Day: December 30, 2023

© Reuters

Investing.com — U.S. stock futures edged higher Friday, looking set to end a strong year on a positive note.

By 06:35 ET (11:35 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 38 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 6 points, or 0.1%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 28 points, or 0.2%.

The three main indices have benefited from an impressive late rally, boosted by the Federal Reserve signaling that its prolonged rate-hiking cycle is at an end and rate cuts were likely in 2024.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 are poised to end 2023 over 13% and 24% higher, respectively, with the latter less than 0.5% off its highest closing level, which was set in January 2022. The Nasdaq Composite is on course to record a gain of over 44%, which would be its biggest annual increase since 2003.

Next week’s payrolls loom large

Investors are widely expecting the Fed to cut interest rates in the first quarter of 2024 as inflation has eased and economic growth has cooled. That said, the economy has shown little evidence that months of tighter monetary policy will result in a severe downturn, raising hope for the so-called ‘soft landing’.    

Key to whether this mindset will continue will be the health of the U.S. jobs market into the new year.

Data released on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 218,000. 

Focus now turns to next week’s December nonfarm payrolls report, with the U.S. economy expected to have added 158,000 jobs in December versus 199,000 in November. 

Nvidia launches new gaming chip 

In the corporate sector, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock edged higher in premarket trading after the U.S. chipmaker launched a new version of a gaming chip designed to comply with U.S. export controls targeting China.

Boeing (NYSE:BA) also rose after the U.S. plane manufacturer confirmed that all of its 737 MAX jets operated by Chinese carriers are now back in service, following the global grounding in 2019.

Oil prices set for hefty annual fall 

Oil prices edged higher Friday, rebounding after the previous session’s sharp losses, but were set to end the year near the lowest levels since 2020 when the pandemic sent prices spiralling lower.

By 06:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $72.06 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.6% to $77.58 per barrel. 

Prices dropped around 3% on Thursday as major shipping firms began returning to the Red Sea, easing concerns about supply disruptions through this key region.

Helping the prices recover was the U.S. Energy Information Administration reporting a much larger-than-expected draw in crude inventories, with stockpiles dropping by 7.1 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 22.

That said, the crude benchmarks are on course to end the year around 10% lower as production cuts by a number of major producers have proved insufficient to prop up prices, with the slowing global economy and a series of aggressive interest rate hikes to combat soaring inflation weighing.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.2% to $2,076.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1074.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, leaves the Manhattan federal court in New York City, U.S. March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors said they do not plan to conduct a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

In a letter filed on Friday night in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said the “strong public interest” in a prompt resolution of their case against the 31-year-old former billionaire outweighed the benefits of a second trial.

Prosecutors said that interest “weighs particularly heavily here,” given that Bankman-Fried’s scheduled March 28, 2024, sentencing will likely include orders of forfeiture and restitution for victims of his crimes.

Jurors on Nov. 2 convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven fraud and conspiracy counts he faced. Prosecutors had accused him of looting $8 billion from FTX customers out of sheer greed.

Lawyers for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

Bankman-Fried had faced six additional charges that had been severed from his first trial, including campaign finance violations, conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

He had been extradited in December 2022 from the Bahamas, where FTX was based, to face the seven earlier charges.

The Bahamas has yet to grant its consent for a trial on the remaining charges, however, leaving the timetable uncertain, prosecutors said.

Bankman-Fried’s verdict came nearly one year after FTX filed for bankruptcy, erasing his once-$26 billion personal fortune in one of the fastest collapses of a major participant in U.S. financial markets.

Bankman-Fried could face decades in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said much of the evidence that could be offered at a second trial was already presented at the first trial.

They also said a second trial would not affect how much time Bankman-Fried could face in prison under recommended federal guidelines, because Kaplan could consider all of Bankman-Fried’s conduct when sentencing him for the counts on which he was convicted.

Bankman-Fried is expected to appeal his conviction.

He testified at trial that he made mistakes running FTX, including by not creating a team to oversee risk management, but did not steal customer funds.

Bankman-Fried also said he thought the borrowing of money from FTX by his crypto-focused hedge fund Alameda Research was permissible, and that he did not realize how precarious their finances had become until shortly before both collapsed.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate has been jailed since August, when Kaplan revoked his bail after concluding that Bankman-Fried had likely tampered with prospective trial witnesses.

The case is U.S. v. Bankman-Fried, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-cr-00673.

© Reuters. Midday movers: Tesla, Coinbase, Fisker, and more

Investing.com – Main U.S. indexes declined on the final trading day of 2023, pulling back from recent highs. Megacap tech ended the year on a sour note but was among the best performing groups overall this year.

Here are some of the biggest U.S. stock movers today:

Fisker (NYSE:FSR) stock climbed 18% after it announced a plan to accelerate sales and deliveries. Fisker also revealed plans to expand the number of test-drive events held in both the U.S. and Europe.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) declined after Nomura/Instinet analysts downgraded the stock to ‘reduce’ from ‘neutral’ with a price target of $13, citing difficult fundamentals.

Uber (NYSE:UBER) declined after Nomura/Instinet analysts downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ with a price target of $62, citing valuation and lack of catalysts.

Jabil (JBL) stock fell 1% after it lowered its forecast for the second quarter.

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) shares gave up recent gains, declining 7% as the price of Bitcoin edged lower. Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) stock declined 12%, Microstrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) declined 5.5% and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) declined 11%.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock declined 2.1%, falling for the second day in a row ahead of the release of production and delivery numbers next week. It was the worst performing Mag 7 stock, followed by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), down 1.4%.

Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST) declined 9% as investors sold high volatility stocks given the risk-off mood.