WarnerMedia Parent AT&T Gets DirecTV Bids Valuing Satellite Broadcaster At Over $15 Billion – Report; Stock Pops
Sensex, Nifty scale new peaks on vaccine hopes
Consolidation phase ahead: analysts
Benchmark stock indices on Wednesday rose to new record highs buoyed by hopes of early approvals for COVID-19 vaccines and sustained buying interest from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in banking and energy stocks.
Analysts, however, urged discretion, cautioning investors that the market may be headed for a phase of consolidation.
The BSE Sensex rose to an intraday peak of 46,164, up 555 points, before settling at a record closing high of 46,104, a gain of 495 points or 1.09%.
Top Sensex gainers included Asian Paints, up 3.37%, Kotak Bank up 2.67%, Axis Bank up 2.19%, HDFC Bank up 2.15% and Infosys up 1.85%.
Similarly, NSE Nifty 50 rose 136.15, or 1.02%, to an all-time high of 13,529.10.
The top gainers included UPL up 4.59%, Asian Paints up 3.65%, IOC up 3.29%, Kotak Bank up 2.66% and HDFC Bank up 2.34%.
Auckland traffic: Harbour Bridge crash causing delays
A crash is causing delays on the Auckland Harbour Bridge early this morning.
Emergency services are responding to the incident, which road authorities reported at 8am.
The crash is blocking one of five city-bound lanes.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency issued an alert to motorists on Twitter saying: “Pass with care and expect delays this morning.”
It is not yet known whether anyone has been injured in the crash.
A traffic camera image shows a long line of vehicles behind the incident already.
Surging NFC East might offer solid playoff threat after all – The Denver Post
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American Airlines Extends Preflight Covid-19 Testing To Domestic Travel
American Airlines is extending its pre-flight COVID-19 testing program to domestic travel.
American Airlines is offering at-home COVID-19 tests to domestic fliers in order to help them meet various state travel restriction requirements, the company announced in a statement. The airline is partnering with direct-to-consumer home testing company LetsGetChecked, which will sell the tests for $129 on top of the cost of travel.
“We’ve made great strides to help open international travel with our testing partners, and we recognize the need for similar domestic travel solutions,” said Alison Taylor, Chief Customer Officer for American Airlines. “As travel requirements continue to quickly evolve, we’re simplifying the research and COVID-19 testing fulfillment process for an overall more seamless travel experience.”
Starting December 9, American Airlines customers traveling to any U.S. city, state or territory that has COVID-19 travel restrictions will have access to at-home testing through LetsGetChecked for travel on or after December 12.
Before the announcement, American offered testing as an option only for customers traveling to a small number of international destinations and Hawaii.
Suspect hospitalized after police shooting in Castle Rock
A police shooting in Castle Rock Tuesday night put a person in the hospital.
Around 9:30 p.m. the Castle Rock Police Department was called to the 1500 block of Short Grass Court, where a call of a domestic disturbance involving somebody with a gun was reported.
The shooting occurred after police arrived on the scene. The condition of the suspect and the circumstances of the incident are unknown.
The situation is under investigation.
WhatsApp Launches ‘Add To Cart’ To Facilitate Shopping
Facebook Inc. (FB)-owned WhatsApp is launching new shopping carts feature that allows users to order multiple items with a single message from businesses on the socialm media service.
With carts, people can browse a catalog, select multiple products and send the order as one message to the business. The social media service says this will make it simpler for businesses to keep track of order inquiries, manage requests from customers and close sales.
The Add to Cart feature is available globally. The feature works in conjunction with the service’s existing catalogs feature, which was launched last year.
Users can find the items they want using the catalogs and tap “add to cart.” Once the cart is complete, users can send it as a message to the business.
“We will be introducing carts on WhatsApp around the world — just in time for the holiday shopping season,” WhatsApp said in a statement. “Carts are perfect when shopping from a business where you’d buy multiple items — like a restaurant or clothing store.”
According to WhatsApp more and more small business are now relying on the social media app to promote and expand its business.
“More than 175 million people every day message a WhatsApp Business account. Our research shows people prefer to message a business to get help and they’re more likely to make a purchase when they can do so,” the company said in October.
Stock Alert: Element Solutions Hits New 52-week High As Outlook Raised
Shares of Element Solutions Inc (ESI), a specialty chemicals company, are rising more than 11 percent or $1.67 in Wednesday’s morning trade at $16.54, after hitting a new 52-week high of $16.63.
Wednesday, Element Solutions said it is raising its adjusted EBITDA outlook for the fourth quarter to about $118 million, from between $90 million and $95 million. This translates to expected adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2020 of about $415 million, and year-over-year growth in full year adjusted earnings per share as well as free cash flow.
The company said it expects mid-to-high single digit growth in adjusted earnings per share for fiscal 2020.
Element Solutions has traded in a range of $5.35 to $16.63 in the past 52 weeks.
WarnerMedia Parent AT&T Gets DirecTV Bids Valuing Satellite Broadcaster At Over $15 Billion – Report; Stock Pops
Highly indebted WarnerMedia parent AT&T has received bids for DirecTV that value the satellite broadcaster at more than $15 billion, according to a report Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.
A spokesman for AT&T declined to comment.
Two of the bids came from private equity firm Apollo Global Management and from Churchill Capital Corp, a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition vehicle, run by former media banker Michael Klein, the WSJ said. There are a glut of these so-called bank check firm looking for companies to acquire and take public. It said a deal could potentially close early next year.
AT&T, with about $149 billion in debt, much of it assumed in the Time Warner acquisition, has been shedding some non-core assets. Executives, including CEO John Stankey at a media conference yesterday — have promised to sell more. DirecTV like most of the traditional pay-TV universe, has been leaking subscribers but still brings in lots of cash.
AT&T shares are up more than 2% in a down market Wednesday.
