In today’s Recap, Marcello tells us that the tensions in the Middle East are reaching a dangerous peak as Israel escalates its military response, with commando and paratroop units launching raids into Lebanon on Tuesday. Hezbollah retaliated with missile strikes on Israel, targeting areas near Tel Aviv, while Iran fired over 180 ballistic missiles in a growing regional conflict. As fears of an all-out war loom, financial markets are also feeling the impact. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway continued its massive stock selloff, offloading another $338M worth of Bank of America shares this week, bringing the total to over $9B since mid-July.
It was reported on Thursday that Berkshire Hathaway sold another chunk of Bank of America shares during the past 3 trading sessions, bringing its remaining stake to just +10.2%. Warren Buffett’s conglomerate dumped more than 8.5M shares of the bank worth $338M, according to a new regulatory filing. Berkshire has shed more than $9B worth of the bank stock in a big selling spree, that started in mid-July. Once its stake drops below 10%, Berkshire will no longer have to disclose related transactions within 2 business days.
According to the U.S. Labor Department data released Friday, the U.S. added 254,000 jobs in September & the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.1% The September jobs report blew past economist expectations, which foresaw the addition of 140,000 jobs & a jobless rate of 4.2%.
At least 215 people are known to have died as a result of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene, the 2nd deadliest storm in the U.S. in the last 50 years, since it made landfall in Florida a week ago.More than half of the deaths were in North Carolina, where several feet of fast-moving water destroyed entire communities.Hundreds are still missing, and officials have reported difficulties in identifying some of the dead. There is flood & wind damage that may end up costing $250B, in the states Florida, North & South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, & Tennessee.
U.S. listed shares of the automaker Stellantis fell around 4.04% on Thursday at $13.08, hitting a new 52-week low during the session, following a downgrade to equal weight from overweight at U.K. investment banker Barclays. Analyst Henning Cosman said that the firm was “wrong-footed” on the stock, as it was “too slow to acknowledge its US inventory issue & eroding E.U. & U.S. market shares.
Shares of Tesla fell -3.49% on Wednesday at $249.02, after the U.S. electric vehicle company fell short of Q3 delivery estimates. Deliveries came in at 462,890, versus an earlier estimate of 463,310.Tesla is facing increased competitive pressure, especially in China, from companies like BYD & Geely, along with a new generation of automakers, including Li Auto & Nio
It is being reported Thursday evening that negotiations on the U.S. port strike continue & the parties reached a tentative agreement on wages & agreed to extend the master contract until Jan. 15. The sources said they will return to the bargaining table to negotiate all outstanding issues. 50K of U.S. dockworkers had walked off the job early Tuesday morning, clogging dozens of ports along the East & Gulf coasts. The ILA, the union representing the East Coast & Gulf Coast dockworkers under the contract at issue, was seeking higher wages & a ban on the use of some automated equipment.
On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world’s 2nd richest person.Zuckerberg’s net worth reached $206.2B topping the $205.1B net worth of the former Amazon CEO & president. The Facebook co-founder now trails Tesla chief Elon Musk by roughly $50B, With his 13% stake in Meta, Zuckerberg’s net-worth has risen by $78B since the beginning of the year, which is more than any member of the 500 richest people globally. Meta shares closed at a record high on Thursday at $582.77, representing a roughly 68% jump from early January, when its shares were trading at $346.29.
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