‘Black Is King’ Co-Director Emmanuel Adjei Signs With LBI Entertainment

EXCLUSIVE: LBI Entertainment has signed award-winning Emmanuel Adjei for management. Adjei most recently co-directed Beyonce’s virtual album Black Is King, along with Beyonce, Ibra Ake and Blitz Bazawule. The special premiered on Disney Plus last month to critical acclaim.

Adjei is a Ghanaian-Dutch filmmaker whose work has traversed the realms of narrative film, music video, commercial and art installation. Adjei’s work interrogates traditional concepts of power, freedom, displacement, and inequality.

His career has been marked by collaborations with a variety of recording artists such as Madonna, Beyoncé, Mark Pritchard, and Mykki Blanco.

His mind-bending short film Shahmaran received widespread critical acclaim upon its release in 2018, numerous awards and nominations at the UK Music Video Awards, D&AD, Young Director Award, Camerimage, Ciclope Awards, Kinsale Shark Awards, Epica Awards, Shots Awards, Creative Circle Awards, and Le Club des Directeurs Artistiques.

In 2019, Adjei’s videos for Madonna’s Dark Ballet and Batuka have been praised for their distinct visual style by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, NME, and Billboard.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. Q2 adjusted earnings Beat Estimates

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) released a profit for second quarter that decreased from the same period last year.

The company’s earnings totaled $86.80 million, or $0.66 per share. This compares with $124.99 million, or $0.96 per share, in last year’s second quarter.

Excluding items, Lululemon Athletica Inc. reported adjusted earnings of $96.30 million or $0.74 per share for the period.

Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.55 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 2.2% to $902.94 million from $883.35 million last year.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. earnings at a glance:

-Analysts Estimate: $0.55
-Revenue (Q2): $902.94 Mln vs. $883.35 Mln last year.

U.S. Consumer Credit Extends Rebound as Auto Sales Increase

U.S. consumer borrowing rose in July for a second month, reflecting an increase in non-revolving credit such as auto loans as the economy reopened more broadly and spending picked up.

Total credit advanced $12.2 billion from the prior month after an upwardly revised $11.4 billion June gain, Federal Reserve figures showed on Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a $13 billion increase.

The bounce back in consumer borrowing is in line with recent increases in retail sales, particularly purchases of motor vehicles. Still, consumer sentiment remains weak, and the expiration of the additional $600 of unemployment benefits could impact spending and borrowing in the coming months.

Revolving, or credit-card debt, declined $293 million, marking the fifth straight decline. Non-revolving debt, which also includes school loans, rose $12.5 billion. Lending by the federal government, which is mainly for student loans, rose just $1.8 billion before seasonal adjustment.

Total consumer credit for the month expanded an annualized 3.6% after growing 3.3% in June. The Fed’s report doesn’t track debt secured by real estate, such as home mortgages.

Treasuries Move Back To The Upside

Following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, treasuries regained some ground during trading on Tuesday.

Bond prices moved to the upside early in the session and remained positive throughout the day. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.7 basis points to 0.684 percent.

The rebound by treasuries came as stocks on Wall Street extended the drop seen in the two previous sessions, increasing the appeal of safe havens such as bonds.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off the results of the Treasury Department’s auction of $50 billion worth of three-year notes, which attracted below average demand.

The three-year note auction drew a high yield of 0.170 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.28, while the ten previous three-year note auctions had an average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.46.

The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold.

The Treasury is due to announce the results of its auction of $35 billion worth of ten-year notes on Wednesday and the results of its auction of $23 billion worth of thirty-year bonds on Thursday.

Crude Oil Futures Settle At Near 3-month Low

Crude oil futures settled at near 3-month lows on Tuesday as prices fell sharply amid renewed worries about outlook for energy demand.

Rising tensions between the U.S. and China, a stronger dollar and reports showing a sharp spike in coronavirus cases across several parts of Europe sent crude oil prices crashing down in today’s session.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $3.01 or about 7.6% at $36.76 a barrel after hitting a low of $36.13 in the session.

Brent crude futures were lower by $2.25 or about 5.5% at $39.76 a barrel.

Concerns about excess supply in the market following OPEC+ relaxing production curbs from last month, and fears of a drop in energy demand due to surging virus cases across the world weighed on the commodity.

The U.S. dollar firmed up against most major currencies today. The dollar index rose to 93.48 by mid morning, and despite paring some gains subsequently, was still up nearly 0.7% from previous close.

U.S. and European stocks tumbled as well. On Wall Street, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 3.7%. The Dow slid 2.1% and the S&P 500 fell 2.58%.

Meanwhile, traders looked ahead to weekly inventory data. The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly report on Wednesday evening, while the Energy Information Administration will come out with its inventory data Thursday morning.