Hints and tips:
...The FTC is suing to stop the big Albertson’s-Kroger grocery merger. I’m not sure what to think about this....
...But observers of the US economy will find much to think about in some smaller companies this week: the trucker JB Hunt, the grocer Albertsons, Snap-on tools, assorted regional banks....
...Healthy sales volumes have also helped send Kroger shares up 14.3 per cent this year, compared to an almost 17 per cent decline in the S&P 500....
...In the case of the Albertsons deal, most of its lower-cost debt will transfer to Kroger because it’s highly rated, minimising the overall financing package....
...Investment banking fees are down more than a third from 2021’s record level, Refinitiv data show....
...The company serves five clients including Walmart, Albertsons and C&S, and reports a $11.4bn backlog of committed sales after Walmart that was agreed in May to install Symbotic systems in all 42 of its distribution...
...Its shares have fallen 8.7 per cent since the start of the year, compared with a 17 per cent decline for the S&P 500....
...At 16 times 2019 earnings, Albertsons’ shares trade at a pricier valuation than Kroger’s, which trade a fifth cheaper on the same basis according to S&P Global. This does not make sense....
...Vivek Sankaran, chief executive of grocer Albertson’s, said while inflation would be above trend in the first half of the year, it would drop back to 1 to 2 per cent towards the end of 2021....
...The yield on the 10-year US Treasury, which moves inversely to its price, rose 0.039 percentage points to 0.685 per cent....
...Gold for December delivery settled 0.3 per cent higher to $2,039 a troy ounce....
...Only recently has the Cboe’s Vix, a measure of expected gyrations in the benchmark S&P 500 index, fallen below 30 — still high but far below the record 85 hit in March during the most intense phase of the...
...Analysts at credit rating agency S&P Global have been working nonstop, downgrading 121 companies and warning of the prospects of another 176 groups in part due to the global health pandemic....
...Shares in US food retailers such as Kroger have held up well over the past month even as the broader S&P 500 index crashed into a bear market. There is some cart appeal....
...Staffordshire, England Polymath 1,040: Patricia Blakemore, West Midlands, England Crossword 16,272: Martha F Browne, New York; Sean Putnam, Wellingborough, UK; Richard Cauman, Knoxville, US Polymath 1,039...
...Prosecutors have asked both men be denied bail while they await extradition, arguing that they are ‘not just capable of fleeing while on bond’ but are ‘expert[s] on the subject’. More here....
...Wall Street’s benchmark equity index rallied 0.6 per cent to close at an all-time high of 3,039....
...The benchmark S&P 500 closed 0.6 per cent higher at 3,039.4, taking it past its previous peak of 3,025.9 on July 26 and notching an intraday record of 3,044.1 in the process....
...The Nasdaq Composite delivered a similar performance to set a high of 8,030.039, up 0.2 per cent. The dollar index is 0.1 per cent weaker and down at levels last seen in early August....
...Albertsons operates stores under numerous brand names including Safeway, Vons and its eponymous brand....
...Elsewhere, the yield on the US 10-year Treasury, which moves inversely to price, rose 4 basis points (0.039 percentage points) to 2.10 per cent....
...The yield on the US 10-year, which moves inversely to price, fell 0.039 percentage point to 2.321 per cent....
...Then came James Mackintosh, who wrote 1,039 Short Views (I had thought he was further ahead of me than that)....
...The broad S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 2,338.2, while the Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.1 per cent higher to 5,857.9. The S&P 500 energy sector faced the heaviest selling, dropping 1.5 per cent....
...He added that an offer in the “a high $20′s-low $30′s range would be a minimum to get a deal done, as industry valuations currently are depressed due in part to deflationary pressures.”...
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