Activist investors mounted campaigns at a record number of companies globally during the first six months of 2024 but have been less successful in breaking into boardrooms as companies fought back effectively, data from Barclays shows.
Hedge funds betting on a rise in banking shares abandoned trades last week at the fastest pace since May 2021, according to a June 28 Goldman Sachs note, meaning they missed the sector’s rally on Monday after the first round in the French election.
U.S. stock index futures gained on Monday ahead of manufacturing PMI data, with focus also on labor market numbers later in the week for cues on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path.
Manufacturing activity in Europe suffered a setback last month but Asian factories enjoyed solid momentum, offering policymakers some hope the region can weather the hit from soft Chinese demand, surveys showed.
Boeing agreed to buy back Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion in stock and Airbus moved to take on the supplier’s loss-making Europe-focused activities in return for hundreds of millions of dollars of compensation following months of talks.
Artificial intelligence-focused companies, mostly chipmakers, saw big gains in their market capitalization at the end of June, with Nvidia briefly overtaking Microsoft to become the most valuable company in the world.
Shares of Chewy rose 20% on Monday after a filing showed Keith Gill, the stock influencer known as “Roaring Kitty”, had picked up a 6.6% stake in the pet products retailer.
The U.S. Supreme Court was expected on Monday to decide a case involving a legal challenge to a Federal Reserve regulation on debit card “swipe fees” in a ruling that could make it easier for businesses to try to overturn longstanding federal rules.
When Republican campaigns want a banker, they don’t go to New York or San Francisco, but to downtown McLean, Virginia – about a 20 minute drive from the White House, where a one-branch bank next to an auto repair shop has beaten bigger financial rivals to become a must-have partner for political work.
