Opinion | Tax the Rich, Help America’s Children

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Q3 adjusted earnings Beat Estimates

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (ARE) announced earnings for its third quarter that increased from the same period last year.

The company’s bottom line came in at $101.26 million, or $0.67 per share. This compares with $79.33 million, or $0.63 per share, in last year’s third quarter.

Excluding items, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. reported adjusted earnings of $296.03 million or $1.95 per share for the period.

Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.62 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 0.5% to $547.76 million from $545.04 million last year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q3): $296.03 Mln. vs. $230.74 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q3): $1.95 vs. $1.83 last year.
-Analysts Estimate: $0.62
-Revenue (Q3): $547.76 Mln vs. $545.04 Mln last year.

-Guidance:
Full year EPS guidance: $7.74 to $7.76

Bechtle Q3 Preliminary EBT Up 21%

Bechtle AG reported that its third-quarter preliminary earnings before taxes (EBT) was around 87 million euros, an increase of about 21% from last year, largely fuelled by the operational side of business. Bechtle thus also significantly exceeds market expectations.

Revenue for the quarter was 1.49 billion euros, up more than 8% from the previous year. The EBT margin went up accordingly to an expected 5.8%.

The company will publish its statement on the third-quarter including the finalized figures on 11 November 2021.

Gold Futures Settle At 6-week High

Despite the dollar’s recovery from a 1-month low, gold prices climbed higher on Monday, lifting the most active gold futures contract to their highest finish in nearly six weeks.

Weakness in U.S. Treasury yields contributed to dollar’s uptick.

Gold futures for December ended up by $10.50 or about 0.6% at $1,806.80 an ounce, the highest settlement since September 14.

Silver futures for December settled higher by $0.143 at $24.592 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.5280 per pound, gaining $0.0300.

Worries about inflation pushed up the demand for the safe-haven commodity.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on Friday that although the central bank will start tapering its bond-buying program this year, but “it is not yet time to begin raising interest rates,” pushed the dollar to near one-month low earlier in the day.

Powell said at a virtual conference on Friday that the present high price pressure may not subside soon and that the central bank was on track to start tapering its stimulus.

Plus500 Q3 EBITDA Declines

Plus500 Ltd. (PLUS.L) reported that its third-quarter EBITDA declined to $128.6 million from $134.2 million in the prior year.

Quarterly revenue was $211.4 million down from $216.4 million last year.

Plus500 said it remains confident about the outlook for the company. It expects fiscal year 2021 revenue and EBITDA to be ahead of current compiled analysts’ consensus forecasts.

Customer Churn remains at a normalized level of 33% in third-quarter 2021 as a consequence of the company’s on-going investment in customer retention initiatives, the company said.

AstraZeneca: Imfinzi Plus Chemotherapy Significantly Improves Survival In 1st-line Advanced BTC

AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.L,AZN) announced Monday positive high-level results from the TOPAZ-1 Phase III trial that showed Imfinzi (durvalumab) plus chemotherapy significantly improved overall survival in 1st-line advanced biliary tract cancer or BTC patients.

BTC is a group of rare and aggressive cancers that occur in the bile ducts and gallbladder.

At a predefined interim analysis, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee concluded that the trial met the primary endpoint by demonstrating an improvement in overall survival or OS in patients treated with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone.

The combination also demonstrated an improvement in progression-free survival or PFS and overall response rate, key secondary endpoints.

It is the first immunotherapy combination to demonstrate superior clinical outcomes over standard of care in a global, randomised trial in this setting.

The company noted that Imfinzi plus chemotherapy was well tolerated, had a similar safety profile versus the comparator arm and did not increase the discontinuation rate due to adverse events compared to chemotherapy alone.

The data will be presented at a forthcoming medical meeting and shared with health authorities.

Opinion | Tax the Rich, Help America’s Children

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist

Gold Edges Higher On Dollar Weakness

Gold edged higher on Monday to hover near key $1,800 level as a softer dollar made the metal more appealing to buyers holding other currencies. Increasing inflation concerns also bolstered bullion’s safe-haven appeal.

Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,799.11 per ounce in European trade, while U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,800.05 per ounce.

The dollar index hit a near one-month low as traders continued to focus on the prospect of interest rate hikes and tightening outside of the United States.

On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated he is now somewhat more concerned about higher inflation but said it is not yet time to begin raising interest rates.

The next FOMC meeting is due on Nov. 2-3. There is a perception that the U.S. central bank is behind the curve and (will be) forced to act as a consequence of more persistent inflationary pressures.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank meetings are due on Thursday.