amazon forecasts holiday-quarter revenue in the range of $160 billion and $167 billion, compared to analysts' forecasts of $165.6 billion. Amazon's revenue in the fourth quarter last year was $149.2 billion. Amazon's AI-imaging poses a threat to smaller advertising firms and freelancers who focus on graphic design, Ascendly's Davis said. If widely adopted, Amazon's AI tools could also have another downside: producing ads with similar images for different products, making it harder for sellers to stand out. "This could make it difficult for brands to differentiate themselves," Davis said. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazons-playbook-happy-holidays-discounts-same-day-delivery-ai-2023-10-27/
2023-10-27 19:59
Oct 27 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon will sell some of his shares in the largest U.S. bank next year for the first time in almost 18 years at the helm, the bank said on Friday, sending the stock down more than 3%. Billionaire Dimon will sell the stock for "financial diversification and tax-planning purposes," and "continues to believe the company's prospects are very strong," the bank said in a filing. Dimon and his family intend to sell 1 million of their 8.6 million shares, according to the filing. That is a tiny percentage of the shares outstanding in JPMorgan which has a market capitalization exceeding $409 billion, according to LSEG data. Dimon, one of the most prominent voices in corporate America, steered JPMorgan through the 2008 financial crisis. He was also integral in the rescue of First Republic Bank this year which helped quell turmoil fueled by the collapse of several regional banks. The stock sale "makes perfect sense" given Dimon's wealth is so concentrated in his company's stock, said Octavio Marenzi, chief executive of Opimas, a management consultant focused on capital markets. Still, investors can view such moves as a bad sign. "In his rhetoric, he has become more negative and quite bearish," Marenzi said. "It doesn't look good, but they're massaging the optics as best they can." Dimon warned in October that "this may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades." Still, the bank reported a 35% jump in profits. The 67-year-old bank chief has an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. The sale is not related to leadership succession, a company spokesman said. Dimon has no current plans to sell more stock, but could consider doing so in the future, the spokesman added. In May, the CEO signaled he could depart in 3-1/2 years. Several executives who were viewed as potential successors to run JPMorgan have left to run other companies as Dimon stayed longer than expected. The share sale would fetch nearly $141 million, with a remaining stake of about $1.07 billion, based on Thursday's closing price. It will account for less than 10% of Dimon's holdings, which also include performance shares that have not vested and stock appreciation rights. Shares of JPMorgan slid more than 3%, falling with peers Bank of America (BAC.N), Citigroup (C.N) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N). "Typically, CEOs or insiders selling stock sparks concern, but not in this case, as the bank's balance sheet remains in a strong position," said Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, which holds JPMorgan stock. "We are not concerned on the timing or the motive behind this," Mulberry said, adding Zacks would not sell any shares after the announcement. The move was not seen as an expression of Dimon's view on the stock price, "unless he displays opportunistic selling behavior by, among other things, targeting specific prices," said Ben Silverman, director of research at VerityData, an investment research firm that tracks insider activity. "This is a reminder that the CEO is getting closer to retirement, he has 3.5 years left on his 5-year plan as CEO," Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo said in a note on Friday. Succession plans of Wall Street giants have come into focus after James Gorman announced plans to hand over the reins at Morgan Stanley and Peter Orszag became CEO at Lazard earlier this month. "There is not enough evidence that Dimon is going to stop being the CEO any time soon but this sale highlights discussions around succession considering it is his first sale since being at the helm," said Dave Ellison, a portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds which holds JPMorgan stocks. So far this year, JPMorgan shares have risen 1.4%, outperforming the S&P 500 Banks Index (.SPXBK), which has declined 18%. The news could trigger some short-term weakness in the stock, but "it does not alter our thinking," said Scott Siefers, an analyst at Piper Sandler who has an "overweight" rating on the bank. JPMorgan has a very strong capital, liquidity and risk profile, Siefers wrote in a note. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgan-ceo-dimon-sell-some-his-stake-2024-2023-10-27/
2023-10-27 18:03
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Strikes by members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union including against Detroit's Big Three car manufacturers could subtract at least 29,000 jobs from U.S. nonfarm payrolls in October, government data showed on Friday. The Labor Department's monthly strike report showed 25,300 workers were idle at assembly plants owned by Ford Motor (F.N), General Motors (GM.N) and Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLAM.MI) nationwide during the October payrolls count period. Another 4,000 UAW members were on strike at Mack Trucks plants in Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania during the survey period in mid-October. About 1,100 other UAW members walked off the job at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Michigan during the same period. It is not clear whether these workers who are in the direct life, health and medical insurance carrier industry were part of the broader industrial action by the UAW against the automakers. Striking workers who do not receive a paycheck during the period that the government surveys business establishments for the employment report are treated as unemployed. The UAW launched limited strikes on Sept. 15, which expanded in October. The work stoppages have disrupted supply chains, resulting in the three automakers furloughing and laying off thousands of non-striking workers. The hit from the strike will likely come through a decline in manufacturing employment, where payrolls have been rising moderately. The government will publish its closely watched employment report for October next Friday. According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 172,000 jobs last month. That would be a big step-down from the 336,000 jobs added in September, the most in eight months. Still, job growth would more than exceed the roughly 100,000 positions needed per month to keep up with growth in the working age population, testament of the labor market's resilience despite massive interest rates hikes from the Federal Reserve to cool demand in the economy. Ford and the UAW reached a tentative deal this week. General Motors and the UAW were in intensive discussions on Friday to reach an agreement. Talks with Stellantis were scheduled to resume soon. (This story has been refiled to add the word 'including' in paragraph 1) https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/auto-strikes-reduce-us-payrolls-count-october-government-report-2023-10-27/
