'Rally in the wrong' cannabis stocks - advisor

As a Reddit forum fuels a rally in cannabis stocks, Gerber Kawasaki CEO Ross Gerber tells Reuters' Fred Katayama why investors should avoid Canadian cannabis shares and instead buy U.S. pot stocks.

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    Warren Buffett makes mistakes too. The 90-year-old billionaire on Saturday admitted he "paid too much" when his Berkshire Hathaway Inc spent $32.1 billion in 2016 to buy aircraft and industrial parts maker Precision Castparts Corp, its largest acquisition. Berkshire wrote off $9.8 billion of Precision's value last August, as the coronavirus pandemic sapped demand for air travel and the Portland, Oregon-based unit's products.

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  • Berkshire’s Busy 2020 Broke a Record Despite Lack of Major Deals

    (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett made no splashy deals in 2020, and he didn’t weigh in on some of the year’s most contentious topics in his much-anticipated annual letter. Behind the scenes, the 90-year old billionaire was hardly inactive.Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was firing up another engine: stocks -- both buying its own and trading others. The conglomerate snapped up $24.7 billion of Berkshire shares last year, a stark record for the business sitting atop a $138 billion cash pile. It also almost doubled the volume of buying and selling of other stocks compared to 2019.The moves signal a carefully forged path in markets sent convulsing by the pandemic and then lifted by stimulus that’s paved the way for heavy retail trading and an unprecedented SPAC boom. And Buffett is sticking close to home -- ultimately becoming a net seller of shares in other companies for the first time since 2016, while his prolific repurchases of Berkshire stock continued into this year with at least $4.2 billion of buybacks through mid-February, according to a regulatory filing Saturday.“Last year we demonstrated our enthusiasm for Berkshire’s spread of properties by repurchasing the equivalent of 80,998 ‘A’ shares,” Buffett said in the letter released Saturday. “That action increased your ownership in all of Berkshire’s businesses by 5.2% without requiring you to so much as touch your wallet.”Buffett spent a sizable portion of Saturday’s letter delving into buybacks, a substantial shift for an investor who previously had largely shunned the practice and instead favored purchasing big businesses or stocks of other companies. He loosened the buyback policy in 2018 as Berkshire’s cash pile kept reaching new heights. And Berkshire stock, which has underperformed the broader market in recent years, continued that trend last year with shares just gaining 2.4% compared to the 16% rally in the S&P 500 Index.Buffett had long been careful with buybacks, a trait that harkens back to his days running a partnership. In his letter released in 2019 after the buyback change, he made it clear that he wants investors to be fully informed about the company before they decide to sell their shares back to the firm.He spent his recent letter acknowledging that there were investors, including index funds, professional managers and individuals, who were required to hold some Berkshire shares or would be likely to come and go based on their investing judgment. He’d still stick by the investors who want to invest for the long term, he added.“Charlie and I would be less than human if we did not feel a special kinship with our fifth bucket: the million-plus individual investors who simply trust us to represent their interests, whatever the future may bring,” Buffett said in his letter released Saturday, referring to long-time business partner, Charlie Munger. “They have joined us with no intent to leave, adopting a mindset similar to that held by our original partners.”Cash PileBerkshire still has more than $138 billion in cash to deploy. A portion of the never-ending cash flow will be sucked up by two of its businesses, the railroad and energy operations, and Buffett said the incremental investment will probably generate “appropriate” returns. Railroad BNSF has invested $41 billion in fixed assets, and has paid $41.8 billion in dividends to the conglomerate since its purchase in 2010, Buffett said in his letter.While the attractiveness of share buybacks might come or go based on the market’s price for Berkshire, the conglomerate still has those two large operations that continuously help reinvest funds, according to shareholder Thomas Russo. That, Russo argues, helps ease the pressure on Berkshire to do an “elephant-sized acquisition” to generate more returns.“He doesn’t really have to find the elephant because he has two elephants already corralled that need to be fed,” said Russo, who oversees a portfolio including Berkshire at investment adviser Gardner Russo & Gardner. “One of them is Burlington Northern and one of them is Berkshire Hathaway Energy. He can deploy tens of billions of dollars on an ongoing basis, bringing both up to standard,” and then still have funds to deploy in an acquisition.One of Berkshire’s top three most valuable assets these days is actually a $120 billion holding of Apple Inc. shares, an investment he likened in importance to the railroad. Berkshire has ended up with an even larger portion of the company’s shares thanks in part to Apple’s own appetite for buybacks, Buffett acknowledged in the letter.“He’s redefined what an elephant can be,” said James Armstrong, who manages assets including Berkshire shares as president of Henry H. Armstrong Associates. “An elephant can be thought of as a 5.4% interest in Apple.”Some of Berkshire’s major tweaks to its $281 billion stock portfolio last year were done to reposition its holdings. Throughout 2020, Buffett’s company cut its holdings in banks, insurance and finance firms -- an exposure that constituted more than 41% of the portfolio at the end of 2019 -- to just 24% of the portfolio by the end of last year. He also dumped his airline stocks earlier in the pandemic.Chevron, VerizonThe company did find stocks to buy last year, including two large stakes in Chevron Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., plus some purchases of pharmaceutical companies. Berkshire also bought $6 billion worth of stock in five of Japan’s biggest trading companies.“He’s been a net seller, however, more recently it seems like he’s identified some opportunities, buying blocks of Japanese industrial stocks” and some health care stocks, Jim Shanahan, an analyst at Edward D. Jones & Co., said in an interview. “He is finding some value given all the limitations. He can’t put a substantial amount of capital to work into any individual stock unless it’s a large one. But being willing to consider investments in a basket of similar companies creates a little bit more opportunity for them too.”Buffett made little mention in this year’s letter about one of the looming questions over the conglomerate: Succession. The investor, who’s received his coronavirus vaccine, proved he’s still willing to travel by announcing he’ll head to Los Angeles to film this year’s annual meeting alongside Munger, 97, who wasn’t able to make it to last year’s event in Omaha, Nebraska.“This year our meeting will be held in Los Angeles . . . and Charlie will be on stage with me offering answers and observations throughout the 3 1/2-hour question period,” Buffett said in the letter. “I missed him last year and, more important, you clearly missed him.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • ECB to Show Whether Pledge to Cap Yields Is More Than Just Talk

    (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank will reveal on Monday how serious it is about countering rising bond yields.After days of top policy makers saying they won’t tolerate higher yields if they undermine the economy, the institution will publish its latest bond-buying figures at 3:45 p.m. Frankfurt time. A significant increase in purchases would show they are backing their words with action.Yet if the amount is little changed it could convince investors to push on with reflation trades, which are effectively bets the ECB will tolerate higher borrowing costs as the economy begins to recover.Last week, those wagers sent yields across the region surging. Perhaps worryingly for President Christine Lagarde, they also widened the premium investors demand to hold the debt of the region’s riskiest nations, like Italy and Greece.The trend is raising fears that the economic recovery being fostered by the torrent of cheap central bank money could be derailed for the region at large.“Actions speak louder than words,” said Mark Dowding, a money manager at Bluebay Asset Management, who bet on Friday morning that European debt prices will rebound. “If the ECB is serious about wanting to stem a rise in yields, which could bring about a premature tightening in financial conditions, then it will need to act.”European bond markets rallied Monday, lead by Italy, which saw the yield on 10-year bonds drop six basis points to 0.70%. Those on their German peers fell three basis points to -0.29%, marking the second day of declines.The focus is on the ECB’s most-flexible bond plan, the 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) pandemic emergency purchase program, the key crisis-fighting tool unveiled by the central bank in the early days of the outbreak. In the week ended Feb. 19, the central bank increased its holdings by 17.2 billion euros, barely any higher than the previous week.The weekly ECB data will be for the euro area as a whole -- country breakdowns for the pandemic program are only published every two months, so it won’t be clear if policy makers are targeting specific bond spreads.Over in the U.S., the economy is rapidly recovering as vaccines are rolled out quickly and where the government is preparing a massive fiscal stimulus package. In contrast, the euro-zone has been slow in inoculating the population and has had to extend business and social restrictions to contain the virus.Its fiscal support is also smaller, and a breakthrough recovery fund won’t kick in until the middle of the year. The economy is set to contract this quarter, and the ECB expects any inflation spikes this year to be only temporary, with job losses and uncertainty pushing down on prices.Read more: Europe’s Recovery Choices Will Leave It a Year Behind the U.S.Lagarde kicked off the past week by saying policy makers are “closely monitoring” nominal government bond yields because banks use them as benchmarks for the cost of loans to companies and households.Chief Economist Philip Lane said on Thursday that the central bank will use the flexibility of its pandemic program to prevent any tightening of financial conditions that is “inconsistent” with its inflation goal. Those remarks only briefly stemmed the selloff.Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel, who is responsible for market operations, said on Friday that a rise in real long-term rates may withdraw vital policy support too early, and that “policy will then have to step up its level of support.”Economists at BofA Global Research said the central bankers appear to be getting nervous, and that persistently rising yields show the increase in buying so far clearly isn’t sufficient.“When the ECB is not making words and actions match, questions are asked,” they wrote in a report on Friday. “Letting market dynamics run further risks making a correction more costly.”This week:Aside from PEPP purchase figures on Monday, preliminary CPI data for February from across the region has the potential to add further impetus to the bond sell off if it comes in higher than expected on TuesdayEuro area CPI YoY estimate is 1%, with a prior reading of 0.9%; Some focus will also be on final PMI readingsScheduled central bank speakers include ECB’s Guindos, Makhlouf and Villeroy on Monday, while Knot and Centeno speak ThursdayFor the U.K., the BOE’s Tenreyro speaks Wednesday, followed by Haskel Friday, while focus is also on the government’s budget and corresponding gilt outlook WednesdayThe bond supply outlook could help support markets with net supply turning negative in the face of sales from France and GermanyThe EU will sell more SURE bonds via syndicationFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Texas electricity firm files for bankruptcy citing $1.8 billion in claims from grid operator

    Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc is one of dozens of electricity providers facing enormous charges stemming from a severe cold snap last month. The fallout threatens utilities and power marketers who collectively face billions of dollars in blackout-related charges, executives said. Brazos and others that committed to provide power to the grid and could not, were required to buy replacement power at high rates and cover other firms' unpaid fees.

  • As the market nosedived last year, my older brother advised me to sell. I lost $80,000. How can I ever forgive him?

    This time last year, when the market was nosediving, my older brother advised me to get out of the market, and go to cash to conserve my assets. The Moneyist: ‘Warren Buffett and Harry Potter couldn’t get those two retired early’: Our spendthrift neighbors said our adviser was ‘lousy.’

  • Hyatt calls hate symbols 'abhorrent' after CPAC stage compared to sign used by Nazis

    Hyatt Hotels Corp called symbols of hate "abhorrent" on Sunday after the design of a stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference at one of its hotels drew comparisons to a Norse rune used by Nazis during World War Two. High-profile Republicans including former President Donald Trump were attending the four-day event in Orlando, Florida, as conflict rages between Trump allies and establishment politicians trying to distance the party from him. A photo of the CPAC stage went viral on social media on Saturday, with thousands of Twitter users sharing posts comparing its distinctive design to an othala rune, one of many ancient European symbols that Nazis adopted to "reconstruct a mythic 'Aryan' past," according to the Anti-Defamation League.

  • Top Meat Packer JBS to Offer Covid Vaccine to 8,500 U.S. Workers

    (Bloomberg) -- The world’s largest meat packer JBS SA will offer Covid-19 vaccines to about 8,500 workers at its American subsidiaries.Employees of JBS USA and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., the U.S.’s second-largest chicken producer, will be offered the shot in eight states, the company said in a statement on Saturday. Some vaccinations will be administered on site, like in Greeley, Colorado, while others will be provided to the company’s workers through local health departments.Vaccinations of meat workers are starting to accelerate, with some JBS employees already headed for a second dose. Cargill Inc. said it’s preparing to offer the vaccine to employees at three protein facilities, while Tyson Foods Inc. said it will compensate staff for four hours if they seek vaccinations outside normal shift hours or through an external provider.A JBS USA spokesperson said some plants have age restrictions “but most do not.”Thousands of meat-plant employees across the country have been infected with the coronavirus, and hundreds have died as the disease spread through the cold and crowded facilities. The disruptions were so large that many plants were last year forced to close, fueling concerns about meat shortages.“We have been focused on doing everything we can to prioritize our essential workforce in state vaccination plans across the country,” Andre Nogueira, chief executive officer of JBS USA, said in the statement.JBS and Pilgrim’s will help vaccinations by leveraging their health and safety staff, coordinating logistics and partnering with third-party health organizations to ensure medical professionals are available to administer the shot. About 700 workers in Beardstown, Illinois, will receive their second dose this week.The companies announced earlier this year that they’d offer a $100 incentive for team members who choose to get vaccinated.“Our role is to be flexible in helping our team members and local officials in the communities where we operate,” Nogueira said. “Whether that includes shutting down a facility to execute a mass vaccination or providing paid time off, incentives and facilitating transportation for our workforce to get where they need to go to get their vaccine, we’re committed to ensuring they have every opportunity possible to be vaccinated.”Vaccinations will be offered to employees at the following facilities:Beardstown, IllinoisBooneville, MississippiCactus and Lufkin, TexasGrand Island, NebraskaGreeley, ColoradoHyrum, UtahMarshalltown, IowaMoorefield, West VirginiaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • Dogecoin Gets New Wings With Developer Upgrades: What You Need To Know

    Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), the joke cryptocurrency popularized by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has received an under-the-hood upgrade. What Happened: The release of the Dogecoin Core 1.14.3 was announced on the r/dogecoin discussion board on Reddit on Sunday. The update includes “important performance improvements," and is a “strongly recommended update for everyone [running a DOGE node].” Why It Matters: Significant improvements to the speed at which a node can upload blocks will be made by removing expensive integrity checks which were previously carried out each time a block was sent to another node after the update is applied. The default time that transactions are cached in the mempool — a mechanism for storing information on unconfirmed transactions — will be reduced from 336 hours to 24 hours. See Also: In Bitcoin's Path Back To ,000, Institutional Investors, Whales Battle Miners The default setting can be modified by inputting a value in hours that makes the most sense for the use cases the node serves. Technical development in DOGE has mirrored Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), according to CoinDesk. “Since March 2014, “[Dogecoin Core] has always been based on Bitcoin,” said DOGE developer Maximilian Keller, as per CoinDesk. The price increase in the meme cryptocurrency has hastened the improvements in the Shiba-Inu-themed cryptocurrency. DOGE has risen 812.56% since the year began. In the same period BTC has given 58.12% returns. Price Action: DOGE traded 0.82% higher at $ 0.049 at press time, while BTC traded 0.54% higher at $46,637.15. Read Next: Dogenomics: What's So Special About Dogecoin Anyway? See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaIn Bitcoin's Path Back To ,000, Institutional Investors, Whales Battle MinersWhy Cardano Is Surging Amid Bitcoin-Led Crypto Slump© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • China Stood Out as the World Dumped Bonds Everywhere Last Week

    (Bloomberg) -- China’s bonds stood out as a haven last week when investors fled from virtually everywhere including Treasuries and high-yielding developing-nation debt.Funds poured $671 million into exchange-traded funds tracking yuan bonds over the past five sessions, taking inflows so far this year to $2.2 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In contrast, they offloaded almost $600 million of emerging-market notes last week.China’s bonds have largely escaped the tumult in global debt markets, with yields on the benchmark holding firm on Thursday while that on Treasuries soared more than 20 basis points. With strategists warning of more volatility in the days ahead, investors may find safety in the more-insulated Chinese debt market where fears of sudden monetary tightening is less prevalent.“China bonds are likely to be a safe heaven now -- stable policy and growth make them less volatile compared to global peers, while yields are also more attractive,” said Xing Zhaopeng, a senior China strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Shanghai. “The notes’ relative performance this year will be better than bonds sold by other major economies.”China’s sovereign notes are the third-best performer globally in February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, thanks to their interest-rate advantage and inflows spurred by the nation’s inclusion in global bond indexes. The authorities’ successful containment of the coronavirus outbreak has also allowed the economy to rebound quicker.The iShares China CNY Bond UCITS ETF, which tracks the Bloomberg Barclays Index of Chinese government and policy bank debt, saw the largest inflows among all similar contracts this year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The fund gained 8.8% over the past year, beating most global peers.Overseas investors are also buying more Chinese notes directly. In January, they purchased $27 billion of bonds in the interbank market, the most according to data going back to 2014. Sovereign securities accounted for $19 billion of the total inflows.Over the past year, global investors boosted holdings of ETFs tracking China bonds by $5.6 billion, including secondary classes of the securities, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They added $313 million of such funds over the past week and $1.2 billion so far this year, if only primary classes are considered, the figures showed.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • China says underpricing rare earths will lead to race to bottom

    China's rare earths are underpriced due to vicious competition and face low resource utilisation, which would lead to a race to the bottom, the country's industry minister said on Monday. "Our rare earths did not sell at the 'rare' price but sold at the 'earth' price... because of competitive bidding, which wasted the precious resource," Xiao Yaqing from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said during a news briefing. Threats from China, the world's top producer of rare earths - a group of 17 minerals used in military equipment, consumer electronics and electric vehicles - to curb exports of the materials to the U.S. has left Washington scrambling for alternative supplies.

  • Bitcoin’s Long-Term Value Doubted Due to ESG, Tighter Rules

    (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin is nursing losses after its worst weekly plunge in almost a year and on one view its longer term outlook could be even worse because of environmental concerns and tightening regulations.The sheer amount of energy needed to mine Bitcoin and the prospect that governments will create more obstacles for the largest cryptocurrency point to the token losing “most of its value over time,” BCA Research Inc. said.The expense and slowness of Bitcoin transactions make it “unsuitable as a medium of exchange,” BCA Research Chief Global Strategist Peter Berezin wrote in the report released Friday. In addition, environmental, social and governance-focused funds are likely to shun companies associated with Bitcoin due to the large energy consumption by miners on computer networks.Bitcoin is still up more than five times over the past year, a divisive rally pitting believers in a new asset class against naysayers who see a speculative bubble. Among notable recent developments are Tesla Inc.’s $1.5 billion purchase of the token. At the same time, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are among those signaling caution.Governments will create more obstacles because they could lose billions of dollars in revenue from seigniorage -- the difference between the face value of money and the cost to produce it -- according to BCA.“Many companies have cozied up to Bitcoin in order to associate themselves with the digital currency’s technological mystique,” BCA’s Berezin added. “As ESG funds start to flee Bitcoin, its price will begin a downward spiral. Stay away.”Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, was up 3% to about $46,615 as of 8:13 a.m. in London on Monday. That leaves it well off the record high of $58,350 set just over a week ago.Other commentators remain bullish on the outlook for digital currencies. While there are many risks, Bitcoin is at a tipping point and we may be “at the start of massive transformation of cryptocurrency into the mainstream,” Citigroup Inc. wrote in a report.The Citi team including Kathleen Boyle highlighted the token’s increased attractiveness for institutional investors and the argument that it can help to hedge inflation risk.In the shorter term, investment flows into Bitcoin funds may be among the keys to the price outlook. JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists said inflows into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust -- the largest traded crypto fund -- are “ceasing,” and the cash going into other Bitcoin vehicles isn’t “strong enough to prevent an overall slowing in the Bitcoin fund flow impulse.”(Updates with comment from Citigroup from the eighth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.