Stocks managed a small rally yesterday, but they’re giving back ground this morning. The same goes for crude oil, gold, and silver. Treasuries and the dollar are a bit higher, though.
The reports proved true: WeWork has gone broke. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a stunning fall for a firm once valued at $47 billion and lauded for its entrepreneurial spirit and business savvy. WeWork’s Achilles heel was all the long-term leases it signed at high rates to lock up prime office space. It planned to more than cover the cost of those contracts by renting out space on a short-term basis to loads of customers. But demand failed to match its ambitious projections.
The Q3 earnings season is winding down, with more than 81% of the S&P 500 companies already reporting numbers. But one well-known name, Uber Technologies (UBER), reported third-quarter profit that beat forecasts even as sales came in light.
Uber Technologies (UBER)
The stock has been on a tear in 2023, up almost 90% year-to-date.
Turns out Big Money has a lot of Big Worries. At a Hong Kong conference of global banking and investment sector executives, dour projections and comments about geopolitics, economics, interest rates, and more were common, according to Bloomberg.
Officials from Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Deutsche Bank (DB), and others were among those warning of various risks. They included the exploding US deficit, lending by so-called “shadow banks”, an ongoing reversal of the multi-decade trend toward globalization, and more.
