Top Midday Stories: DOJ Revives Probe Into Banks Affected by Archegos Fiasco; Intel, Amazon Partner on Custom Chip Designs

MT Newswires Live
18 Sep 2024

The S&P 500 hit a record high Tuesday, as investors await the Federal Reserve's key rate-cutting decision at the end of officials' two-day meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

In company news, the US Department of Justice has revived a dormant investigation into how lenders unwound over $150 billion in bets placed by Archegos, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Specifically, the DOJ is probing whether there was collusion or a conspiracy to collude to control prices during March 2021 talks when banks floated proposals to coordinate an orderly liquidation of Archegos. Credit Suisse, Nomura Holdings (NMR) and UBS Group (UBS) reached a managed liquidation agreement to sell off parts of their exposure to Archegos. Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Deutsche Bank (DB) considered such an arrangement before deciding against it, according to the report. Shares of Nomura, UBS, Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Deutsch Bank were down 2.2%, up 0.2%, up 0.6%, up 0.4% and up 2.1%, respectively, at noon.

Intel (INTC) and Amazon.com's (AMZN) Amazon Web Services said late Monday they are making a co-investment into custom chip designs under a "multi-year, multi-billion-dollar" framework. Intel will produce an AI fabric chip for AWS on Intel 18A as part of the expanded partnership, the companies said. Intel will also produce a custom Xeon 6 chip on Intel 3. Intel and Amazon also said they intend to explore the potential for more designs to be produced by Intel based on Intel 18A and future process nodes including Intel 18AP and Intel 14A. Separately, Intel said it will delay its projects in Poland and Germany by roughly two years based on anticipated market demand. Shares of Intel were up 5.4%, while those of Amazon were up 1.9%.

Meta Platforms (META) said Tuesday it has rolled out Instagram Teen Accounts with built-in protections that limit who can contact teens, what content teens see and the amount of time they spend on the app. Meta said teens will automatically be placed into Teen Accounts, and those under 16 will need permission from a parent to use less restrictive settings. Shares of Meta were up 0.3%.

Microsoft (MSFT) said late Monday its board has increased its quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.83 per share, payable Dec. 12 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 21. The tech giant's board also approved a new stock repurchase plan for up to $60 billion. The new buyback program has no expiration date, the company said. Microsoft shares were up 0.8%.

Cigna (CI) said Tuesday its pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, Express Scripts has sued the Federal Trade Commission in Missouri federal court, demanding a retraction of the agency's July 2024 drug pricing report on the PBM industry. The report makes "unsubstantiated, false and biased claims," Cigna said. Shares of the company were down 2.3%.

Price: 358.38, Change: -8.47, Percent Change: -2.31

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