PHOTOS: Denver Broncos host Los Angeles Chargers in NFL Week 18

The Denver Broncos finished out their season with a 31-28 win over the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.

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Vodafone To Sell Its Hungarian Arm For HUF 660 Bln Cash

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L,VOD), the British telecom major, said on Monday that it has entered into a deal with 4iG Public Limited Company and Corvinus Zrt, a Hungarian state holding firm, to sell Vodafone Magyarország Zrt, for a cash consideration of HUF 660 billion or 1.7 billion euros.

Vodafone intends to use the proceeds from the transaction for deleveraging.

The transaction is expected to be completed in January.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group’s interim Chief Executive said: “This combination establishes a scaled converged operator across mobile and fixed communications and supports the Hungarian government’s goal of creating a national Information and Communications Technology champion. The combined entity will increase competition and accelerate investment in the ongoing digitalisation of Hungary.”

QIAGEN Completes Acquisition Of Verogen

QIAGEN N.V. (QGEN), a Dutch molecular testing solutions provider, said on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of privately held Verogen, a next-generation sequencing or NGS technologies firm, to boost its future human identification and forensic investigation.

The acquisition deal was for $150 million paid in cash from the acquirer’s existing reserves.

For 2023, QIAGEN sees about $20 million of sales from the Verogen portfolio.

The acquisition is expected to be dilutive to 2023 adjusted EPS by about $0.03 per share, and neutral in 2024.

Based in San Diego, Verogen supports the global human identification community with NGS tools and professional services to help resolve criminal and missing-persons cases.

With this acquisition, QIAGEN gains exclusive distribution rights for this version of the MiSeq sequencer designed specifically for forensics applications.

The Verogen portfolio of kits for use on this sequencer includes the ForenSeq suite of kits including DNA Signature Prep, Imagen, Kintelligence and MainstAY product lines.

QIAGEN also gains full access to Verogen’s pioneering GEDmatch database and GEDmatch PRO portal.

GEDmatch allows users to upload genetic profiles created by other genealogy sites in order to expand the search for familial links. It currently contains more than 1.8 million genealogical profiles and continues to grow.

Oil Prices Rally On Demand Recovery Optimism

Oil prices traded sharply higher on Monday, after having settled on a flat note Friday.

Benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 3.2 percent to $81.11 a barrel, while WTI crude futures soared 3.3 percent to $76.20.

Prices climbed at the start of the week on optimism about demand recovery, as China opened its borders for travel for the first time in three years as part of its new policy on COVID-19.

Chinese policymakers have pledged to increase support for the world’s second-largest economy, adding to investor optimism about demand recovery in the world’s top crude importer.

China’s growth would be back on track soon as Beijing provides more financial support to households and companies, a Chinese central bank official said in an interview with People’s Daily.

UBS analysts said last week they expect to see Brent Crude oil prices rebound from losses in the second half of last year to $110 a barrel in 2023.

However, there is a concern that a global recession could dent the future demand of crude oil.

Gold Hovers Near Eight-month High

Gold prices inched higher on Monday to trade near eight-month highs as a weaker dollar made bullion less expensive for overseas buyers.

Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,873.63 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were up half a percent at $1,878.05.

The dollar weakened against major peers, as data showing a contraction in U.S. services industry activity for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years and signs of cooling wage growth raised hopes for a change to aggressive Fed policy.

Market participants now await Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at a central bank conference in Stockholm on Tuesday and the U.S. December inflation report due on Thursday for additional clues on the rate outlook.

An unexpected uptick in consumer price inflation may un-nerve sentiments.

Kansas City Federal Reserve’s Esther George on Friday warned that officials will have a tough road ahead as they attempt to stamp out runaway inflation without hurting growth.

She isn’t expecting a recession because of Fed policies but noted that one is possible.

Investors also kept at close eye on Brazilian assets after hundreds of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed into Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court Sunday, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned as a “fascist” attack.

Elon Musk Becomes First Man Ever To Lose $200 Bln

Elon Musk becomes the first man ever to lose $200 billion in wealth, according to Bloomberg.

The CEO of Tesla (TSLA), SpaceX and Twitter is currently worth $137 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. However, at its peak, Musk touted a net worth of $340 billion. He currently sits at second place on the list of the world’s richest behind LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault.

A key part of Musk’s net worth is from his stake in Tesla (TSLA). Tesla’s stock has more than halved in value this year due to a sell-off after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of social media company Twitter. Tesla’s stock has also been impacted by its disappointing quarterly results as well as ongoing disruptions at one of its factories in Shanghai.

Tesla shares were trading at $340.79 on April 13, the day before Twitter revealed that Musk made a hostile bid worth $43.4 billion. Since then, the Tesla share price has slumped over 60% and is currently trading below the $125 mark.

Meanwhile, Arnault is currently worth $162 billion. He has only lost a mediocre $15 billion in the year-to-date period. Arnault was the first European to top Bloomberg’s list of the world’s richest people.

Arnault, through holding vehicles and family trusts, owns a little over 60% of LVMH’s voting share class, according to SEC filings.