Wall Street Today | Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard in all-cash deal
Pfizer's new Covid-19 pill works against Omicron in lab
$Pfizer (PFE.US)$ new Covid-19 pill, Paxlovid, was effective against the Omicron variant in laboratory tests, an encouraging early sign the drug will be an important tool while .
Pfizer said Tuesday the drug's main component, nirmatrelvir, worked in three separate laboratory studies. Patients take two tablets of nirmatrelvir with one tablet of another antiviral called ritonavir twice a day for five days.
The company issued the results by news release. The research hasn't been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard in all-cash deal valued at $75 billion
$Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ agreed to buy $Activision Blizzard (ATVI.US)$ in an all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion, using its largest acquisition by far to grab a videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct.
The deal, if completed, would sharply expand Microsoft's already sizable videogame operation, adding a stable of popular game franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush to Microsoft's Xbox console business and its own games like Minecraft and Doom. Microsoft said the transaction would make it the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind China's $TENCENT (00700.HK)$ and Japan's $Sony (SONY.US)$.
Ford sees $8.2 billion gain on its investment following Rivian's IPO
$Ford Motor (F.US)$ expects to record a gain of $8.2 billion in the fourth quarter on its investment in Rivian Automotive Inc. after the electric-truck maker's blockbuster initial public offering late last year.
The legacy automaker disclosed the gain Tuesday along with several special items it intends to report when Ford releases earnings on Feb. 3. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company will also reclassify a noncash gain of about $900 million on the Rivian investment from the first quarter of last year as a special item, meaning it will be excluded from the full-year adjusted results, according to a statement.
Stocks set to extend drop amid higher bond yields
A selloff in stocks looked set to continue in Asia on Wednesday following a surge in Treasury yields as the prospect of Federal Reserve monetary tightening to fight high inflation weighs on markets.
Futures for Japan and Australia fell while Hong Kong's were steady. The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ suffered a broad-based drop and the tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$sank 2.6%.
Goldman pays up for talent, sending profits down
$Goldman Sachs (GS.US)$ said Tuesday it shelled out an additional $4.4 billion in compensation in 2021, sending the bank to its only quarterly profit decline of the year. $JPMorgan (JPM.US)$ on Friday said it had spent an additional $3.6 billion on compensation in 2021, and $Citigroup (C.US)$ spent an additional $2.9 billion, dragging down its fourth-quarter profit as well.
In 2021, Goldman boosted its pay by 33%. Revenue also jumped 33%. "There is real wage inflation everywhere in the economy," Goldman CEO David Solomon said on a call with analysts.
YouTube Shuts Division for Original Programming
Google's YouTube is folding its effort to create original programming and focusing on the millions of creators who populate the video platform with content.
Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl said Tuesday that the video platform would invest in live shopping programming, its Black Voices Fund and YouTube Shorts, its TikTok competitor. Its head of YouTube Originals, Susanne Daniels, will exit from the company in March.
SoFi granted U.S. bank charter as firm acquires Golden Pacific
$SoFi Technologies (SOFI.US)$, the financial firm led by former Twitter Inc. executive Anthony Noto, has been granted a conditional U.S. banking charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The online lending platform acquired Golden Pacific Bank as a path to getting the full-fledged banking license, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday. While the entity will have a national reach and SoFi's well-established digital lending platform, the OCC said that the new license didn't cover crypto transactions.
Oil soars to 2014 high with market bolstered by resilient demand
Oil surged to the highest level in seven years as robust demand and strained supplies make physical markets run hot in the world's largest consuming region.
Futures in New York closed up at $85.43 a barrel, the highest since October 2014. Traders are paying higher and higher premiums for cargoes in Asia, as fears fade over the demand impact from omicron, while supplies are tightened by a range of outages from Libya to North America. Meanwhile, a drone attack on oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates on Monday flared geopolitical risks.
Source: Bloomberg, CNBC, WSJ
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Jayaram : very good
Miao85 : Metaverse WOW
ATS A trade sniper : hohoho
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Januarylord : dumb!!! Guess what else works on it your natural immune system with a dash of (Tangie) keeps all them imaginary sicknesses away. I didn't get the first one and I sure as moomoo I will not get this "New One" and for all you parents letting there doctors feed this poison into your kids.what is wrong with you people
when this nonsense all started up. The youth ARE the safest the well seasoned past are the ones who had to be scarce. alright that's all of meow well not really but I'll zoom in Again!! eventuualllyy. and I'll pick right we're we.... just wait and 
