Oil Subdued On Omicron Concerns

Oil prices were little changed near $75 a barrel on Tuesday as the arrival of Omicron coronavirus variant, reported in more than 60 countries, forced market participants to lower growth expectations for the coming months.

Benchmark Brent crude futures edged up 0.2 percent to $74.55 per ounce, after having closed 1 percent lower on Monday. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures were down 0.1 percent at $71.23 a barrel.

The Asian Development Bank today trimmed its growth forecasts for developing Asia for this year and next, citing risks and uncertainty brought on by the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

At the same time, OPEC left unchanged its global oil demand and supply forecasts for 2021 and 2022 in its closely-watched monthly report.

Output in the largest U.S. shale basin is expected to surge to a record in January, according to a monthly forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

At least 20 listed companies have shut operations in virus-hit areas in Zhejiang, one of China’s biggest manufacturing hubs, as local authorities try to contain a Covid-19 outbreak.

Renewed restrictions were imposed in Europe and Asia to stop the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

RBI ushers in corrective action scheme to better control NBFCs

Aim is to enable intervention, help entities apply timely remedy, says regulator

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday announced a Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), to strengthen applicable supervisory tools.

This is in line with the PCA framework for banks, whose aim was to help improve their financial condition and governance issues.

The framework will apply to all deposit-taking NBFCs, all non-deposit taking NBFCs in the middle, upper and top layers, including investment and credit firms, core investment firms, infrastructure debt funds, infrastructure finance firms and microfinance institutions. It has excluded NBFCs not accepting or not intending to accept public funds, primary dealers and housing finance firms, along with government-owned ones. This will take effect October 1, 2022, the RBI said in a circular.

The objective of the framework is to enable supervisory intervention at the appropriate time and require the supervised entity to initiate and implement remedial measures in a timely manner, so as to restore its financial health, the RBI said.

Among large NBFCs (assets exceeding ₹25,000 crore), rating agency ICRA noted that three entities were in breach of the net NPA criterion as of September. However, all the entities have established parentage. (With PTI inputs)

Pre-market Movers: AEI, AGLE, TC, CFVI, GCP…

The following are some of the stocks making big moves in Monday’s pre-market trading (as of 07.00 A.M. ET).

In the Green

CF Acquisition Corp. VI (CFVI) is up over 19% at $14.21
GCP Applied Technologies Inc. (GCP) is up over 13% at $30.57
Broadwind, Inc. (BWEN) is up over 11% at $2.35
Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (APVO) is up over 8% at $7.60
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (ACH) is up over 6% at $12.57
Context Therapeutics Inc. (CNTX) is up over 6% at $5.62
Zomedica Corp. (ZOM) is up over 6% at $0.35
Universe Pharmaceuticals INC (UPC) is up over 5% at $1.74

In the Red

Alset EHome International Inc. (AEI) is down over 40% at $0.65
Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (AGLE) is down over 21% at $4.74
TuanChe Limited (TC) is down over 20% at $2.61
Bitfarms Ltd. (BITF) is down over 12% at $5.50
Hut 8 Mining Corp. (HUT) is down over 10% at $8.39
AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) is down over 10% at $8.25
Advanced Human Imaging Limited (AHI) is down over 10% at $4.12
OceanPal Inc. (OP) is down over 10% at $3.67
Riot Blockchain, Inc. (RIOT) is down over 9% at $26
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (MARA) is down over 8% at $38.05
CooTek (Cayman) Inc. (CTK) is down over 7% at $0.54

Luminar Technologies Up 4% On Stock Repurchase Announcement

Shares of software company Luminar Technologies, Inc. (LAZR) are up 4 percent on Tuesday’s trading after the company announced that it plans to repurchase $250 million or more of its Class A common stock. The company plans to use a portion of the proceeds from a proposed private financing transaction for the share repurchase.

The company said that it also expects the additional capital to bolster its balance sheet to speed up growth.

Currently at $15.17, the stock has traded between $13.45 and $40.98 during the past 52 weeks.

Sprinklr Shares Slip 4% Breaking The Uptrend

Shares of software company Sprinklr, Inc. (CXM) are down 4 percent on Tuesday’s trading despite there being no company announcement to impact the stock.

The company’s stock had been on an upward trend since the last few days after its third-quarter results beat the Street estimates and its fourth-quarter revenue outlook came in better than the Street view.

Sprinklr reported net loss of $29.23 million or $0.11 per share in the quarter compared with net loss of $18.97 million or $0.21 per share in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding one-time items, loss per share was $0.06, that beat the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters of $0.09 loss per share.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, revenue is expected between $129 million and $131 million. Analysts’ view stands at $128.33 million.

Currently at $15.13, the stock has traded between $12.12 and $26.50 during the past 52 weeks.

Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire To Become First Publicly Traded EV Motorcycle Company In The U.S.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG) and AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. (IMPX), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by executives of AEA Investors and Bridges Fund Management, announced they have entered into a business combination agreement under which AEA-Bridges will combine with LiveWire, Harley-Davidson’s electric motorcycle division, to create a new publicly traded company. Upon closing of the transaction, Harley-Davidson will retain an equity interest in LiveWire of approximately 74%, ABIC’s shareholders will own approximately 17%, and ABIC’s founders and KYMCO will own approximately 4% each.

The combined company is expected to have an enterprise value of approximately $1.77 billion and post-money equity value of approximately $2.31 billion at closing. Its common stock is expected to be listed on the NYSE under the symbol, LVW. The transaction will be financed by ABIC’s $400 million cash held in trust, a $100 million investment from Harley-Davidson, and a $100 million investment from KYMCO, through a PIPE.

Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, will be Chairman and serve as Acting CEO of LiveWire for up to two years. Ryan Morrissey will serve as President.

Established as a separate division in 2019, LiveWire is an all-electric motorcycle brand with a focus on the urban market. LiveWire has brand presence in North America and Europe, with planned expansion into additional markets including Asia.

Shares of Harley-Davidson were up 11% in pre-market trade on Monday.