BlackMask Breaking News

Jan 17 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) plans to cut thousands of jobs with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions, according to media reports on Tuesday. The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook. Microsoft’s move could indicate that the tech sector may continue to shed jobs. “From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen,” Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said. U.K broadcaster Sky News reported, citing sources, that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles. The company plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, according to a person familiar with the matter, while Insider reported that Microsoft could cut recruiting staff by as much as one-third. The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said. Microsoft declined to comment on the reports. The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings. Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales. It had said in July last year that a small number of roles had been eliminated. In October, news site Axios reported that Microsoft had laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions.Shares of Microsoft, which is set to report quarterly results on Jan. 24, were marginally higher in late afternoon trading. NN: Microsoft joins a growing list of investment banks and high tech companies telling us all is well as they slash and burn their model to reduce costs….. Something smells like Anchovies in Denmark

China’s top economic official told an audience of international billionaires and bankers that his country’s economy will likely rebound to its pre-pandemic growth trend this year after coronavirus infections passed their peak. Vice Premier Liu He addressed the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, just hours after Beijing released better-than-expected economic data for the fourth quarter, fueling hopes of a more rapid recovery in 2023. With Chinese gross domestic product expanding just 3% for the whole of last year, Liu expressed confidence of a return to the rates of close to 6% witnessed prior to the Covid-19 shock. “We are confident China’s growth will most likely return to its normal trend,” Liu said, adding that life in China had been “restored to normal” following the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Beijing’s focus this year will be on boosting domestic demand, which will lead to a notable increase in imports, Liu said. Addressing the wave of Covid infections which has strained hospitals in China, Liu said that the peak of infections had passed and consumption-related industries have returned to normal. Liu, a close confidante of China’s President Xi Jinping, sought to allay international concern that Beijing is turning away from globalization to focus on self-sufficiency. “China’s national reality dictates that opening up to the world is a must, not an expediency,” Liu said.  “We must open up wider and make it work better. We oppose unilateralism and protectionism,” he said, adding that opening up “is a key driver of economic progress.” Liu also tried to address concerns that Beijing is clamping down on private businesses. He said a return to a planned economy was impossible, while a government drive for “common prosperity” does not mean enforcing strict equality, and requires entrepreneurial effort.  Several Davos delegates pointed to a reopened China as reason to be tentatively optimistic about the global economic outlook. “The lockdown of the last three years has created pent-up demand domestically, so I would see increased domestic consumption and of course the manufacturing sector will pick up,” said Laura Cha, chair of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. “All those will be good factors for global growth.”

Citing a growth forecast of around 4.5% for China this year, Credit Suisse Group AG Chairman Axel Lehmann said “I would not personally be surprised when that would be topped.”

DP World Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem told Bloomberg Television that China’s emergence from Covid Zero will be a key factor in boosting international trade. NN: it seems to me the world is underestimating 1.4 billion captives being set free. After the Chinese New Year die off and mass inoculation through infections it will be of to the races… As far as the premature celebration about the ha ha ha victory over inflation, that party is about to be busted. Energy prices and raw materials like cooper prices are what are driving the inflation indexes. No China little demand prices dropped. That is all about to change. Prices are not only done dropping, they will soon soar again…… So much for the victory over inflation myth.

Morgan Stanley Q4 EPS plunges 37% to $1.26

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its monthly report released on Tuesday that it now expects the global economy to grow by 2.8% in 2022 and by 2.5% in 2023. The 2022 figure marks a slight upward revision from its previous forecast, while the figure for 2023 is unchanged, APA reports citing Teletrader. The US GDP growth was revised up to 1.7% for this year and was unchanged at 0.8% for 2023, while the Eurozone economy is still seen growing 3% in 2022 and 0.3% next year. China’s economic growth outlook was also unchanged 3.1% in 2022 and at 4.8% for 2023, while the Russian economy is now seen contracting 5% this year and growing 0.2% next year. The report stressed that the upward revisions resulted from “slightly better-than-expected” GDP reports in several economies but warned that risks to growth remain “skewed downward” due to high inflation, monetary tightening by central banks, supply chain issues and geopolitical uncertainty. NN: if i count and my fingers and toes i come up with 2 to 3 million BPD in increased demand….

• Two fifths fear company failure within decade, PWC poll finds
• Inflation, volatility and geopolitical conflict top risk list

The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting began in Davos with corporate executives and economists warning a global recession is likely this year. Of 4,410 business leaders surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in October and November last year, 73% predicted global growth to decline over the coming 12 months. The reading was the worst since the consulting firm began polling in 2011. Two out of five even expressed concern their companies may not last a decade.  A separate survey of chief economists, released by the Forum, found two-thirds expect a worldwide recession in 2023 as businesses cut costs; 18% viewed such a downturn as “extremely likely.” The concerns are likely to be rife this week as more than 2,700 executives, bankers and economists head to the Swiss ski resort of Davos for the first time in January since 2020. While recent data has raised hopes economies can still pull off a soft landing, last year’s surge in inflation and the subsequent hiking of interest rates by central banks have many braced for economies to contract. PWC global chairman Bob Moritz nevertheless said the level of concern in his company’s poll was probably overstated. Expectations of a slowdown are baked into predictions because people have seen it coming for a long time, he said. Compared with the financial crisis in 2008, bosses are more fearful for the economy now but are more confident that their companies will “manage through this downturn.”

Business leaders’ confidence in their own company’s growth prospects dropped the most since the 2008 crisis.

This year’s big three risks are inflation, macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical conflict, the survey found. PWC’s Moritz said the main surprise has been the long-term outlook, with 40% of chief executives convinced “their organizations will not be economically viable in 10 years if they do not transform.” He said: “The short term is about how to manage cost pressures and the longer term is about supply chains, climate, technological disruption.” Bosses need to take action now to “survive two years to thrive in the next 10” while ensuring they have the capital to deploy for the future. Last year, chief executives were worried about cyber, health and climate threats. Moritz said the climate crisis remained an urgent issue. “I’m not concerned it’s dropped down the lists. Things are relative — 60% to 70% of chief executives are already taking action,” he said. Geopolitical threats are not isolated to Russia and China. “If Russia-Ukraine can happen, what else?” Moritz asked. “What about the Middle East and the role of Iran? Even the Inflation Reduction Act in the US is a potential risk.” The IRA’s hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies for clean energy projects is causing geopolitical tensions in Europe. On staffing, 60% of bosses do not plan to reduce headcount and 80% will not cut compensation as they hang on to employees rather than go through expensive recruitment processes. Staff churn is expected to be high once again this year.  “Power remains with workers who have the right skills,” Moritz said. Business leaders in France, Germany and the UK are even less optimistic about domestic growth than global expansion. However, the UK has improved as a chosen business location with chief executives ranking it the third most important country for revenue growth, behind the US and China and equal with Germany. It has previously never ranked higher than fourth.

NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co is seeing loan growth moderating after strong growth so far this year and witnessing downward pressure on mortgage revenue as consumers feel the effect of higher interest rates, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday. “There will be stress right as the economy slows. So that’s going to come in terms of some of these portfolios. It’s just so far it is weathering quite well,” said Mike Santomassimo at the Barclays investor conference. His comments came after the chief financial officer of U.S. Bancorp said at the same conference on Monday that he expects a 30% to 35% drop in mortgage revenue in the third quarter from the second quarter as the housing market slows.

Hopes of a landing soft enough to avoid recession is waning as the US central bank remains steadfast in its decision to keep raising rates until data shows a pullback in consumer prices.

U.S. consumers and businesses are still in good financial shape despite high inflation and concerns about a looming recession, some of the nation’s top bankers told a conference in New York last week. “The Fed is tightening a little bit more than what we were expecting,” said PNC Financial Services Group Chief Financial Officer Robert Reilly. The bank was seeing a 40% chance of a recession in 2023 but even if it were to happen, it would be a “shallow” one, Reilly added. Santomassimo cautioned that the macroeconomic environment is affecting lower-income segments of the population, even though that segment is a smaller portion of the bank’s business. “It’s not going to be a significant driver. But you’re starting to see that and that’s what you should expect to see, given the inflation that we’ve seen,” he said. Santomassimo said the bank is witnessing strong net interest income because of higher rates. “We still feel really comfortable about the 20% increase on a full-year basis,” he said. While the bank has seen 5% growth in loans so far this year, that growth is moderating from the second quarter, Santomassimo said.

UBS: Fed’s economic plan is not achievable

Investors cheering a slowdown in US inflation are failing to account for rising credit card debt, falling house prices and higher borrowing costs which will bring the US economy to a halt and force the Federal Reserve to reverse its monetary policy course this year. The Fed is still aiming for a soft landing, meaning a desired slowing in the economy, but has admitted a risk of a contraction. “We were in the soft landing camp for most of last year, but the path to that unfolding has narrowed considerably with the data coming since September,” said UBS chief economist for the US, Jonathan Pingle, in an interview with The Australian Financial Review. A soft landing would require robust employment, slowing inflation, and the Fed to ease off the brakes, he said. Mr Pingle believes the Fed’s economic forecasts, which include a somewhat “painlessly” higher jobless rate, are simply not achievable. “Mathematically, given the US demographics, you’re probably going to need outbreak job loss to generate the magnitude of increases in the unemployment rate that they have in their economic projections,” he said. “Trying to have an increase in the unemployment rate and inflation fall and do so painlessly – I think it’s impossible.” The UBS economist believes something has to give.

UBS is forecasting a hard economic landing, projecting a contraction by Easter.

It expects real GDP to drop 0.9 per cent by the end of 2023 before rebounding in 2024 to reach 2.9 per cent in 2025. The investment bank anticipates unemployment to increase 2 percentage points by next year to a peak of 5.5 per cent. The jobless rate stands at a five-decade low of 3.5 per cent. Even so, Mr Pingle said it would be among the “mildest labour market recessions” experienced in the US, estimating that a 1 percentage point decline in real GDP meant 1.5 million jobs lost. But the scale would be enough for the Federal Reserve “to do something about it”. In the last recession during the 2008 global financial crisis, unemployment climbed to 6.3 per cent. And if history is any guide, the Fed has little tolerance for outright job losses. A major reason for the downturn is the unsustainable pace of retail spending as consumers keep their pandemic shopping habits. “US households look like they’re consuming well beyond their income and that spending is going to slow sharply in the coming months,” said Mr Pingle. Credit card balances surged 80 per cent at an annualised rate in November and the pile of bank savings is plunging. On top of those tensions, there is an acute correction in house prices with rents starting to fall and slowing activity in construction.

And yet, the worst is still to come with the effect of the Fed’s monetary tightening to be fully felt in 2023.

The Fed last year raised its policy rate by 4.25 percentage points from near zero, the fastest tightening pace in decades. In December, it projected at least an additional 0.75 percentage points of increases in borrowing costs by the end of this year. The central bank raised rates by 0.75 percentage points four times last year, before slowing to a 0.5 percentage point increase in December. Its policy benchmark stands at a mid-point of 4.37 per cent. Fed officials have pencilled in a policy peak of 5.1 per cent, where it is likely to stay for an extended period, but financial markets expect fewer interest rate increases for a top of 4.9 per cent.  Bond futures ascribe a 91 per cent probability to the Fed lifting its benchmark rate on February 1 by 0.25 percentage points. For the first time, they give a small probability of no move in March. Mr Pingle noted that with inflation starting to turn and at a faster clip than the Fed projected, the central bank would change its rhetoric soon. “I expect them to be hawkish in February and a little less hawkish in March. By May, they’re going to be comfortable with the work they’ve done,” he said. The economist said the Fed’s 2022 inflation projection now looked too high and would have to be revised lower. Last week, data showed US consumer prices unexpectedly fell for the first time in more than 2½ years in December, suggesting that inflation is now on a sustained downward trend. The consumer price index dipped 0.1 per cent last month after gaining 0.1 per cent in November. That was the first decline in the CPI since May 2020. In the 12 months, the CPI increased 6.5 per cent. Still, inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target.

• dditional classified government documents were found at President Joe Biden’s Delaware home this week, the White House confirmed Saturday.
• A total of six pages of documents with classification markings were discovered at Biden’s Wilmington residence, Biden’s special counsel said in a statement.

Additional classified government documents were found at President Joe Biden‘s Delaware home this week, the White House confirmed Saturday. In a statement, Richard Sauber, White House special counsel, said that a total of six pages of documents with classification markings were discovered at Biden’s Wilmington residence. The White House previously said that only one page was found there. The first document was identified on Wednesday by Biden’s personal lawyer and turned over, and the additional five documents were discovered later that week, Sauber said. “The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them,” he said in the statement. Sauber said the president’s lawyers have acted “immediately and voluntarily” to provide the documents to the Department of Justice. The disclosure of the latest discovery comes days after Sauber confirmed media reports that attorneys for the president found an initial batch of classified documents from the Biden administration on Nov. 2 in an office that Biden had used as a private citizen at a Washington think tank. That was nearly three months after FBI agents raided the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump and seized more than 100 classified government documents and hundreds of more records that federal prosecutors say belong to the U.S. government. Trump is the focus of a criminal probe by the DOJ for his removal of the records from the White House in January 2021. Sauber disclosed Thursday that a second batch of documents had been found in Biden’s Delaware home. He issued a statement detailing how and where the second batch of documents was found and said a “small number” of records with classified markings were found in the garage.  According to a statement Saturday from Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer, the second batch of documents was discovered in the garage of Biden’s Delaware residence on Dec. 20. The president’s attorneys conducted another search of the home to look for other classified materials beginning Wednesday, which is when they found the additional records in a room adjacent to the garage. Bauer said that Biden’s personal attorneys are working to balance public transparency and the limitations necessary to “protect the investigation’s integrity.” Bauer said the attorneys do not have security clearances, which means they are not aware of the exact number of documents or their content. He said that when an attorney discovered a document with classified markings, they stopped, notified the government, and did not review it. “Adhering to this process means that any disclosure regarding documents cannot be conclusive until the government has conducted its inquiry, including taking possession of any documents and reviewing any surrounding material for further review and context,” Bauer said. By law, government records must be given to the National Archives when a president or officials in their administration leave office. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed former federal prosecutor Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the discovery of these classified records. Hur is authorized “to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter,” Garland said in a public statement he made on the appointment at the Department of Justice. Soon after the second discovery, Biden discussed the documents with reporters. “As I said earlier this week, and by the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Biden said, referring to the documents.“People know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously,” Biden said. “I also said we’re cooperating, fully cooperated with the Justice Department’s review.”

NN: How serious does Biden take classified documents?….. When he claimed its ok because they were secure in his locked garage with his Corvette. Where do we find these idiots……. REALLY!