Lyft to shut down in California by the end of Thursday
Stock Alert: Elanco Animal Health Climbs 6%
Shares of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (ELAN) are rising more than 6% Thursday morning at $27.29. It has traded in the range of $15.17- $32.66.
There are no company-specific news to move the stock up.
Early this month, the animal health company had announced the closing of its acquisition of Bayer’s animal health busines.
Treasury Reveals Details Of Two-Five, Five-Year & Seven-Year Note Auctions
The Treasury Department on Thursday announced the details of this month’s auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes.
The Treasury revealed that it plans to sell $50 billion worth of two-year notes, $51 billion worth of five-year notes and $47 billion worth of seven-year notes.
The results of the two-year note auction will be announced next Tuesday, the results of the five-year note auction will be announced next Wednesday and the results of the seven-year note auction will be announced next Thursday.
Tesla Resumes Rally to Touch $2,000 Ahead of Stock Split
Tesla Inc.’s market value has surpassed retail behemoth Walmart Inc. after an astounding surge in the electric vehicle maker’s shares over the past five months.
The stock, which touched a low of about $350 in March, has almost quintupled since then and briefly crossed $2,000, nearly 10 times the level it was trading at this time last year. Tesla shares jumped as much as 6.6% on Thursday, reaching the all-time intraday high. The stock has closed at records on three of the past four trading days.
The relentless rally led Tesla to split the stock in order to make it more accessible to individual holders, a move that can drive up demand for the shares. The stock will start trading on the five-for-one split-adjusted basis on Aug. 31. Each stockholder of record by the close of business on Friday Aug. 21 will receive four additional shares of common stock for each one they currently own.
Tesla’s valuation is currently about $372.5 billion, while Walmart is hovering around $370.8 billion, according to Bloomberg data.
Merkel Says Aiming to Avoid New National Lockdowns in Europe
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European leaders must do everything to avoid further lockdowns as the region struggles with rising numbers of coronavirus infections that threaten its economic recovery.
Leaders will do everything to avoid reimposing border closures, Merkel said Thursday during a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron at Fort Bregancon, the presidential residence on France’s Mediterranean coast.
The two met at the medieval island fortress as Europe grappled with rising coronavirus infections that threaten the region’s economic recovery. EU leaders must strike a balance between confronting the public-health crisis without delivering another blow to economies heavily hit by national lockdown measures.
The uptick in cases in recent weeks has been blamed on social gatherings and travelers, but officials are reluctant to resort to the strict lockdowns imposed during the initial peak of the pandemic in March and April.
American Black Film Festival Creators Launch ABFF Play Streaming Service
EXCLUSIVE: American Black Film Festival creators/producers Jeff and Nicole Friday have launched ABFF Play, streaming service and digital movie theater platform to showcase Black and Brown content, culture and creativity. The service, which hails from the Friday’s newly formed company Streamland USA LLC, will also host the first virtual edition of ABFF, which kicks off August 21.
The hybrid, ad-supported platform will include VOD rentals of independent films, live-streamed PPV events for stand-up comedy specials, stage plays, concerts, virtual conferences, and online film festivals, as well as free coverage of ABFF events, short films and original content from web series, podcasts, and other branded entertainment.
Its inaugural slate includes the Social Justice Now Film Festival, starting October 21, and the Black Hollywood Comedy Nights a four-part pay-per-view series executive produced by Jeff Friday and hosted by comedian/writer Chris Spencer (Creator of BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood). Featuring top Black and Brown stand-up comedians, the first show of the series will be streamed live from Los Angeles on December 12.
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“Our goal is to create an alternative distribution outlet that will empower independent film filmmakers, artists and live event producers by giving them the opportunity to monetize their projects in a virtual environment,” said Jeff Friday, CEO, Streamland USA, LLC.
Lyft to shut down in California by the end of Thursday
Shares of ride-hail giant Lyft plummeted more than 6.5 percent after it announced it will suspend service in California at the end of the day Thursday following a judge’s ruling that it misclassified its drivers.
The rideshare company is bowing out of its largest market after a judge ruled it had violated the state’s Assembly Bill 5, which requires companies to classify their workers as employees if they control how workers do their jobs.
Lyft, along with larger rival Uber, have argued that they are not employers, but instead tech providers that simply connect drivers with riders.
Uber and Lyft prefer using that classification for drivers because treating them as employees would require benefits such as minimum wage, paid sick and family leave, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation insurance.
In a 34-page decision last week, Judge Ethan Schulman of the San Francisco Superior Court slammed the companies’ “prolonged and brazen refusal” to comply with state law, and said the state showed an “overwhelming likelihood” it could prove Uber and Lyft classified drivers illegally.
Earlier this week, reports emerged that Uber and Lyft are also looking into a franchise model for their California drivers. The new setup, which is reportedly only in the exploratory stages, would see the companies allow other businesses to create their own fleets on the platforms.
Lyft stock was down 6.7 percent early Thursday afternoon, at $26.25.
