What we’re reading (4/23)
“Investors Are Fearful. They Shouldn’t Be” (CNN Business). “Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Boston Consulting Group’s global chief economist, thinks there’s too much doomsaying on Wall Street. The economy has been extraordinarily resilient for the past few years — consistently proving the naysayers wrong, he says. For all of the market gloom last week, stocks are still near all-time highs, and this earnings season has been strong.”
“FTC Votes To Ban Noncompete Clauses That Bar Employees From Working For Competitors” (CNBC). “If officially implemented, the rule will not only prohibit new noncompete clauses, but will also force companies to scrap their existing noncompetes for all employees except senior executives who earn more than $151,164 annually and who are in policy-making roles.”
“Former CEO Of Buzzy Tech Startup Hit With Prison Time For Fraud” (Business Insider). “The founder of a buzzy Silicon Valley startup was sentenced to prison over a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme — and prosecutors want it to be a lesson to other ‘fake it til you make it’ entrepreneurs. Manish Lachwani, the former CEO of app testing company HeadSpin, was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in prison, plus three years supervised release, for wire fraud and securities fraud, the Department of Justice announced.”
“Cathie Wood’s Popular ARK Funds Are Sinking Fast” (Wall Street Journal). “Cathie Wood’s investors are jumping ship. They rushed into her funds and won big during the pandemic, when the star fund manager became a social-media sensation by making bold bets on disruptive technology stocks such as Tesla, Zoom Video Communications and Roku. They largely stuck with her when the funds’ fortunes reversed after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Now, after years of bruising losses, many of them have had enough.”
“How Can Elon Musk Reassure Tesla Investors?” (DealBook). “Markets aren’t sure the carmaker is on the right track. The cost cuts are only the latest announced in recent months, as Tesla tries to reverse a sales slump while rivals are taking market share. Analysts are especially worried about softening demand in China, a wider E.V. slowdown in the U.S., and that the price reductions are hurting global profit without juicing sales.”
