AU Morning Wrap: ASX Falls; Afterpay-Owner Block Tanks 15% on Short Seller Attack
G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• S&P 500 gives back early strength, Block tumbles on short report
• ASX falls 0.5% at the open
• Stocks to watch: Regis Healthcare, Weebit Nano, Block
- Moomoo News AU
• S&P 500 gives back early strength, Block tumbles on short report
• ASX falls 0.5% at the open
• Stocks to watch: Regis Healthcare, Weebit Nano, Block
- Moomoo News AU
Wall Street Summary
Stocks rallied to close higher Thursday and recoup some losses from the previous day. Tech stocks led the way—among them Netflix, which led the S&P 500's advancers for the first time since October.
The $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US$ was up around 1% at 4 p.m. ET. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US$ was up 0.2%, and the $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US$ was up 0.3% after another volatile session.
Shares of $Block(SQ.US$ plunged after short-seller Hindenburg Research published a report on the payment company formerly known as Square.
AU Market Watch
$S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU$ opened down 0.48 per cent on Friday despite gains on Wall Street overnight.
Afterpay-owner $Block Inc(SQ2.AU$ led the losers, tanking 15 per cent after short seller Hindenburg issued a report alleging the payments company facilitated fraudsters. CEO Jack Dorsey has vowed to fight the attack.
Also lower were $Weebit Nano Ltd(WBT.AU$, down 11 per cent, and Race Oncology, off 15 per cent. The semiconductor group successfully completed a $45 million underwritten placement on Friday.
$Regis Healthcare Ltd(REG.AU$ led the gainers, up 13.1 per cent.
Materials were the only sector in the green at 10:20 AEDT. Energy fell 1.3 per cent, while financials and tech were down 1 per cent.
Stocks to Watch
$Block Inc(SQ2.AU$: Block said it will explore legal action against Hindenburg Research after the short seller issued a report alleging the payments company facilitated fraudsters.
In its investigation, Hindenburg alleged it found that Block's wildly popular Cash App was likely facilitating scammers taking advantage of government-stimulus programs during the pandemic. In response to a public-records request, the state of Massachusetts told the short seller that it sought to claw back over 69,000 unemployment payments from the bank behind Cash App accounts, an amount that exceeded those it sought to reverse from major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo which have far more customers.
$Estia Health Ltd(EHE.AU$: Estia Health has confirmed it received a confidential, nonbinding and indicative proposal from Bain Capital after the market close on March 23 to acquire all of its shares by way of a scheme of arrangement.
Under the terms of the Indicative Proposal, Estia Health shareholders would receive $3 cash per share.
$Medibank Private Ltd(MPL.AU$: Medibank group executive – technology and operations John Goodall has retired after more than six years with the health insurer.
He had been responsible for the company's technology, property, procurement and operations functions.
$Life360 Inc(360.AU$: Life360 has reported a loss of $US91.6 million in the year to 31 December 2022. This represents a 173 per cent increase on 2021's loss of $33.6 million.
Revenue jumped 103 per cent to $228.3 million from $112.6 million.
Life360 owns a location tracking app used by parents that has various subscription levels and can monitor everything from where children are to how fast they are driving. Its mission is to be a leader in locating people, pets and things.
Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR
Disclaimer: Moomoo Technologies Inc. is providing this content for information and educational use only.
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