Business

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc jumped 39.0% on Monday as retail investors flocked to the highly shorted stock of the home goods maker, likely piling pressure on those with bearish bets on it.

“We do believe there is currently a short squeeze playing out in BBBY,” said Evan Niu, analyst at Ortex, adding that 45% of the firm’s free float was shorted.

A jump in the price of shorted shares can force bearish investors to buyback shares at a higher price to limit losses. The rush of demand from short sellers looking to exit bets pushes rising stock prices even higher, resulting in a short squeeze.

The stock was last up at $11.33, a near three-month high, looking to extend its gains for the ninth straight session. If gains hold, Bed Bath & Beyond’s market value is set to double to over $900 million since the rally began on July 27.

Bed Bath & Beyond was the most bought stock among retail brokerage Fidelity’s customers with more than three buy orders for every sell order. It was also the most actively traded stock across U.S. exchanges with 54.5 million shares changing hands by 10:18 a.m. ET (1418 GMT).

“These types of extremely large moves are outliers but they do happen time and time again,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at 50 Park Investments.

“But most of the time these exaggerated moves are short-lived and the stocks tend to go back down.”

The company in June replaced Chief Executive Officer Mark Tritton as part of a management shake-up as it reported a 25% slump in first-quarter net sales.

GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which were at the heart of a retail trading frenzy in early 2021, jumped 8.8% and 13.8%, respectively, rising for at least the sixth straight session.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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BOSTON (AP) — For Boston subway riders, it seems every week brings a new tale of transit woe.

Runaway trains. Subway cars belching smoke and fire. Fatal accidents. Malfunctioning station escalators. Rush hour trains running on weekend schedules. Brand-new subway cars pulled from service. Derailed construction vehicles.

The repeated chaos of the nation’s oldest subway system has stretched the nerves of riders, prompted a probe by the Federal Transit Administration and worried political leaders.

“It’s enraging. Everything that we’re doing trying to build more affordable housing, or empower our schools, bring jobs to Boston — it all relies on people being able to get around,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat who promised to “Free the T,” said in a radio appearance on GBH News, referring to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Wu’s comments came less than a month before a 43-year-old Orange Line subway train caught fire as it was crossing a bridge north of Boston on July 21, prompting one passenger to jump into the Mystic River and others to scramble out of windows.

And Aug. 3, transit officials announced what they called an “unprecedented” step of shuttering the Orange Line entirely for 30 days to allow for extensive track and signal work.

Two days later, MBTA officials unveiled another four-week shutdown — this time for a recently opened section of the Green Line to allow for additional construction work.

Gov. Charlie Baker, whose legacy is tied to the performance of the T, called the Orange Line fire “a colossal failure” and welcomed the FTA investigation.

But Baker said things aren’t all bad. The Republican said more than 85% of daily rapid transit trips are on time, with a somewhat lower rate for bus rides and slightly higher rate for commuter rail trains.

“That’s what the experience most riders every single day have,” he said. “That’s no excuse for the screws up and the incidents that we’re talking about, there’s no excuse for that, but there are 600,000 trips every day that, for the most part, work out like they’re supposed to.”

For beleaguered riders, however, each new mishap seems to add insult to injury.

Paulina Casasola, 24, relies on buses and the Red Line to commute to her job in Boston. Once, the bus was so late that she took an Uber costing more than $20. Another time, a late bus forced her to borrow a car, saddling her with a $90 parking ticket.

“There are a lot of neighbors who are upset and have started knocking on doors to see how we can stop the service cuts,” she said, also lamenting high fares.

“I can’t afford the monthly pass,” she said. “I just put some money in my account and hope it lasts.”

One of the more maddening failures came in June when the MBTA temporarily sidelined all its new Orange and Red Line cars, manufactured by the Chinese-owned company CRRC, after one car experienced a battery compartment failure.

The new cars — which were returned to service 10 days later — were built at a plant in Springfield, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Boston.

The new subway cars are supposed to be part of the solution.

So far, 78 new Orange Line cars have been delivered, about half of the 152 ordered. Twelve Red Line cars have been delivered of the 252 ordered.

“We’ve had delays due to COVID and supply chains issues, but we have turned that corner,” said Lydia Rivera, a spokesperson for CRRC MA, adding that the balance of Orange Line cars should be delivered by 2023 with the remaining Red Line cars coming in 2025.

At times, the transit troubles — some of which have even resulted in injury or death — have seemed relentless.

In September, a 40-year-old Boston University professor plunged to his death through a rusted subway staircase, and nine people were injured when an escalator at a station malfunctioned later that month. In April, a 39-year-old man died when his arm got stuck in a malfunctioning subway car door. More than two dozen people went to the hospital last July when a Green Line train rear-ended another trolley.

In June, a collision involving two trains sent four employees to the hospital. And in May, the MBTA notched three derailments of construction vehicles in three separate incidents on the system’s Blue Line. No injuries were reported.

The FTA has also documented reports of runaway trains in yards or during maintenance. No injuries have been reported, but the agency ordered a “safety standdown” at the end of July requiring safety briefings for employees who operate out-of-service trains.

Further angering riders, the MBTA has begun running trains on a schedule similar to Saturdays on three of its four main subway lines at least through the summer.

The MBTA blamed staffing challenges and said it was exploring “an aggressive recruitment campaign.” The move came after the FTA issued a series of directives addressing the system’s “overall safety program and safety culture.”

Among the issues were subway dispatchers working excessively long hours — including some 20-hour shifts.

A more complete report is expected by the end of the summer.

The region’s commuter rail service, run by the French company Keolis Commuter Services, has also had its share of troubles. In one incident, smoke billowed from a commuter rail train near Boston’s South Station, rising up to an elevated section of Interstate 93. Keolis blamed a mechanical failure.

More recently, a commuter rail train stalled out for two hours without air conditioning, leading some riders to force open the train doors and clamber over a chain link fence to escape.

The region’s relationship with the T dates to the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 1897, when Bostonians lined up to take the first subway ride in U.S. history, beating out New York City.

“People were still uncomfortable and nervous about going underground. The only reason you go underground is when you’re dead,” said Doug Most, author of “The Race Underground,” a history of the Boston and New York subway rivalry. “They viewed it as a place where the devil lived, where rats lived.”

For longtime riders, today’s transit woes call to mind the MBTA’s unofficial anthem, informally known as “Charlie on the M.T.A.” and popularized by The Kingston Trio, which tells the story of an unlucky passenger doomed to “ride forever ’neath the streets of Boston.”

“There’s always going to be a love-hate relationship with the T because it’s an old system that’s really hard to modernize,” Most said. “For a city that is so advanced in so many ways, it’s ironic that we have this system that seems like it comes from another century.”

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh on Sunday sought cooperation from China to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar during a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who promised better trade ties, investment and support for infrastructure development in the South Asian nations.

China had used its influence in Myanmar to broker a November 2017 agreement to repatriate about 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled persecution in Myanmar in August that year. Despite attempts to send them back, the refugees refused, fearing danger in Myanmar, which was exacerbated by the military takeover last year.

Yi arrived in Dhaka on Saturday evening and met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen. They discussed bilateral and global issues before his departure on Sunday morning, said Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh’s junior minister for foreign affairs.

Bangladesh has strong relations with China, which is a major trade partner mostly for raw materials. But maintaining close ties with Beijing is challenging for Bangladesh, which also balances diplomatic and trade relationship with both India and the United States, China’s main rivals.

More than 500 Chinese companies are active in Bangladesh. China is involved in the country’s all major infrastructure projects such as seaports, a river tunnel and highways, and helped built its largest bridge over the River Padma at a cost of $3.6 billion.

Amid recent tensions between China and Taiwan, Bangladesh issued a statement reiterating its support for the “one-China” policy. After winning elections in 2008, Hasina’s administration closed the Taiwanese business representative office in Dhaka in response to a request from China, and since then China has increased its engagement in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s garment industry, which brings in more than 80% of foreign currency from exports, is heavily dependent on China for raw materials.

On Sunday, Yi told Hasina during a courtesy call that his country considers Bangladesh as a “strategic development partner” and would continue to support it, said Ihsanul Karim, the presidential press secretary.

The United News of Bangladesh agency reported that Yi also promised to stand beside Bangladesh “on all issues at international forums.”

Alam said that Yi agreed to expand trade benefits by raising to 99% duty-free access of Bangladeshi products and services to Chinese markets.

“It’s a good news for Bangladesh as we have a thriving economy based on exports,” Alam said. “We already have duty-free access for 98% of items exported to China. The remaining 2% … has been important and sensitive. Now they have offered another 1% from Sept. 1,” he said, adding that the new tax advantage is likely to include garments, woven and other products that had previously faced some barriers.

He said Bangladesh would get a list from China soon about the products and services that would get duty-free access.

Alam said that Yi explained to the Bangladeshi foreign minister that “some countries misunderstand and misinterpret” China. He did not elaborate.

The junior minister said China pledged to work continuously to resolve the Rohingya crisis and quoted Yi as saying that the internal challenges in Myanmar were not only troubling Bangladesh but also other countries.

”Our foreign minister strongly reiterated that Chinese cooperation is needed. China has progressed on resolving the Rohingya issue and we need the situation to come to an end,” Alam said.

On Sunday, Bangladesh and China signed or renewed four agreements and memorandums of understanding on disaster management, infrastructure and cultural exchanges.

Analyst Munshi Faiz Ahmad, who served as Bangladeshi ambassador in Beijing, said that Yi’s visit was very significant for both countries.

“To resolve the Rohingya crisis Bangladesh needs support from China. This visit will help strengthen the bilateral relations,” Ahmad told The Associated Press.

“To us, China is very important. We also need to maintain good relations with both India and the United States as they are also very important development partners of Bangladesh. There is nothing to be afraid of because of Bangladesh’s close ties with China,” he said.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Four more ships carrying agricultural cargo held up by the war in Ukraine received authorization Sunday to leave the country’s Black Sea coast as analysts warned that Russia was moving troops and equipment in the direction of the ports to stave off a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The body overseeing an international deal intended to get some 20 millions of grain out of Ukraine and to feed millions of impoverished people who are going hungry in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia said the loaded vessels were cleared to depart from Chornomorsk and Odesa.

Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations signed agreements last month to create a sea channel that would allow cargo ships to travel safely out of ports that Russia’s military had blockaded and through waters that Ukraine’s military had mined. Implementation of the deal, which is in effect for four months, has proceeded slowly since the first ship embarked last Monday.

For the last four months of the war, Russia has concentrated on capturing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled some territory as self-proclaimed republics for eight years. Russian forces have made gradual headway in the region bordering Russia while launching missile and rocket attacks to curtail the movements of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere.

Over the past day, five civilians were killed in Russian and separatist firing on cities in the Donetsk region, the part of Donbas still under Ukrainian control, the regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, reported. He and Ukrainian government officials repeatedly have urged civilians to evacuate the province.

In a weekend analysis, Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Russian invasion that started Feb. 24 “is about to enter a new phase” in which the fighting shifting would shift west and south to a roughly 350-kilometer (217-mile) front line that extends from near the city of Zaporizhzhia to Russian-occupied Kherson.

Kherson, located on the Dnieper River near its mouth with the Black Sea, came under Russian control early in the war and Ukrainian officials have vowed to retake it. Kherson is located 227 kilometers (141 miles) from Odesa, home to Ukraine’s biggest port, so the conflict escalating there could have repercussions for the international grain deal.

The city of Mykolaiv, an important shipbuilding center that comes under daily rocketing from Russian forces, is even closer to Odesa. The Mykolaiv region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim, said an industrial facility on the regional capital’s outskirts came under fire early Sunday.

On Saturday, Russian forces launched airstrikes, fired artillery and redistributed other weaponry as part of attempts to defend their positions in occupied areas, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank.

Citing local Ukrainian officials, the institute said the Russians “are continuing to accumulate large quantities of military equipment” in a town across the Dnieper River from Kherson. The preparations appeared designed to defend logistics routes to the city and to establish defensive positions on the river’s left bank, the think tank said.

Ukrainian officials were initially skeptical of a grain export deal, citing suspicions that Moscow would try to exploit shipping activity to mass troops offshore or to send long-range missiles from the Black Sea, as it has done multiple times during the war. The agreements approved last month call for ships to leave Ukraine under military escort and to undergo inspections.

Under the agreements, ships leaving Ukraine are inspected by teams made up of officials from the three countries and the U.N. to make sure they carry only grain, fertilizer or food and not any other commodities. Inbound vessels are checked to ensure they are not carrying weapons.

The Joint Coordination Center, which is responsible for managing the deal, said three cargo ships that left Friday were expected to pass through Turkey’s Bosporus Strait on Sunday after clearing inspections. The Panama-flagged Navi Star, which is carrying 33,000 tons of grain to Ireland, completed its inspection and was preparing to sail.

The Turkish-flagged Polarnet, which was headed for Turkey, and the Maltese-flagged Rojen, bound for the United Kingdom were waiting to be checked. The ships carried over 25,000 tons of corn between them, were waiting to be checked. T

The Joint Coordination Center said three of the carriers cleared to leave Ukraine on Sunday – the Glory, the Star Helena and the Riva Wind, all flagged in the Marshall Islands – were transporting more than 171,000 tons of corn combined. The Glory is destined for Istanbul, the Star Helena to Nantong in China and the Riva Wind to Turkey’s Iskenderun port on the Mediterranean.

The fourth ship cleared for departure, the Liberia-flagged tanker Mustafa Necati is carrying more than 6,600 tons of sunflower oil to Monopoli, Italy.

The center also authorized the first inbound ship under the agreement, saying the Liberia-flagged Osprey S would head Monday to Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port. Marine traffic tracking sites showed the ship north of the Black Sea entrance to the Bosporus, where ships have waited for inspection teams to board.

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Andrew Wilks contributed reporting from Istanbul.

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This version has been corrected to show the four new ships to receive authorization were cleared to depart Sunday, not Monday.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most electric-vehicle models would be ineligible for a $7,500 tax credit for U.S. buyers under a Democratic proposal in the U.S. Senate, a group of major automakers said on Friday.

Automakers have been privately expressing concern about the proposal’s increasing requirements for vehicles’ batteries and critical-mineral contents to be sourced from the United States.

John Bozzella, heads of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation that represents General Motors, Toyota Motor, and Ford Motor among others, said a July 27 proposal by Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin would make 70% of 72 U.S. electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell EVs ineligible upon passage.

“None would qualify for the full credit when additional sourcing requirements go into effect,” he said.

Car makers want significant changes to the proposal, which is part of a larger drug pricing, energy and tax bill.

Without the tax credit, the vehicles become more costly for American consumers, and this could impact demand and sales. It could also slow progress toward President Joe Biden’s target to have half of all new vehicles sold be electric or plug-in hybrid models in 2030.

An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday suggested just 11,000 new EVs would use the credit in 2023.

Manchin and Schumer’s offices did not immediately comment. The Senate could vote as soon as Saturday on the bill.

“I don’t believe that we should be building a transportation mode on the backs of foreign supply chains,” Manchin said on Tuesday.

The bill includes rising requirements for the percentage of battery components originating from North America based on value. After 2023, it would disallow batteries with any Chinese components.

“A more gradual phase-in of the battery component, critical mineral and final assembly requirements – that better reflect current geopolitical, sourcing and mineral extraction realities – will preserve the credit for millions of Americans,” Bozzella wrote.

Automakers want to expand countries from which batteries, battery components and critical minerals can be sourced to include NATO members, Japan and others.

The new EV tax credits, which would expire at the end of 2032, would be limited to trucks, vans and SUVs with suggested retail prices of no more than $80,000 and to cars priced at no more than $55,000. They would be limited to families with adjusted gross incomes of up to $300,000 annually.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse is not exposed to any large losses among lenders to embattled Mexican firm Credito Real, the Swiss bank said on Saturday, contradicting earlier media reports.

Mexican newspaper El CEO citing documents said Credit Suisse is owed over $100 million by Credito Real, which has begun bankruptcy proceedings over $2.6 billion in debts.

That is the largest debt Credito Real owes to a foreign bank, the newspaper reported.

“Credit Suisse has no material exposure to the company in question,” a spokesperson told Reuters on Saturday.

“Any suggestion otherwise is unfounded.”

Credito Real announced it was beginning bankruptcy proceedings in July after defaulting earlier in the year.

(Reporting by John Revill; editing by Jason Neely)

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(Reuters) -Elon Musk said that if Twitter Inc. could provide its method of sampling 100 accounts and how it confirmed that the accounts are real, his $44 billion deal to buy the company should proceed on its original terms.

“However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not,” Musk tweeted early on Saturday.

In response to a Twitter user asking whether the U.S. SEC was probing “dubious claims” by the company, Musk tweeted “Good question, why aren’t they?”.

Twitter declined to comment on the tweet when contacted by Reuters.

Twitter on Thursday dismissed Musk’s claim that he was hoodwinked into signing the deal to buy the social media company, saying that it was “implausible and contrary to fact”.

“According to Musk, he — the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. That story is as implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds,” the filing released by Twitter on Thursday said.

Musk filed a countersuit Twitter on July 29, escalating his legal fight against the social media company over his bid to walk away from the $44 billion purchase.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; editing by Mark Heinrich and Jason Neely)

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(Reuters) -Global ratings agency Moody’s cut Italy’s outlook to “negative” from “stable” on Friday, weeks after Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s resignation shook the country’s political landscape.

Draghi, dubbed “Super Mario” due to his long career as a financial problem solver, had helped shape Europe’s tough response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and had boosted the country’s standing in financial markets during his tenure.

“Risks to Italy’s credit profile have been accumulating more recently because of the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and domestic political developments, both of which could have material credit implications,” Moody’s said.

The agency affirmed Italy’s sovereign rating at Baa3.

Italy’s credit situation has also stoked concerns, with a government debt pile larger than those of the other four countries in the euro zone combined.

Moody’s also noted higher funding costs, an increased risk that energy supply challenges would weaken economic prospects, and sluggish growth that may pressure Italy’s fiscal strength.

Italy’s economy ministry said in a statement that Moody’s decision was “questionable”.

“We remain confident that the implementation of Italy’s recovery plan, of policies to relaunch investments and secure energy sources will promptly continue after the upcoming general elections,” the Treasury said in a note.

With snap elections planned on Sept. 25, Italy has approved a new aid package worth around 17 billion euros to help shield firms and families from surging energy costs and rising consumer prices.

Despite the headwinds, preliminary data showed last month that Italy’s economy grew 1.0% in the second quarter of the year from the previous three months, a stronger-than-expected reading.

(Reporting by Shreyaa Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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(Reuters) – Tesla Inc said on Friday trading in its three-for-one split shares will start on Aug. 25, after the electric vehicle maker’s shareholders approved the proposal during its annual meeting.

Shareholders of the EV maker voted for board recommendations on most issues at the company’s annual meeting on Thursday, including re-electing directors, approving a stock split, while rejecting proposals focused on environment and governance.

Chief Executive Elon Musk owns 15.6% of Tesla, according to Refinitiv data, after selling millions of shares last year.

Each stockholder of record on Aug. 17 will get a dividend of two additional shares for each share held, to be distributed after close of trading on Aug. 24, the company said.

The new share split comes two years after a five-for-one split helped bring down the price of the high-flying stock within the reach of ordinary investors.

While a split does not affect a company’s fundamentals, it could buoy the share price by making it easier for a wider range of investors to own the stock.

Tesla shares, which debuted at $17 apiece in 2010, rose to more than $1,200 late year after the 2020 stock split, taking the company’s market capitalization above $1 trillion.

Tesla shares, which ended 6.6% lower on Friday, are down about 18% this year.

At the Thursday meeting, shareholders narrowly approved an advisory proposal that would increase investors’ ability to nominate directors, with 339.2 million votes for the proposal and nearly 319 million votes against it.

Shareholder proposal asking Tesla to report its efforts in preventing racial discrimination and sexual harassment annually was rejected, with 350.7 million votes against it versus 310 million votes for the proposal.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $200 million to U.S. regulators to resolve investigations into its record-keeping practices, it said on Friday.

The bank will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $125 million and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission $75 million to resolve probes into employee communications on messaging platforms that had not been approved by the company, it said in a filing.

Morgan Stanley had already set aside $200 million in its second quarter earnings to prepare for the penalty. Separately, Bank of America earmarked about $200 million for unauthorized electronic messaging by its employees, while Citigroup and Barclays also put aside cash to cover similar expected fines. The SEC has been looking into whether Wall Street banks have been adequately logging employees’ text messages and emails as bankers moved to remote working during the pandemic. Regulators require banks to keep records of their staff communications, and typically ban the use of personal email, texts and messaging applications for work purposes.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by David Gregorio)

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