1.VOLVO: Volvo Trucks has received an order for 100 electric trucks from shipping firm DFDS, its biggest commercial electric truck order to date, the Swedish truck maker said on Wednesday.
Volvo Trucks, AB Volvo’s main truck brand, said the order was one of the largest ever for heavy electric trucks worldwide, adding that deliveries would start in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The FM Electric trucks, which have a range of up to 300 kilometres, will be used for both short and long transport in Europe.
Volvo, which started serial production of electric trucks in 2019, is targeting for half of its global truck deliveries to be electric in 2030.
“We are pleased to see that growing interest among our customers is starting to be reflected in firm orders,” Volvo Trucks President Roger Alm said in a statement.
A ‘green’ shift in the transport sector, which generates roughly a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions, is widely seen as important to help align with global climate goals.
2.CITI GROUP:-Citigroup has appointed David Jiang and Lei Li as co-head of industrials investment banking for Asia, according to a company memo seen by Reuters.
Jiang has been with Citi for three years while Li has worked at the bank since 2014, the memo said.
The Hong Kong-based duo replace David Biller, who was recently appointed to be the Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory co-head of industrials for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Japan for the global bank.
As part of the changes, Li will eventually move out of her role as head of China mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the memo added.
3.FACEBOOK-Social media platform Facebook popped up by slightly more than two percent yesterday, after what could only be described as a disaster last week. While Facebook certainly took it on the chin, it’s safe to call that a dip to consider buying in on. Given Facebook’s current share price, it’s good news for anyone who was looking to buy in. I remain mildly bullish on Facebook.
Facebook stock has spent most of this year so far trending upward. In recent days it’s been backtracking a bit, perhaps discovering a more appropriate standard price level. The company saw its lowest adjusted closing price for the year back on January 14, at $245.64 per share. It’s been tracking mainly upward ever since, with some small dips along the way. It hit its highest adjusted closing price for the year back on September 7, coming in at $382.18. After September 7, however, the stock started trending downward, retracing to levels seen back in May.
Yesterday was indeed a rough patch for Facebook, which added to a generally downward direction. A report on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, featuring a former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, certainly didn’t help matters. The Sunday night report featured Frances Haugen, who detailed how the company knew about the problems its operations posed. The impact of Instagram’s product on teenage girls was strong on that list, reports note. Haugen then testified before a Senate hearing yesterday, to further discuss the matter.
4.TESLA:-A contract worker has won a $137 million jury award over workplace racism against Tesla Inc, raising pressure on the electric vehicle maker whose shareholders will vote on Thursday on a proposal to review how it addresses similar complaints for full-time employees.
The nonbinding shareholder resolution asks Tesla’s board to study the impact of the company’s current use of mandatory arbitration to resolve complaints of harassment and discrimination in its workplace. Tesla opposes the plan.
On Monday, a San Francisco federal jury made the award to former Tesla worker Owen Diaz. “The verdict sends a message to corporate America that you need to make sure that racist conduct is not occurring,” Lawrence Organ, his attorney told Reuters.
Diaz was able to face a public trial because contract workers were not subject to Tesla’s mandatory arbitration, which forces employees to resolve disputes outside judiciary courts.
Tesla advised against the resolution because, it said, arbitration “benefits both parties with a fair resolution and a speedier return to their respective priorities without miring them in lengthy litigation.”
Some technology companies have scaled back or eliminated mandatory arbitration. Uber and Lyft no longer require mandatory arbitration in cases over sexual harassment. Google ended mandatory arbitration in 2019. In April, nearly half of Goldman Sachs Group Inc shareholders voted in favor of examining the bank’s use of mandatory arbitration.
Imre Szalai, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans, said such a verdict against Tesla would create “shaming and awareness” of problems at the company.
“The public becomes aware that Tesla needs to change and increases more pressure for the company, as opposed to confidential arbitration award that doesn’t get that much publicity,” he said.
Tesla arbitration agreements with employees and customers effectively bars them from publicly fighting in court disputes about pay, sexual harassment, race, disability and other kinds of discrimination, as well as product defects.
There are around 100 cases in U.S. federal and state courts where Tesla sought to compel arbitration including lawsuits against the company over employment, personal-injury, and contract matters, according to Reuters’ review of Westlaw case data.
5.SAMSUNG: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is likely to turn in its best quarterly profit in three years and a record revenue, on rising memory chip prices and brisk sales of its new foldable smartphones, analysts’ estimates show.
Operating profit for the world’s biggest memory chip and smartphone maker likely jumped to 16.1 trillion won ($14 billion) in the quarter ended September, according to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate from 16 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate.
That would be up 30% from 12.35 trillion won a year earlier and the highest since the third quarter of 2018. Revenue likely rose 11% to 74.6 trillion won, a record high.
An unprecedented global shortage in semiconductor chips amid the pandemic has underpinned Samsung ‘s results and shares, which soared 45% last year and hit a record high at the start of 2021.
But the stock has dropped since then, compounded by losses in September when U.S. peer Micron warned its memory chip shipments would slip in the near term, amid industry views that chip prices will tumble after peaking in July-September.
“Samsung shares have fallen due to Micron’s guidance but unlike Micron, Samsung internalises major components … and has other businesses like mobile and foundry to buoy performance,” said Hanwha Investment & Securities analyst Lee Soon-hak.
