Wallstreet
Shares on Wall Street fell on Thursday’s session after the US Senate failed to pass a $500 billion stimulus package. The bill was supported by 52 US senators while at least 60 votes were needed for the legislation to be passed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by over 350 points, the S&P 500 was down 1.32% while the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.62%.
Meanwhile, the number of initial jobless claims in the US landed at 884,000 last week, unchanged compared to the prior week.
Eurozone to introduce digital Euro
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde on Thursday said that the Eurosystem “must actively advance European initiatives to strengthen European payments.”
Speaking at the Deutsche Bundesbank’s conference on banking and payments in the digital world, Lagarde said that “the Eurosystem has so far not made a decision on whether to introduce a digital euro. But, like many other central banks around the world, we are exploring the benefits, risks and operational challenges of doing so.”
US Govt Vs TikTok
According to The Wall Street Journal, the United States government and Chinese tech company, ByteDance are engaged in talks aimed at discussing ways to avoid a complete sale of video-sharing app TikTok’s business in the US.
Several options remain on the table with the full sale remaining one of them as well as the restructuring of TikTok in case of a partial sale, the report said. Data security and its availability to the Chinese government reportedly remained one of the sticky points in the negotiations.
According to the sources, the talks have been underway for months and they intensified after China tightened regulations on artificial intelligence technology exports that could stifle a potential acquisition of TikTok by a US-based company.
Hindenburg Research calls Nikola Motor ‘fraud’
Hindenburg Research on Thursday described Nikola Corporation as a “new short”, adding that the company’s business strategy an “intricate fraud built on dozens of lies.”
Hindenburg, which specializes in forensic financial research accused the company’s CEO Trevor Milton of making false statements to both media and business partners, deceptive marketing, and said that “Milton has laid the groundwork to extract hundreds of millions from Nikola years before ever delivering on his promises,” noting that he “cashed out $70 million” around the firm’s initial public offering.
“The remarkable thing about Nikola’s story is not that someone like Trevor Milton exists, but that he has managed to parlay his stories and lies into deals with some of the best manufacturers and partners in the world by claiming to own vast proprietary technology and having successfully built revolutionary products that simply didn’t exist,” the report concluded.
Nikola CEO Milton tweeted:
The outlet accused Milton of making false statements to both media and business partners, and “cashed out $70 million” around the firm’s initial public offering.
READ; GM Acquires 11% Stake in Electric Truck Startup Nikola for $2 Bn
Energy Markets
Prices of oil declined on Thursday after private data showed an increase in the United States’ crude inventories. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), the country’s oil stockpiles climbed by 2.97 million barrels in the week ending September 4.
Meanwhile, oil reserves in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose by 2.61 million barrels in the same seven-day period.
Gasoline stockpiles in the US sank 6.89 million barrels last week, while the country’s distillate reserves were up by 2.29 million barrels in the same week.
