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• The National Transportation Safety Board did not offer any reasons why a Tesla Model S sedan suddenly caught fire in June in a preliminary report it released on Tuesday about the incident.  
• Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on findings the company has made since the incident.
• The Model S fire first drew attention after the actress Mary McCormack — whose husband, British director Michael Morris, was driving the vehicle — shared a video of it on Twitter. 
•  In its report, the NTSB said the incident caused no injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board did not offer any reasons why a Tesla Model S sedan suddenly caught fire in June in a preliminary report it released on Tuesday about the incident.  

The report provides a detailed timeline of the events that followed the moment when the car, which was on the road in Los Angeles, began emitting smoke. The report does not, however, include any information that provides insight into the fire's possible cause. It can take 12 to 24 months for the NTSB to release full reports about investigations.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on findings the company has made since the incident.

The Model S fire first drew attention after the actress Mary McCormack — whose husband, British director Michael Morris, was driving the vehicle — shared a video of it on Twitter. In the video, fire can be seen beneath the vehicle's front left tire.

"No accident, out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over. And thank god my three little girls weren’t in the car with him," she wrote.

In its preliminary report, the NTSB says the incident didn't cause any injuries.

Tesla has had a contentious relationship with the agency in the past year. After the NTSB began investigating a Model X SUV that crashed into a highway barrier in March while Autopilot — Tesla's semi-autonomous driver-assistance system — was engaged, the company and agency clashed over Tesla's decision to reveal information about the fatal crash on its blog.

As a result, Tesla is no longer a party to the agency's investigation, though the company said it would continue to assist the agency. Each side disagreed over who ended Tesla's party status. The NTSB said it revoked it, while Tesla said it voluntarily chose to remove itself from the party agreement.

The agency is also investigating a fatal Model S crash from May in which the vehicle caught fire after it crashed into a concrete wall. 

Have a Tesla news tip? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

SEE ALSO: 70-hour weeks and 'WTF' emails: 42 employees reveal the frenzy of working at Tesla under the 'cult' of Elon Musk

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• United Airlines became the second major US carrier to increase its fee for checked baggage on Friday, joining JetBlue in charging $30 for a passenger's first checked bag and $40 for a second. 
• The move by the Chicago-based carrier comes just a week after JetBlue raised its fees for checked baggage.  
• "These changes allow us to continue investing in the overall customer experience in today’s marketplace," United Airlines said in a statement to Business Insider.
• Many took to social media to complain about the change. 

United Airlines became the second major US carrier to hike its fee for checked baggage in recent weeks, joining JetBlue Airways in charging $30 for a passenger's first checked bag and $40 for a second checked bag.

United announced on Friday, on the eve of the Labor Day holiday weekend, that it will be increasing fees for checking a first bag from $25 to $30 and a second bag from $35 to $40 for tickets issued on or after August 31. The fees apply to flights to and from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. 

"As we continue to make investments that make travel on United better, we are making adjustments to our checked bag fees in select markets — most of which have not been changed for the past eight years," a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "These changes allow us to continue investing in the overall customer experience in today's marketplace."

United customers with MileagePlus Premier status or who purchase their ticket with a MileagePlus credit card will still receive complimentary checked luggage, the airline added. 

The move by the Chicago-based carrier comes just a week after JetBlue raised its fees for checked baggage to new highs.  

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines both charge $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second, while fees for the third piece of luggage vary. Southwest Airlines is the only large US airline that doesn't charge for a passenger's first two pieces of checked luggage.

In recent years, the airline industry has become increasingly reliant upon ancillary revenue generated by the unbundling of airfares. 

Unbundling is the practice of charging for various services like baggage check, security check, seat assignments, meals, WiFi use, and early boarding outside of the posted ticket price. In short, it's charging little fees for different elements of travel that were once rolled into the price of a ticket. 

After the fee was announced on Friday, multiple users took to Twitter to share their displeasure with United's latest price hike. 

SEE ALSO: Why you have to pay a fortune to get a decent seat on a plane

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Stocks fell Tuesday, with technology and industrials leading indices lower, as trade tensions around the globe kept markets on edge. Amazon, on the other hand, hit a $1 trillion market value, a month after Apple became the first US company to hit the milestone. The dollar and Treasury yields jumped.

Here's the scoreboard:

Dow Jones industrial average: 25,952.82 −12.00 (-0.046%)

S&P 500: 2,893.16 −8.36 (-0.29%)

Nasdaq Composite: 8,091.25−18.29 (-0.23%)

1. The Trump administration is expected to follow through with tariffs on roughly $200 billion worth of  Chinese products this week. Beijing would almost certainly retaliate against the move, which is expected to hit more consumer products than previous tariffs. Separately, NAFTA talks are expected to restart Wednesday after Trump suggested again over the weekend that Mexico and the US could move forward without Canada. 
2. Manufacturing activity in the US surged to its highest level in 14 years in August. A jump in new orders propelled the Institute of Supply Management index from 58.1 in July to 61.3 last month, a peak not seen since May 2004. 
3. Executives from Twitter and Facebook testify before Congress on Wednesday. In back-to-back House and Senate hearings, lawmakers are expected to question Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about political content and how the companies are preparing to combat threats ahead of midterms. Alphabet's Larry Page reportedly refused to attend.
4. Nike is facing backlash after deciding to feature Colin Kaepernick in an ad campaign. The former 49ers quarterback was the first NFL player to kneel during national anthem as a protest against racism. Nike shares were down nearly 3%. 

And a look at the upcoming economic calendar:

• The Bank of Canada announces rate decisions.
• The UK reports factory activity numbers.

SEE ALSO: Amazon becomes the 2nd US company to join the $1 trillion club (AMZN)

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• Nike sank more than 2% following the release of its newest "Just Do It" ad starring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. 
• The ad prompted swift reaction on Twitter, from both supporters and those who say Kaepernick's protests during the national anthem are disrespectful. 
• On Robinhood, investors were piling into the stock at a rate of three times more than usual.
• Watch Nike trade in real time here.

News that Nike had chosen Colin Kaepernick, the polarizing leader of NFL protests during the national anthem, as the 30th anniversary face of its "Just Do It" advertising campaign sent shares down more than 3% on Tuesday.

But while many investors were shedding the stock, traders on Robinhood were doing the exact opposite, the no-fee brokerage told Business Insider.

"Today, investors on Robinhood are buying Nike stock 300% more than they are selling, compared to 12% last week," Sahill Poddar, the app's data scientist, said Tuesday. "Investors in Oregon, where Nike is headquartered, are buying the stock 850% more than they are selling."

Nike is currently the 52nd most-popular stock on the brokerage, and has seen its holdings skyrocket thanks to the campaign. Twenty-two thousand investors currently hold the stock on the app, Robinhood's website shows, up 18% from less than a week ago, according to Business Insider's tracking of the data.

Robinhood users tend to skew much younger than traditional brokerages, and as Business Insider's Josh Barro points out, it's clear that Nike has decided to double down on this under-35 demographic as it seeks to reinvent itself. 

"Companies are maximizing profits as they always did, but they're responding to incentives that have shifted to encourage political participation by brands," Barro wrote.

"As more consumers come to expect brands to reflect their moral and political values, a brand that takes a side on a controversial issue can strengthen its bond with a consumer segment, making them willing to buy more or to buy at a higher price."

Shares of Nike are up 50.6% this year. 

SEE ALSO: Nike slides after tapping Colin Kaepernick as the new face of its 'Just Do It' ads

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• Two months after its founding CEO mysteriously left the company, Apttus has a new majority owner.
• The private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which also owns the cloud security company Barracuda Networks, announced its majority acquisition of Apttus on Tuesday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Apttus, which was last valued at $1.86 billion, previously said it would IPO in 2016, and again in 2017.
• But the company never made it to Wall Street.

Two months after Apttus's founding CEO Kirk Krappe mysteriously exited the company, the sales software startup has a new majority owner.

On Tuesday, the software-heavy private equity firm Thoma Bravo announced that it acquired a majority stake in Apttus. The companies didn't disclosed the terms of the deal.

David Murphy, former president and COO of Blue Coat Systems and a partner at Thoma Bravo, will take over as executive chairman at Apttus, a role left in flux since Krappe's abrupt departure on July 2.

Krappe, who co-founded the company in 2006, was replaced by a newly created "office of the CEO," which it said would run the company until it could find a new CEO. Krappe didn't respond to a request for comment and Apttus declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure.

"What we can say is that Apttus views this development positively and believes Thoma Bravo can instill greater operational excellence, strengthen our market leadership and allow us to continue providing indispensable value to our customers," an Apttus spokesman said of the acquisition. 

Majority acquisition comes after missed IPO promises 

Apttus sells "quote-to-cash" software which integrates with customer relationship management programs like Salesforce to automate the contract and payment process. 

The company was last valued at $1.86 billion in 2017, according to PitchBook, after raising $55 million led by the private equity firm Premji Invest, with participation from existing investors at Salesforce Ventures, K1, IBM Ventures and Iconiq Capital. 

Krappe told TechCrunch that Apttus would IPO in 2016 if it didn't get bought. Later that year, he told MarketWatch that the company intended to go public in 2017, under then-chief financial offer Sydney Carey. In December 2017, however, Carey was replaced as CFO by Terry Schmid. Schmid previously worked as CFO at Imperva, which he took took public in 2011. 

In October 2017, Bloomberg reported that Apttus hired Goldman Sachs to manage the offering.

It's unclear whether Apttus intends to pursue an IPO under its new ownership structure, but that route isn't common when it comes to private equity owners. Typically, private equity firms like Thoma Bravo buy companies like Apttus in order to sell them down the road at a premium. 

In February, Thoma Bravo acquired the cloud security company Barracuda Networks for $1.6 billion. In April 2017, it acquired a minority stake in the security software company McAfee, which was previously part of Intel.

SEE ALSO: 10 unicorn tech startups had major exits last quarter — and the biggest was worth $53 billion

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• Amazon's PillPack acquisition signals its entrance into the online pharmacy space, which is estimated to be worth nearly $300 billion.
• Bernstein analysts think that Amazon will focus on five areas next following the acquisition in order to consolidate operations and expand its market to attract more consumers. 
• The PillPack acquisition might significantly impact other players in the market such as small and independently-owned pharmacies. 

Amazon's move to acquire digital pharmacy startup PillPack in July could have huge ripple effects on the $300 billion online pharmacy market. 

Analysts at Bernstein in a new report estimate that as much as 70% of prescriptions could shift online, and Walmart, CVS and Walgreens could try to acquire their own digital pharmacy startups. 

Amazon, the analysts said, may focus on five areas to increase its appeal and attract more consumers to its service: 

• Improving the user interface and experience in order to capture a wider range of patients. Amazon will likely integrate PillPack into its existing system.
• PillPack's distribution is expected by analysts to operate somewhat separately from Amazon's existing infrastructure for now, since the startup is fully-function as a standalone. Over time, Amazon might look into ways to optimize and combine operations between PillPack and its current model.
• Obtain and expand health insurance coverage. PillPack is covered by most health insurance plans, but this might change post-acquisition as pharmacy benefit managers may re-evaluate coverage. 
• Similar to its acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon might try to leverage Prime membership with its pharmacy offering. This could include offering benefits to those with the memberships and may convince pharmacy benefit managers to include them in the coverage network.
• Amazon is expected to explore follow-on acquisitions to grow its online pharmacy. Analysts think these could include automated kiosks, price shopping tools which will offer coupons and more transparency for patients, specialty home delivery and clinical support infrastructure, and potentially a pharmacy benefit manager. 

With all these potential changes, there are lots of possible implications for other players in the pharmacy space as a result of Amazon's entrance into the market. 

Analysts expect small stores and independent pharmacies to be impacted the most by Amazon pharmacy, as it's likely many will go out of business. In response, larger pharmacies may gain more customers from small pharmacies exiting the market, but may lose some of their own customers in the long-run. It's likely that they will also try to develop online stores in order to stay competitive.

Distributors might be negatively impacted by Amazon pharmacy, though Amazon and PillPack might use a distributor for their operations. Distributors, whose profits come mostly from small and independent pharmacies, will see a change in their partnerships.

SEE ALSO: 10 pharmacy startups that could be M&A targets after Amazon's acquisition of PillPack

SEE ALSO: Amazon's acquisition of PillPack may be a step to capture the growing demographic of patients over 65

SEE ALSO: Amazon just acquired a little-known startup that mails medicine to your door, and it sent pharmacy stocks into a frenzy — here's how PillPack works

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Bitcoin Dark (BTCD), a cryptocurrency that planned to compete with Bitcoin and has been around since 2014, has recently seen its price surge from about $20 to a $100 peak in a matter of hours, before correcting to $80 at press time. This means the cryptocurrency is currently up by over 277% in the last

The post Bitcoin Dark Mysteriously Surges 277% in Suspected Pump and Dump Scheme appeared first on CCN

• A Hawaiian Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Maui on Friday after a canister of pepper spray discharged mid-flight, causing multiple passengers and flight attendants to become ill.
• The TSA confirmed to Business Insider that the small, personal-size pepper-spray canister involved in the incident was seized upon landing
• Fifteen passengers and crew had to be treated for respiratory problems upon landing.
• In an odd twist, this same Hawaiian Airlines flight was delayed prior to take-off after a 15-year-old girl reportedly shared a graphic but staged crime-scene photo with multiple passengers on the plane while trying to text message her mother. 

A Hawaiian Airlines jet made an emergency landing on Friday after a canister of pepper spray discharged mid-flight, causing multiple passengers and flight attendants to become ill. Some of them required medical attention upon landing. 

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 23, a Boeing 767-300ER, was en route to the island of Maui in Hawaii from Oakland, California, when the incident took place. 

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 23 departed from Oakland International Airport at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, August 31 en route to Kahului. According to Hawaiian News Now, numerous people in first and premium classes began coughing and complaining about burning eyes roughly three hours into the flight. A baby also vomited, one passenger told the publication. 

Flight attendants temporarily relocated passengers to the back of the plane to allow the odor to clear before they were allowed to return to their seats. 

"During the cruise portion of the flight from Oakland International Airport (OAK) to Maui's Kahului Airport (OGG), passengers in the forward section of the Boeing 767 experienced an unpleasant odor," Hawaiian Airlines said in a statement to Business Insider. "Out of an abundance of caution, the flight crew declared an emergency to obtain handling priority into and at OGG."

The plane landed in Kahului, Hawaii, around 10:30 a.m local time.

Fifteen people had to be treated for respiratory problems upon landing, including 12 passengers and three flight attendants, the airline said. All were later released. 

According to the airline, the odor came from a pepper-spray canister "brought on board illegally by a passenger."

Pepper spray in canisters as large as four ounces are allowed on flights, but only if it's stored in checked luggage, according to the website for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The TSA confirmed to Business Insider that the agency and the Maui Police Department are investigating the matter. The agency added that the civil penalty for bringing pepper spray onto an airplane can reach $1,960. In some cases, the TSA told us, "aggravating circumstances" can push the penalty even higher.

"The TSA has authority to access civil penalties of up to $13,000 for travelers who bring weapons to airports," the agency said. 

In an odd twist, the same Hawaiian Airlines Flight was delayed prior to take-off due to an unrelated incident in which a 15-year-old teenage girl reportedly shared a graphic but staged crime-scene photo with multiple passengers on the plane. According to the Washington Post, the teen had been trying to AirDrop the photograph to her mother via Bluetooth technology and instead connected to multiple cell phone networks on the plane.

After being notified of the text messages, the pilot returned to the gate, and the flight was delayed an hour and a half while investigators looked into the matter. The girl and her mother were led off the flight and questioned by Alameda County sheriff's deputies but were cleared of any crime, the Post reported. The teen and her family were rebooked on a later flight.

Hawaiian Airlines has apologized for the two unrelated incidents and compensated passengers with a $500 credit.

SEE ALSO: A federal air marshal was hauled off a plane in handcuffs after a flight attendant saw his gun and freaked out

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• Cronos Group, a $2.5 billion Canadian cannabis company, has struck a $122 million deal with Gingko Bioworks.
• The partnership will research ways to make cannabinoids — the active ingredient in marijuana — in a lab instead of from plants. 
• Cronos and other weed stocks were up up as much as 17% following the news. 
• Watch Cronos trade in real time here.

Cronos Group, one of the largest publicly traded medical-marijuana companies, on Tuesday announced a $122 million deal with Ginkgo Bioworks to genetically engineer THC, the active ingredient in cannabis — and it's leading the entire industry higher.

Here's how weed stocks reacted to news of the deal:

• Cronos: +11%
• Canopy Growth: +10%
• Tilray: +17%

Ginkgo, which is based in Boston and counts mega-producers like Bayer and Cargill among its partners, got its start engineering scents for perfumes, Bloomberg reported. The company's scientists can replicate the THC molecules found in marijuana plants in a lab, especially those of specialized compounds like THCV — which can alleviate the "munchies" triggered by weed.

"Many pharmaceutically relevant cannabinoids are present only at very low quantities in the cannabis plant, making them economically impractical, difficult or impossible to extract at high purity and scale," Cronos said in a press release.

"The landmark partnership between Cronos and Ginkgo will leverage the expertise of both organizations to solve this challenge and make more accessible the benefits of cannabinoids in an economically sustainable way."

Lab-engineered cannabis can help companies like Cronos increase their margins by requiring less cultivation of actual plants, which require human tending, light, water, and climate control in order to flourish. Consumers also appear to be favoring non-flower ways of getting high. When Colorado's legal sales began in 2014, dried marijuana accounted for 65% of sales. Today that number hass fallen to 40%. Edibles and vaporizer oils can also provide more regularity in terms of dosage and effect.

Cronos has seen explosive growth in recent months, mostly thanks to Canada's vote to legalize marijuana nationwide beginning this fall, and shares are up 45% since their March initial public offering. But the company has come under fire for growing too quickly — as evidenced in its price-to-earnings ratio of 364 — from short sellers like Citron Research.

Still, Wall Street analysts say Cronos' many partnerships are proof the company clearly has something going for it.

"Cronos stands out as having partnered with high profile companies including MedMenEnterprises, Cura Cannabis Solutions, Mucci Farms, and Pohl-Boskamp GmbH," Martin Landry, an analyst at GMP Securities in Toronto, said in a recent note to clients. 

"These third party endorsements are telling and, in our view, representative of the high quality operations and management team that Cronos has assembled."

SEE ALSO: The 'world's biggest legal-pot dealer' talks about taking his company public and the future of weed

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• Business Insider is launching a new show on Facebook Watch called "Business Insider Today."
• It premieres Tuesday, September 4, and will air every weekday at 5 p.m.
• Watch the trailer below.

On Tuesday, September 4, Business Insider is launching "Business Insider Today."

The new daily show breaks down how the biggest business news affects you, and gives viewers the opportunity to learn about the brands they love and the industry trends they should pay attention to.

Airing every weekday at 5 p.m., the show will be a daily video version of Business Insider produced specifically for Facebook Watch. "BI Today" will include the day's top business news as well as interviews, investigations, features, and a daily markets update.

"'Business Insider Today' is an exciting next step for what has already been an amazing several years for our video teams," CEO Henry Blodget said. "We continue to see our video audience and engagement set records across all platforms. In July, we set a new high of more than 4 billion views for the month."

Check back at 5 p.m. for the first full episode.

Watch the trailer of the new show below:

Watch all the episodes when they go live on Facebook Watch »

Join our Facebook group to keep the conversation going »

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• InterActiveCorp owns more than 150 worldwide brands such as Match Group, ANGI Homeservices, and Vimeo.
• Match Group's Tinder is still in the early innings of monetization.
• Industry tailwinds and long-term international opportunity are favorable for  ANGI  Homeservices.
• Watch InterActiveCorp trade in real time here.

---

 InterActiveCorp (IAC) is the "unsung hero of the internet" in the eyes of Jefferies analysts and shares will likely to soar due to the potential of the brands it owns in global media and the internet space. The firm says IAC shares are likely to soar 20% to $240 apiece.   

"IAC remains a top mid-cap pick and despite recent outperformance we continue to believe the stock is undervalued," the group, led by Brent Thill, said in a note sent out to clients on Monday.

The internet company, with a $15 billion market cap, owns more than 150 brands. Among them are Match Group, which operates several US online dating sites including Tinder, and ANGI Homeservices, the world's largest digital marketplace for home services.

 "Around 3.8 million paid Tinder subs is less than the incoming freshmen college class in the U.S. alone (4-5 million)," the team wrote.

"We continue to believe that Tinder remains in the early innings of monetization. Industry tailwinds are favorable for ANGI (90% of service requests are executed offline, around $400 billion domestic total addressable market) and the long-term international opportunity should help fuel future growth."

As of June 30, InterActiveCorp had 81.2% economic interest and 97.6% voting interest in Match Group. For ANGI Homeservices, InterActiveCorp had 86.4% economic interest and 98.5% voting interest, according to the company's second-quarter reports.

Jefferies is also bullish on InterActiveCorp's other brands — like Vimeo — which it says has a valuation lag. "Vimeo is the most interesting asset, but there hasn't been an inflection point for user growth," they wrote.

"Sub growth has been modest (low teen), but revenue growth has been better due to an increase in adjustable-rate preferred stock."

Jefferies estimates IAC's non MTCH/ANGI businesses (which trade at around a negative $4 billion value) will bring in more revenue this year than Redfin, Trade Desk, and Chegg combined.

The team raised its target price from $225 to $240, and maintained its "buy" rating.

InterActiveCorp shares are up 54% since this year.

 

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Brave Browser CEO Brendan Eich, who created Firefox and JavaScript, has clarified the decision of the Brave team to utilize a token called BAT over Bitcoin to incentivize publishers on the network. BAT Over Bitcoin As CCN reported last month, Brave Browser has demonstrating a rapid rate of growth throughout 2018, achieving 10 million downloads

The post Firefox Founder Explains Why Brave Browser Couldn’t Use Bitcoin Instead of BAT appeared first on CCN

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Jeremy Grantham has predicted every modern financial bubble — here's where he says you should be putting your money

Don't sweat the small stuff. Stay focused on the big picture.

These are two commonly espoused pearls of wisdom that are frequently heard and then promptly ignored by investors.

That's because nobody wants to miss out on whatever market fad is most profitable at a given time. And no one is more familiar with this than institutional investors who manage money for other people.

As people get increasingly caught up in the everyday minutiae, the pressure on money managers mounts to keep pace with the market. It's a dynamic that has played out repeatedly throughout the 9-1/2-year bull market, which is now the longest on record.

Amazon becomes the 2nd US company to join the $1 trillion club

It’s official: Amazon is the second American company to achieve a valuation of more than $1 trillion.

Shares of the e-commerce giant gained about 2% in trading Tuesday  to hit an all-time high of $2,050.27. Multiplied by the current number of shares outstanding — 487,741,189 — that puts the company’s book value just over the same symbolic milestone that Apple hit less than one month ago.

One trillion is a difficult number to imagine, regardless of what's being counted. And even less so when it's the value of a 24-year-old company with a plethora of business units in addition to its core retail focus. For context, the entire US stock market — the sum of all publicly traded American companies including Amazon — hit $30 trillion back in January.

A major shakeup is underway at Citigroup as three top Citi execs are leaving the company, including CFO John Gerspach.

Gerspach, who joined Citi in 1990 and has been CFO for the past nine years, is retiring in March of next year, according to an internal memo from CEO Michael Corbat viewed by Business Insider.

Mark Mason, the CFO of the bank's Institutional Clients Group, will succeed Gerspach.

Additionally, Jim Cowles, the CEO of the bank's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, is leaving to start a nonprofit at the end of this year, and Bill Mills, the CEO of North American operations, will retire at the end of the year, according to the memo. They worked at Citi for 39 years and 36 years, respectively.

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• "We no longer recommend any US equity exposure above an investor's benchmark," said a team of equity strategists at Morgan Stanley led by Andrew Sheets. 
• They have shifted to a neutral weight and are adding to a corner of the credit market instead. 
• They also outlined the conditions that would move them to an underweight position in stocks. 

Morgan Stanley is going to zero on US stocks — relative to its benchmark. 

A team led by Andrew Sheets, the chief cross-asset strategist, has shifted to a neutral weight on stocks amid doubt the market can extend its rally from here. 

"While our cycle models remain in 'expansion', a phase that has historically seen valuation overshoots, we are increasingly concerned that the bulk of this tailwind is already behind us," Sheets said in a note on Monday.

"We no longer recommend any US equity exposure above an investor's benchmark."

The S&P 500 has already zoomed past Morgan Stanley's year-end target of 2,750, and it now faces "outright downside" risk, Sheets said. 

This recent rally isn't a sufficient reason on its own for investors to shed stocks, and so Sheets offered a few other reasons for caution. 

First is an unusual gap between how US stocks and risky assets elsewhere are performing. The "extreme divergence," according to Sheets, is notable in the face of the weakness in emerging markets, credit, copper prices (a gauge of global economic growth) among others. 

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, non-US equities have underperformed the US by the most since the recession, and investors must make a call on whether they think global growth can lead to a turnaround.

Sheets listed nearly a dozen material events this year that could answer that question, from potential US tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to the US midterm elections.

Beyond these headlines, earnings growth matters most to stocks. On that front, Sheets says companies are approaching their peak, judging by the consensus expectation for a top in the third quarter. 

In the place of stocks, Morgan Stanley's strategists have added to securitized credit: pools of consumer debt that are packaged into assets investors can buy. 

It goes without saying that these kinds of bundles — specifically of subprime mortgages — were instrumental to causing the 2008 financial crisis. However, Morgan Stanley is skewed towards the high-quality end of this market in three ways: 

• Senior tranches of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) offer materially higher all-in yields relative to recent history, thanks to wider spreads and higher Libor.
• Consumer asset-backed securities (ABS) and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) benefit from relatively healthy consumer balance sheets (which stand in stark contrast to high corporate gearing).
• Spreads on agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) have also seen material widening for a high-quality market.

Sheets is the first to acknowledge that this swing away from equities and into securitized credit could go wrong. In fact, he noted that Morgan Stanley was largely wrong on its earlier call that volatility would rise during the summer. 

However, the strategists are also ready to go from a neutral weighting in stocks to an outright underweight if a number of conditions are fulfilled. These include worsening labor markets and consumer confidence, tighter financial conditions, and signs of a bigger earnings slowdown than is currently expected.  

SEE ALSO: Global markets have not been this polarized since the Great Recession — here's Bank of America's game plan to find the strongest winners

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• A shakeup is underway at the top levels of Citigroup, with three senior executives set to depart the firm.
• CFO John Gerspach is retiring next March, according to an internal memo from CEO Michael Corbat. 
• Jim Cowles, the CEO of the bank's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, is leaving to start a nonprofit at the end of this year, and Bill Mills, the CEO of North American operations, will retire at the end of the year, according to the memo.
• Additionally, Corbat announced Kristine Braden, the bank's country officer for Switzerland, as his new chief of staff. 

A major shakeup is underway at Citigroup as three top Citi execs are leaving the company, including CFO John Gerspach.

Gerspach, who joined Citi in 1990 and has been CFO for the past nine years, is retiring in March of next year, according to an internal memo from CEO Michael Corbat viewed by Business Insider. 

Mark Mason, the CFO of the bank's Institutional Clients Group, will succeed Gerspach.

Additionally, Jim Cowles, the CEO of the bank's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, is leaving to start a nonprofit at the end of this year, and Bill Mills, the CEO of North American operations, will retire at the end of the year, according to the memo. They worked at Citi for 39 years and 36 years, respectively. 

"Three members of our leadership team have made the difficult decision that it is time for them to leave Citi and begin the next stage of their lives," Corbat wrote in the memo. "They all worked incredibly hard to get our firm to where we are today—Citi is indisputably strong and stable, with a clear trajectory for continued growth."

Additionally, Kristine Braden, the bank's country officer for Switzerland, is replacing Sara Wechter as Corbat's chief of staff. Wechter was promoted to run human resources for the firm in April after Mike Murray stepped down. 

This story is developing.

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Bitcoin on Tuesday continued its uptrend, rising close to 3 percent since its intraday low from yesterday. The BTC/USD pair today opened near 7272-fiat while correcting from its previous low around 7248-fiat. At the beginning of the Asian trading session, the pair stayed on a stable and steady uptrend. As the session matured, and European

The post Bitcoin Price Intraday Analysis: BTC/USD Near Breakout appeared first on CCN

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

• Since 2010, at least three gene and cell therapies have been developed and approved by the FDA for use, yet barely any patients are using them. 
• The treatments, priced as high as $1 million, target rare diseases, and only have to be taken on time by patients. 
• A report by IQVIA and The Arm Foundation highlights the need for new payment and reimbursement models for these therapies in order to get more patients to use them. 
• Some pharmaceutical companies are already testing out different pricing models. 

A revolutionary new way to treat rare disease in the Western world came out in 2016 — yet few people are using it.  

The drug, a form of gene therapy — in which a virus is programmed to either replace, add or snip out a certain gene — has been attracting attention because of its potential to tackle a range of diseases. 

Cell therapies like CAR-T cell treatment for cancer take a patient's own immune cell and alter it to specifically target cancer cells. Many of these treatments only need to be administered once, and if they work, could have lifetime effectiveness. Current gene therapies have mainly been developed to treat inherited and rare diseases. 

The cutting-edge treatments, however, have been a hard sell. Although these advanced therapies helped usher in a new era of using therapeutics to specifically target an individual's DNA, one gene therapy, Glybera, has only been used once since its approval in the European Union in 2012. Its maker, UniQure, decided to ultimately pull it from the market due to a lack of demand. 

In 2017, the same thing happened. GlaxoSmithKline's Strimvelis, used to treat an ultra-rare immune deficiency, has a price tag of $648,000. It was used on a child patient in Europe who became the second person to receive a commercially available gene therapy. Since then, GSK decided to offer the treatment only in Italy at the Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan. 

Why is this happening? A recent analysis published by IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science and The Arm Foundation for Cell and Gene Medicine noted that gene and cell therapies are expensive for patients, who often have to shell out large copays for the treatment. This raises the barrier for access to these treatments, plus, they're only offered at a small number of accredited centers, according to the research report. 

Drugmakers face challenges as well. Since the therapies cater to those with rare diseases, it sets a small target patient population which makes it hard to demonstrate clinically that it is the best treatment option. Drugmakers also have to account for the experiments, research, and development going into the product, which can be expensive.

It's also to know how long these treatments last for, so insurers may be hesitant to dish out over $100,000 up-front for the drugs. 

The challenge of getting these drugs used has big pharmaceutical companies scrambling to justify and come up with fair pricing. 

After Luxturna launched, Spark came out with three different payment schemes, such as paying for the treatment based on how well it works and allowing for it to be paid for over time, in order to attract more patients to use it.

Novartis in May said it plans to use indication-based pricing, in which the price of its cancer drug Kymriah will vary depending on the type of cancer it's being used to treat. Instead of charging all patients the same price, Novartis priced the drug higher for the disease with a smaller patient population and lower for the disease with a larger patient population.

Drugmakers are also looking to outcomes-based agreements, which means that companies are looking into new and more innovative payment contracts in order to gain access to more patients. 

But these strategies might not work in non-single payer systems such as the US healthcare system. With single-payer systems, government can help flesh out a payment schedule for the drug. But for a healthcare system with multiple private insurers and people switching insurance all the time, long-term payment becomes trickier for treatments that are more costly.

"Fragmented US system makes it challenging for stakeholders to accept one-time or financed payments for a lifetime benefit," the report stated. "US health system infrastructure will need to be modified as the current 12-month financial cycle does not capture long-term value of [cell and gene therapies]."

Challenges aside, new cell therapies and gene therapies are still entering the market. In 2017, the FDA approved Spark Therapeutics' gene therapy for a hereditary form of blindness called Leber congenital amaurosis.

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• The Trump administration is considering getting rid of a little-known practice in the pharmaceutical industry — here's who Goldman says are the winners and losers
• Oklahoma is implementing a new program that only pays big pharma full price if their drugs work

SEE ALSO: A new way to tackle aging could have the potential to upend a $20 billion market

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• Amazon is the second US company to reach a $1 trillion valuation, after Apple hit the milestone earlier this month.
• The stock gained 2% to hit the magic number of $2,050.27 per share on Tuesday.
• Follow Amazon's stock price in real time here. 

It’s official: Amazon is the second American company to achieve a valuation of more than $1 trillion.

Shares of the e-commerce giant gained about 2% in trading Tuesday  to hit an all-time high of $2,050.27. Multiplied by the current number of shares outstanding — 487,741,189 — that puts the company’s book value just over the same symbolic milestone that Apple hit less than one month ago.

One trillion is a difficult number to imagine, regardless of what's being counted. And even less so when it's the value of a 24-year-old company with a plethora of business units in addition to its core retail focus. For context, the entire US stock market — the sum of all publicly traded American companies including Amazon — hit $30 trillion back in January.

Even more telling is Amazon's size when compared to the entire national stock markets of other countries. It's book value is now greater than that of every stock listed in all but 13 countries, including those of Taiwan, Spain, and Italy, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.

For the fiscal year 2017, Amazon and its 560,000 employees around the world reported total sales of $177.87 billion, netting it an adjusted profit of $6.15 per share, according to the company's annual report. 

But of that massive revenue, retail is slowly beginning to take a backseat to other, higher-margin services. Amazon Web Services, for instance, a unit that provides hosting and cloud computing for other businesses, brought in $20 billion of revenue in 2017.

Here’s the breakdown of how Morgan Stanley — one of the stock’s most bullish sell-side shops —sees Amazon’s five main units in terms of value:

Note that Morgan Stanley's theoretical breakdown assumes a stock price of $2,500 — higher than Amazon's current price, and thus a market value of slightly higher at $1.32 trillion.

Such astronomical growth from a small, Seattle book seller to one of the world’s biggest companies, has made its founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, easily the richest person in the world. The 54-year-old is now worth more than $166 billion, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index on Tuesday. The riches have largely come through his ownership of 16.3% of Amazon’s outstanding stock. Bezos brought home an annual salary of $81,840 in 2017, according to regulatory filings.

"This year marks the 20th anniversary of our first shareholder letter, and our core values and approach remain unchanged," Bezos said in his 2017 letter to shareholders in March of this year.

"We continue to aspire to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, and we recognize this to be no small or easy challenge. We know there is much we can do better, and we find tremendous energy in the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead."

SEE ALSO: IT'S OFFICIAL: Apple is the first US company worth $1 trillion

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The price of Litecoin (LTC) recorded its highest price in a month on Tuesday as the broader market picks up the bid.

• Audi began producing its electric e-tron SUV in Brussels on Monday, the company said in a press release.
• According to Audi, the e-tron will have a range of over 248 miles, two motors that deliver 414 pound-feet of torque, and the ability to accelerate from 0-60 mph in under six seconds.
• Audi plans to start delivering the e-tron to US customers in early 2019.
• The e-tron, along with Jaguar's upcoming I-Pace SUV, will be the first Tesla Model X competitors available in the United States.

Audi began producing its electric e-tron SUV in Brussels on Monday, the company said in a press release.

The company said its Brussels plant had received extensive modifications to handle production for the e-tron, which is Audi's first fully electric vehicle. The plant is carbon-neutral, which means it releases net zero carbon dioxide emissions, mostly due to using renewable energy sources.

Audi has so far shared photos of the e-tron in a camouflaged exterior and will unveil the vehicle's production version and begin taking reservations from US customers on September 17. The automaker plans to start delivering the e-tron to US customers in early 2019.

According to Audi, the e-tron will have a range of over 248 miles, two motors that deliver 414 pound-feet of torque, and the ability to accelerate from 0-60 mph in under six seconds. When using a 150 kW DC high-speed charger, the e-tron will be able to achieve an 80% charge in around 30 minutes, Audi says. Depending on the trim, Tesla's Model X SUV has a maximum range of 295 miles and can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds.

The e-tron, along with Jaguar's upcoming I-Pace SUV, will be the first Model X competitors available in the United States. Once the e-tron and I-Pace are released, they may give a sense of whether, in the short-term, luxury electric SUVs can capture market share primarily through increased demand for high-end electric vehicles, or by competing for a relatively static number of customers.

SEE ALSO: 30 electric cars you'll see on the road by 2025

SEE ALSO: These 10 electric SUVs will take on Tesla's Model X

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• China is considering merging China Telecom and China Unicom, two of its biggest mobile-phone carriers, according to Bloomberg.
• A merger would leave the country's telecommunication industry with two mega carriers, CT/Unicom unit and China Mobile, allowing both to aggressively pursue 5G technology.
• This allocation is prompted by an escalating competition in 5G technology amid an escalating  trade war between the US and China.
  

An escalating trade war is prompting China to consider merging two of its biggest mobile-phone carriers to dominate competition over US in 5G, the next-generation of high-speed wireless technology, according to Jefferies analysts. 

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Joost van der Burgt, a policy advisor at the Dutch National Bank, said that the Bitcoin price will endure at least one more correction prior to initiating the next mid-term rally. Burgt demonstrated the correlation between Google search activity of the keyword “Bitcoin” and the price chart of BTC, which showed striking similarities from May

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• US equities are outperforming non-US risk assets to a degree that hasn't been seen since the financial crisis, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. 
• The key question investors need to answer is whether this is a buying opportunity, implying that global growth would continue and help emerging markets rebound.
• The cross-asset investing team recommended some trades that would benefit from a recovery in risk assets and yet hedge against slower growth. 

US markets are headed in the opposite direction to the rest of the world. 

Last week, US stocks extended their recovery from the correction in February and powered to new highs. Strong second-quarter earnings were powerful enough to make this the longest-running bull market — a feat which was confirmed on Friday, August 23, when the S&P 500 closed above its January high of 2,872.87.   

However, emerging-market stocks and other risky assets are still stuck in a rut.

The S&P 500 has gained 8.6% this year, but the MSCI Emerging Markets index has slumped by almost the same magnitude (-8.7%).

The pain in emerging markets has not been limited to equities. Turkey's lira, which lost more than one-third of its value in August, is perhaps the poster child of a sell-off in EM currencies that's was partly triggered by higher US interest rates. And right on cue, the emerging-markets carry trade, in which investors borrowed in US dollars to invest in foreign places with higher interest rates, has also fallen sharply. ...

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SEE ALSO: 2 of the most successful stock pickers of 2018 say a trait shared by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos holds the key to their success

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• Jeremy Grantham, the cofounder and chief investment strategist at the $71 billion Grantham, Mayo, & van Otterloo, has become a world-renowned market voice by calling every modern financial bubble — including the past two stock meltdowns.
• In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, the industry legend reveals his big investment pick for the future and provides a detailed explanation.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Stay focused on the big picture.

These are two commonly espoused pearls of wisdom that are frequently heard and then promptly ignored by investors.

That's because nobody wants to miss out on whatever market fad is most profitable at a given time. And no one is more familiar with this than institutional investors who manage money for other people.

As people get increasingly caught up in the everyday minutiae, the pressure on money managers mounts to keep pace with the market. It's a dynamic that has played out repeatedly throughout the 9-1/2-year bull market, which is now the longest on record.

Jeremy Grantham, the cofounder and chief investment strategist at the $71 billion Grantham, Mayo, & van Otterloo, doesn't think this is the right approach. ...

Sponsored:  If you enjoyed reading this story so far, why don’t you join Business Insider PRIME? Business Insider provides visitors from MSN with a special offer.  Simply click here to claim your deal and get access to all exclusive Business Insider PRIME benefits.

SEE ALSO: The legendary investor who predicted the past 2 bubbles breaks down how the 9-year bull market will end

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• MoviePass parent Helios & Matheson has remained a popular target for short sellers, even as shares of the company trade near two cents.
• It's rare for short sellers to continue piling into bets against a company that's already fallen so far, according to financial-analytics firm S3 Partners.
• Watch Helios & Matheson trade in real time here.

Shares of Helios & Matheson Analytics, the parent company of much-maligned MoviePass, have plummeted more than 99% in recent months.

But that doesn't seem to be enough for ruthless short sellers, who are continuing to load up on bets the company's stock is headed to zero.

It's unusual behavior for investors to continue wagering against a stock once its price has fallen below $1 a share, according to financial-analytics firm S3 Partners. At that point, traders usually close out positions and take profits.

But the high-profile nature of MoviePass — combined with the speed of its decline — has clearly kept the attention of investors, even as shares hover near just two cents. Their insistence upon continuing to short, even at such depressed levels, suggests a high degree of conviction.

The chart below shows notional short interest — a measure of bets against a stock — for Helios & Matheson. As you can see, it's surged in recent months as MoviePass' woes have mounted.

This insatiable desire for short-selling profits stands in stark contrast to the issues faced by the legions of retail shareholders who have taken deep losses. And to make matters worse, as Helios & Matheson's stock has tumbled, the company has covered massive losses by selling new shares to passionate investors.

Meanwhile, the fundamentals of Helios & Matheson are getting shakier by the day. Just last week, a director resigned from the company's board, accusing management of withholding material information for months. A few days earlier, reports began trickling out that MoviePass was making life difficult for annual subscribers who wanted refunds.

And that's just in recent days.

All of the negative turmoil could explain why short sellers have been so adamant about continuing to bet against a company that's already quite beaten down.

"Usually we see a plateauing of shares shorted when we get to such low price levels because traders don’t see much meat on the bone," Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3's managing director of predictive analytics, told Business Insider over email.

"But in HMNY’s case, traders must be thinking that HMNY’s stock price will go to $0.00, otherwise they wouldn’t be initiating new short positions."

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• Jeremy Grantham has predicted every modern financial bubble — here's where he says you should be putting your money
• GOLDMAN SACHS: Buying these 17 stocks could help you crush the market as Trump's trade war heats up
• There's a new area of the stock market that's quietly crushing it — here are some simple trades that can get you in on the action

SEE ALSO: Jeremy Grantham has predicted every modern financial bubble — here's where he says you should be putting your money

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• South Africa's economy entered a recession for the first time in nearly a decade. 
• Gross domestic product fell 0.7% in the second quarter, dragged down by weak performance in the agricultural sector. 
• The South African rand plunged more than 2% following the report.

South Africa's economic growth slowed unexpectedly in the second quarter, pushing the country into a recession for the first time since 2009. 

Gross domestic product in Africa's most developed economy fell by 0.7% from April to June, the national statistics agency said in a report Tuesday, compared with expectations for 0.6% growth. That followed a 2.6% contraction in the previous quarter. 

The contraction was partly driven by weak performance in the South African agricultural sector, which declined by 11% after a major drought affected parts of the Western Cape earlier this year. Meanwhile, the trade and transport sectors also saw output declines.

Jason Tuvey, a senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said he expects economic conditions to improve over the rest of this year. 

"Today’s data will further dent hopes that Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency would lead to a marked turnaround in South Africa’s economic fortunes," Tuvey said. 

The South African rand, which has been under pressure throughout the last several months, extended losses following the report. The currency fell as much as 2.6% to 15.2268 against the dollar. Yields on rand-denominated government bonds spiked 22 basis points to 9.22%, the highest level since Ramaphosa was elected leader of the ruling African National Congress in December.

SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, TSLA, JD)

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The focus on a Bitcoin ETF has shifted from its possibility thereof to the timing of an imminent approval. With several predictions from different quarters already, recent statements are suggesting 2019 to be a more realistic date of approval. One of the most pertinent questions surrounding Bitcoin today revolves around the anticipated ETF approval by

The post Bitcoin ETF Will Likely Be Approved Next Year: Asset Manager appeared first on CCN

• Colin Kaepernick is the new face of Nike's "Just Do It" ad campaign.
• Shares of the sneaker giant fell more than 2% in early trading Wednesday following the former quarterback's tweet.
• Follow Nike's stock price in real-time here.

Nike fell as much as 2.7% in early trading Tuesday after the sneaker giant revealed it had signed Colin Kaepernick as the 30th anniversary face of its famous "just Do It" ad campaign.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback — and leader of polarizing protests during the national anthem — has not played since 2016, when he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers.

He has since accused team owners of collusion to keep him out of the league. An arbitrator ruled last week that his case against the NFL can proceed to a full hearing, despite objections from the league.

"Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything," the 30-year-old said in a tweet Monday that included a photo from the campaign. Nike has represented Kaepernick since 2011, but hasn't featured him in ads for two years, according to ESPN.

The issue of players kneeling during the National Anthem is could once again take center stage as the NFL season kicks off on Thursday. The players' union and league officials remain deadlocked over a May agreement between the two groups which said players would not be required to be on the field for the anthem, but any player who was on the field must stand or face a fine.

"Nike supports athletes and their right to freedom of expression on issues that are of great importance to our society," the company said in a statement last year when it faced backlash for supporting Kaepernick amid his protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

Nike is used to making a splash

When the French Open banned Serena Williams' black catsuit in August, the company released an image defending her that said, "You can take the superhero out of her costume, but you can never take away her superpowers."

The original "Just Do It" ad campaign premiered in 1988, when Nike featured 80-year-old Walt Stack jogging across the Golden Gate Bridge. Kaepernick's spot is in celebration of the ad's 30th anniversary, ESPN reported.

"We believe Colin is one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward," Nike's vice president of brand for North America Gino Fisanotti told ESPN.

Nike shares are up 29.5% this, but boycotts could hurt the brand — at least if the vitriol from Twitter hurts the brand's sales.

The hashtag #NikeBoycott was among the top trending topics on Twitter on Tuesday morning, with users posting images of themselves burning and ripping their Nike shoes and apparel, Reuters reported.

Rebecca Harrington contributed to this article.

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• There's a $1 trillion question hanging over stocks right now — and the answer could determine the ultimate fate of the market
• GOLDMAN SACHS: Buying these 17 stocks could help you crush the market as Trump's trade war heats up

SEE ALSO: Here's how brands are responding to Trump's criticism of the NFL anthem protests

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• Japanese retailer Muji is reportedly planning to shift its European headquarters out of the UK because of Brexit.
• Bloomberg reports that it may move to Germany.
• The possibility of Muji's move has emerged less than a week after electronics giant Panasonic confirmed it will shift its European HQ from the town of Bracknell to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.
• Japanese companies are worried about how possible Brexit-induced tax changes could impact their profitability.

The Japanese retailer Muji is reportedly ready to move its European headquarters out of the UK in preparation for Brexit, becoming the latest in a line of companies from the world's third-largest economy in ditching Britain as it prepares to leave the EU.

According to a report from Bloomberg on Tuesday morning, which cites people familiar with the firm's ambitions, Muji is preparing plans to move its European base to Germany as a result of Brexit, which many Japanese companies believe could have a serious impact on their ability to make money in Europe.

"As a company we’re reviewing the risks from Brexit and always considering all available options," a spokeswoman for Muji told Bloomberg.

"We have not made a decision on moving our office since no new location has been decided on."

Muji operates 12 stores in the UK, and employs around 50 staff in its London HQ.

The possibility of Muji's move has emerged less than a week after Japanese electronics giant Panasonic confirmed it will shift its European HQ from the town of Bracknell to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.

Japanese firms fear that Brexit could lead to changes in the way the UK taxes corporations, which could in turn lead to higher taxes back in Japan.

Effectively, if the UK lowers its corporate tax further after Brexit, as it has suggested could happen, it could be considered by the Japanese government to be a tax haven.

If that were the case, it could lead to Japanese companies facing back taxes from central government, aimed at discouraging Japanese organisations from having offices in tax havens.

Talk of Muji leaving the UK move comes just over a week after the head of Japan's biggest business lobbyist said that Japanese businesses are "seriously concerned" about their future in the UK if Brexit uncertainty is not addressed imminently.

"We just can't do anything," Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of Keidanren, the Japanese business federation, said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Tuesday. "Everyone is seriously concerned." 

Nakanishi told the FT that Japanese businesses operating in the EU are frustrated — like many UK businesses — by the lack of any real clarity over what sort of Brexit the UK will actually achieve when the Article 50 period runs out in March next year.

"Various scenarios get discussed, from no Brexit to plunging into Brexit without any kind of deal at all," Nakanishi added. "We're now in a situation where we have to consider what to do in all of them." 

SEE ALSO: $71 billion Japanese giant Panasonic is pulling its European headquarters out of the UK — and Brexit is to blame

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Bitcoin's weekly MACD indicator has risen above zero for the first time since January, confirming a long-term bearish-to-bullish trend change.

Here is what you need to know.

South Africa enters a recession. The South African economy contracted 0.7% quarter-over-quarter in Q2, making for two consecutive quarters of negative growth and sending the rand down 2.45% to 15.2227 per dollar.

Argentina launches a sweeping new austerity program to try to solve its economic crisis. Argentina late on Monday revealed new austerity measures — including an increase in export tariffs for grains such as soybeans and a halving of the number of government agencies — aimed at reducing the country's huge budget deficit.

Australia holds rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.5% for a 25th consecutive meeting.

Jeremy Grantham explains where you should be putting your money. The cofounder and chief investment strategist at the $71 billion Grantham, Mayo, & van Otterloo shared with Business Insider his contrarian play for investors who can afford a longer time horizon.

China is considering merging two of its biggest mobile-phone carriers. Officials are considering a merger between China United Network Communications Group Co. and China Telecommunications Corp. with the hope of speeding up the development of 5G, Bloomberg says, citing people familiar with the matter.

One of China's richest men was arrested in the US on sexual-misconduct allegations, then left the country. Liu Qiangdong, the founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, was detained in Minneapolis over the weekend on a sexual-misconduct allegation — but has returned to China after not being charged with a crime.

Tesla reportedly misses its Model 3 production target in August. The electric-car maker produced about 4,300 Model 3 sedans during the last week of August — shy of its goal of 6,000 a week, but remains on track to meet its quarterly goal of producing 50,000 to 55,000 vehicles, according to the auto-news website Electrek.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+1.1%) led the gains in Asia, and France's CAC (-0.91%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,903.

Earnings reports trickle out. RH reports after markets close.

US economic data flows. Markit manufacturing PMI will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET before construction spending and ISM Manufacturing cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET. US auto sales will be announced throughout the day. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.87%.

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• Jeremy Grantham, the cofounder and chief investment strategist at the $71 billion Grantham, Mayo, & van Otterloo, has become a world-renowned market voice by calling every modern financial bubble — including the past two stock meltdowns.
• In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, the industry legend reveals his big investment pick for the future and provides a detailed explanation.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Stay focused on the big picture.

These are two commonly espoused pearls of wisdom that are frequently heard and then promptly ignored by investors.

That's because nobody wants to miss out on whatever market fad is most profitable at a given time. And no one is more familiar with this than institutional investors who manage money for other people.

As people get increasingly caught up in the everyday minutiae, the pressure on money managers mounts to keep pace with the market. It's a dynamic that has played out repeatedly throughout the 9-1/2-year bull market, which is now the longest on record.

Jeremy Grantham, the cofounder and chief investment strategist at the $71 billion Grantham, Mayo, & van Otterloo, doesn't think this is the right approach.

He prefers to take a much broader view — one that involves looking at unpopular areas that, as a result, look attractively priced compared with the rest of the market. It may mean tough times in the near term but can pay off in spades further down the line.

Not all return-hungry investors are blessed with that much leeway in the immediate term. But for those afforded longer time horizons, Grantham has a big investment pick: emerging markets.

Sure, the area has been under serious pressure lately as President Donald Trump's trade war has clouded the economic outlook for China and its EM counterparts, but Grantham doesn't necessarily see that as a bad thing. He views it as an opportunity to buy at cheaper levels.

If you're skeptical of Grantham's suggestion, consider what has made him a world-renowned investor. He predicted the dot-com and housing bubbles that wound up crushing markets. And his otherworldly prescience actually extends back to the late 1980s, when he called a bubble in Japanese equities and real estate.

Business Insider recently spoke with Grantham and got the details around his big contrarian recommendation. Note that his responses have been edited for clarity and length (emphasis ours).

"I like emerging markets, particularly because, in this mess of changing variables, the asset-class level tends to be pleasantly old-fashioned. When you’re talking about an asset class as broad as emerging, and it measures so much cheaper than the US, you pretty well know that it’s accurate.

"When you get hit by unexpected US activities that have weakened EM currencies and made them very nervous about exports, it’s like the good old days. You buy a cheap asset, and it goes down. Been there, done that many times. What do you do? You buy some more, but not immediately.

"You’ve learned the hard way — decade after decade — that you average down reluctantly. You allow the price to be dragged slowly. The market can always hurt you and diverge, despite your brilliant analysis, and go against you quite a lot. More than you think.

"So grind your teeth and hold your reserves back, and then reluctantly let them go and average down. And then, they bounce back, and you’ll make a splendid longer-term return on you averaging money, and eventually on your whole position. That’s the way investing used to work at the stock level. And now, I have no reason to believe it won’t work at the asset-class level.

"Emerging markets look the best. They've underperformed the US market by 10%, making it 10% better. Emerging looks to me like the future. The prices are cheaper. What’s not to like?

"If you get caught in a bear market, and you have to hold these things for 10, 15 years, they are likely to do perfectly well for you. The longer-term return from today’s prices for emerging are likely to be quite acceptable. That’s perhaps not as much as you’d like, but a perfectly dignified compound return. I suspect that’s not the case with the S&P 500, or even other developed areas. It could work particularly well if you tilt toward the cheaper industries and sectors within emerging."

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• Paul Pester, the Chief Executive of TSB has stepped down on Tuesday following an IT meltdown in April that affected millions of customers and is still causing problems.
• Richard Meddings, a former chair at the bank, will take Pester's place in the interim as they do a "full public search" for a new chief executive.
• The news comes after British MP’s put pressure on Pester to resign in June, saying that he should give "serious consideration as to whether his position was sustainable."

The chief executive of TSB, Paul Pester, has stepped down following a disastrous IT upgrade and meltdown in April, which affected millions of customers and is still causing disruption five months on.

Pester, who has headed the bank for seven years, will hand the reins to non-executive director Richard Meddings with immediate effect. Meddings will run the bank temporarily as it does a "full public search" for a new chief executive.

Meddings admitted the IT problems were yet to be fully resolved as he announced the departure of Pester. Over the weekend there was another systems outage which hit thousands of customers.

"Although there is more to do to achieve full stability for customers, the bank’s IT systems and services are much improved since the IT migration," Meddings said.

"Paul and the board have therefore agreed that this is the right time to appoint a new chief executive for TSB. Our goal is therefore to allow a full search to commence, without any distractions, enabling TSB to build for the future."

The news comes months after British MP’s put pressure on Pester to resign in June, saying that he should give "serious consideration as to whether his position was sustainable."

Pester said, "The last few months have been challenging for everyone at TSB. However, I want to thank all my colleagues across TSB for their dedication and commitment during this period and for their focus on putting things right for TSB customers."

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Since early August, Bitcoin has shown a level of stability it hasn’t seen since early 2017. Throughout this week, bitcoin price has remained above the $7,200 mark. Since Sunday, the cryptocurrency market has not seen any major movement to both the upside and downside, possibly due to the lack of momentum and volume in Bitcoin,

The post Bitcoin Remains Above $7,200 For 3 Days; Where is the Market Headed? appeared first on CCN

• Tech has gotten all the attention lately as stocks have hit record highs, and as the bull market has become the longest of all time.
• But there are increasing signs that the bullish tide is shifting toward a new sector — one that appears to have great upside potential.
• We break down a handful of simple, long-only trades that can help you get involved.

Stock investors have had a lot to celebrate lately.

The benchmark S&P 500 hit all-time highs on Monday, and the ongoing bull market just became the longest on record.

As traders assess their good fortune, they keep coming back to one major driver: the exceptional outperformance of tech stocks — particularly the mega-cap consortium known as FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google).

But as the party has raged in tech, another industry has quietly assumed the role of top performer: healthcare.

Consider this: Since the start of the third quarter, healthcare stocks in the S&P 500 have returned 10% — two full percentage points more than any other sector, including tech.

Healthcare has also dominated when it comes to fund flows. Since the beginning of July, the SPDR Healthcare Select Sector ETF has absorbed a whopping $1.4 billion of new capital. The fund's tech counterpart — the SPDR Technology ETF — has seen $63 million of outflows over the same period.

And then there's the matter of large institutional investors. Goldman Sachs finds that hedge funds now have healthcare as their largest net sector tilt, having rotated away from — you guessed it — tech.

The firm also looked at mutual funds and found a similar dynamic playing out. Fed up with disappointing returns from financials, they shifted into healthcare, which Goldman says saw the biggest allocation increase during the second quarter.

This all prompts the question of why healthcare has become so desirable to investors of all types. Goldman attributes it to three things: a flurry of M&A activity, easing policy concerns, and volatility in the tech sector.

Going off this last point, it's important to note that the rotation out of tech and into other areas like healthcare is partially a byproduct of the sector's success. Tech has gotten historically extended by multiple different measures, so it's only natural that traders would start seeking areas with more upside.

So how can you take advantage of this market-wide shift toward healthcare? You have a few options.

Buy sector-wide exposure

One way would be to go broadly long the entire sector, perhaps through the SPDR ETF mentioned above — also known as XLV.

This is ideal for someone who wants wide-ranging exposure to the sector without having to go through the trouble of identifying mispriced single stocks. It's a more diversified bet, which means there's less probability of taking a big hit, but can also cap upside.

This option is particularly appealing because of how inexpensive XLV looks, relative to recent history. The chart below shows XLV's implied volatility, which measures expected price swings in the asset.

Right now it's low, which suggests options traders aren't expecting the types of swings that can be profitable for well-positioned investors. And by that token, XLV is cheap, since options prices increase when turbulence is expected.

Go after single stocks in thriving areas — with Goldman's help

If you prefer single stocks to exchange-traded funds, Goldman has a handful of intriguing ideas.

Here are the companies the firm recommends, broken down into three convenient categories. All commentary on individual stocks are attributable to Goldman.

1. Pharma: Goldman expects the ongoing rally in this area to continue
   • Abbvie (ABBV) — A popular hedge fund short getting squeezed. It's the cheapest name in the group, with the highest dividend yield.
   • Pfizer (PFE) — A bellwether stock getting pulled higher by momentum on pharma. It has potential for significant gains around data that's set to be released on the heart-disease drug Tafamadis.
   • Merck (MRK) — Sentiment is shifting in positive fashion, and investors interest has picked up.
2. Medicaid managed care: Goldman is focused on upward earnings revision it calls "striking."
   
   • Centene (CNC) — Improving sentiment around both M&A optionality and fundamentals.
   • WellCare Health Plans (WCG) — Same as CNC, plus a 2019 that's shaping up for outstanding growth.
3. "Cheap" laggards — Worth noting year-to-date underperformers, given overall healthcare momentum.
   • Mylan (MYL), Abbvie (ABBV), AmerisourceBergen (ABC), Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Hologic (HOLX)

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