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<ul><li>The 30-stock index <keyword id="6484188" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sensex" source="Orion">Sensex</keyword> closed 0.48% or 293 points lower at 60,840 while the 50-stock index <keyword id="2931774" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nifty50" source="Orion">Nifty50</keyword> ended 0.47% or 85 points lower on Friday.</li><li>FMCG, bank, IT, auto and pharma indices traded in red while PSU bank, media, metal and realty stocks were gainers.</li><li>While Indian markets closed the last day of the year on a weak note, they still managed to outperform their global peers in the US, Europe and the rest of Asia in 2022.</li></ul>India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 end last of 2022 on a weak note, dragged down by banking and FMCG stocks despite positive cues from global markets. The 30-stock index Sensex closed 0.48% or 293 points lower at 60,840 while the 50-stock index Nifty50 ended 0.47% or 85 points lower on Friday. FMCG, bank, IT, auto and pharma indices traded in red while PSU bank, media, metal and realty stocks were gainers. In the Nifty50 index, the top gainers had a mix of financial services, oil &amp; gas, auto and consumer goods companies, while the top losers included heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, among others. <div type="image" title="daily-profit-loss-20" msid="96623608" hostid="261"></div> Despite the decline in the overall banks index, PSU banks continued to rally, emerging as the top gainer on the bourses on Friday. The index also further cemented its position as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/best-and-worst-performing-sectoral-indices-of-nifty-in-2022/articleshow/96448669.cms">top sectoral performer of 2022</a>, with a gain of 67% this year. <div type="image" title="sectoral-indices-20" msid="96623615" hostid="261"></div> “On the last day of a tumultuous year, domestic indices shed their early gains as negative signals from global peers pushed indices lower. Investors remained concerned over the economic outlook for the new year, underpinned by growing fears of recession. The ongoing volatility is expected to be sustained in the near-term because of high interest rates and a slowing economy,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services. While Indian markets closed the last day of the year on a weak note, they still managed to outperform their global peers in the US, Europe and the rest of Asia in 2022. In fact, Indian markets marked the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/for-2nd-time-after-1988-94-sensex-on-track-for-7th-successive-year-of-gains/articleshow/96599502.cms">seventh successive year </a>of positive gains. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Index </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">% change </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Sensex </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2.8% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Nifty50 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2.7% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Dow Jones Industrial Average (US) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-9% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Nasdaq Composite (US) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-33% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">S&amp;P 500 (US) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-19% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Shanghai Composite Index (China) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-15% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-15% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Nikkei 225 (Japan) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-10% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">DAX (German) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-12.7% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">FTSE 100 Index (UK) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">-0.19% </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source: Morningstar, as on December 30, 2022 What to watch out for in 2023, according to analysts “2023 would be a year to watch for 4 Cs – CPI globally – are we seeing a trend reversal or just a lull before the storm, China – will the dominance return and how soon , and Currency – will the USD continue to display its indomitable spirit. An overlay of these factors, coupled with geopolitical events could well mean possibility of convergence (4th C) in returns in equities and fixed income as an asset class,” said Lakshmi Iyer, CEO, Investment Advisory, Kotak Investment Advisors. Earlier on Thursday, markets in the US found comfort in easing jobs data, expecting inflationary pressures to ease going forward. This helped the equity markets snap a two-day losing streak, with the benchmark S&amp;P 500 closing 1.75% up, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.05% higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a boost, too, closing 2.59% in the green, with shares of Tesla jumping over 8% after a spate of declines. Most of the Asian markets were also in the green on Friday, led by the Shanghai Composite index which gained 0.51%, followed by the Taiwan Weighted index which rose 0.85%. The Hang Seng index gained 0.2%, while Nikkei 225 closed flat. Crude oil prices softened for the second straight day on an uncertain demand outlook. Brent crude oil prices hovered around $83 per barrel, with a decline of 0.5%. Rupee closed up on the last day of the year at 82.72, appreciating 8 paise against the US dollar. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/gautam-adani-man-of-the-year/articleshow/96610248.cms">Gautam Adani: Man of the year</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/shilpa-shetty-kunal-bahl-promoters-to-sell-stake-as-mamaearth-parent-goes-in-for-an-ipo/articleshow/96594970.cms">Shilpa Shetty, Kunal Bahl, promoters to sell stake as Mamaearth parent goes in for an IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/fpis-return-to-indian-equities-in-the-second-half-of-2022-but-bond-flows-are-still-in-the-red/articleshow/96563652.cms">FPIs return to Indian equities in the second half of 2022, but bond flows are still in the red</a>

Indian markets wrap 2022 on a weak note – Sensex, Nifty50 decline on the last day of the year

<ul><li>US stocks closed at record highs on Friday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell eased investor concerns about tapering its monthly bond purchases.</li><li>The <keyword id="11898248" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sp-500" source="Orion">S&amp;P 500</keyword> and Nasdaq closed at record highs, while the Dow Jones soared nearly 250 points.</li><li>Powell signaled that any decision on tapering its monthly bond purchases would be independent from its decision on raising interest rates.</li><li><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a>.</li></ul>US stocks closed at record highs on Friday after Fed Chairman <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jerome-powell-fed-jackson-hole-speech-uneventful-best-outcome-tapering-2021-8">Jerome Powell eased investor concerns about tapering</a> its monthly bond purchases during the Jackson Hole speech.The record close for the S&amp;P 500 represented its 52nd close so far this year. The Nasdaq also closed at record highs, while the Dow Jones was up nearly 250 points.Powell signaled that the decision to taper the Fed's monthly bond purchases, which total about $120 billion, would be made independent of raising interest rates. The Fed still doesn't expect to raise interest rates until at least 2023, as it continues to monitor progress of the economic recovery from COVID-19.Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Friday:<ul><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest">S&amp;P 500</a>: 4,509.40, up 0.88%</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestm=ingest">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>: 35,454.81, up 0.69% (241.69 points)</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestm=ingest">Nasdaq Composite</a>: 15,129.50, up 1.23%</li></ul>Poly Network said all of the $610 million stolen by a hacker earlier this month <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/poly-network-hack-610-million-tether-mr-white-hat-defi-2021-8">has been returned after Tether released</a> the final $33 million that was frozen. Shares of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/supportcom-stock-price-sprt-explained-reddit-stocktwits-short-squeeze-hedge-2021-8">Support.com extended a 2-day surge to 150%</a> amid an apparent short-squeeze and increased social media chatter.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rivian-ipo-ev-maker-seeks-80-billion-valuation-amazon-2021-8">Rivian has confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC</a>, according to a Friday press release. The electric vehicle maker is seeking a valuation of up to $80 billion, and hopes to go public in late November, according to Bloomberg.Bank of America gave <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/oatly-stock-price-outlook-four-reasons-upside-ahead-bofa-2021-8">four reasons why shares of Oatly could pop as much as 79%</a> as it scales up production to meet demand for its oat milk products.China intends to ban US stock listings for tech companies that have troves of sensitive user data, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/china-ban-tech-companies-us-ipo-listings-sensitive-user-data-2021-8">according to a report.</a> The move comes following the troubled IPO of ride-hailing giant Didi.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">Apple</a> CEO Tim Cook <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tim-cook-apple-stock-performance-payout-share-award-sale-2021-8">sold $750 million worth of shares</a> he received in a performance payout, netting him a total $355 million after paying taxes.Oil prices jumped. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> was up as much as 2.09%, to $68.83 per barrel. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestts&amp;utm_medium=ingest">Brent crude</a>, oil's international benchmark, rose 2.21%, to $72.64 per barrel.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price">Gold</a> jumped as much as 1.46 %, to $1,821.20 per ounce.

US stocks close at record highs after Powell eases tapering concerns during Jackson Hole speech

<ul><li>US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as sliding tech giants overshadowed the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep monetary support intact for the foreseeable future.</li><li>Central bank policymakers signaled near-zero interest rates would last through 2023 to buttress the US economic recovery.</li><li>The tech sector dragged major indexes into intraday losses, with mega-caps including Apple and Facebook leading the slump.</li><li><keyword id="87998" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Retail-sales">Retail sales</keyword> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-retail-sales-august-miss-estimates-economic-recovery-slows-recession-2020-9">grew by just 0.6%</a> in August, missing the average economist estimate of 1% and marking a slowdown from July's 1.2% growth.</li><li>Oil prices increased on reports of US stockpiles falling by 9.5 million barrels last week. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti" target="_blank" rel="noopener">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> jumped as much as 5.4%, to $40.33 per barrel.</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/indices">Watch major indexes update live here</a>.</li></ul>US equities closed mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision against a tech-sector slump.Tech names slowed their roll on Wednesday after rebounding in recent sessions. Mega-caps including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">Apple</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/fb-stock">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/msft-stock">Microsoft</a> sank through the afternoon and dragged the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq composite into intraday losses. The sector has endured intense volatility through September as investors have weighed historically high valuations against the firms' earnings strength through the pandemic.The Federal Open Market Committee elected to hold rates near zero and maintain asset purchases at least at their current pace after their two-day September meeting. Central bank policymakers also signaled <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-fomc-decision-september-near-zero-rates-through-2023-2020-9">near-zero rates would last through 2023</a>.In an update to its forward guidance, the Fed said it "expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy" until maximum employment is achieved and inflation averages 2% over time, according to a Wednesday <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200916a.htm">statement</a>. The stance signals to investors that highly supportive monetary policy will remain in place well into the US economic recovery. Here's where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET market close on Wednesday:<ul><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingesttm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a>: 3,385.49, down 0.5%</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dow Jones industrial average</a>: 28,032.38, up 0.1% (37 points)</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestedium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasdaq composite</a>: 11,050.47, down 1.3%</li></ul>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-picks-to-buy-cheap-companies-strong-earnings-2021-jefferies-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Wall Street firm says investors should buy these 15 cheap, high-earning stocks now to beat the market in 2021 as more expensive companies fall behind</a>"If there was any doubt about the Fed's intention to allow the economy to run hot, today's FOMC meeting put paid to that," Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors, said. "The only question that remains, is how hot is hot?"Investors also grappled with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-retail-sales-august-miss-estimates-economic-recovery-slows-recession-2020-9">retail-sales data that was weaker than expected</a>. August sales grew by just 0.6%, missing economists' estimates of 1% and sinking from July's 1.2% growth. The reading marked the fourth straight increase since spending cratered in April but also showed a slowdown as economic stimulus dried up last month.Energy stocks gained the most through the day, with real estate and industrial stocks also notching healthy gains. Tech stocks fell the most of the S&amp;P 500's 11 sectors along with communication services and consumer cyclical stocks.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investing-strategy-from-house-hacks-to-multifamily-units-2020-9">Anthony Angotti quit his 9-to-5 career to pursue real-estate investing full time. Here's the strategy he's used to balloon his portfolio to 89 units after an initial duplex investment.</a><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/snowflake-stock-price-soars-market-trading-debut-buffett-ipo-2020-9-1029595825">Cloud-data startup Snowflake more than doubled</a> in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company raised roughly $3.4 billion in its debut, making it the largest-ever software initial public offering and biggest IPO of the year.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/kodk-stock">Kodak</a> shares surged after an internal investigation found that stock trades by CEO Jim Continenza around the time the Trump administration disclosed a $765 million loan to the firm didn't violate company rules.The sports-betting platform <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/draftkings-stock-price-new-york-giants-deal-big-10-restart-2020-9">DraftKings rose</a> after <a href="https://draftkings.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/draftkings-and-new-york-giants-announce-official-exclusive">announcing an exclusive deal</a> with the New York Giants to operate online wagers, a sportsbook, and a virtual lounge on game days.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/nikola-stock-price-jpmorgan-analyst-defends-company-following-cfo-meeting-2020-9-1029595994">Nikola reversed an intraday tumble and soared</a> after JPMorgan analyst Paul Coster backed the company after a discussion with its management. The stock slipped through recent sessions amid research reports knocking Nikola for misrepresenting its performance and sales. Nikola deemed such reports false, but the statement did little to keep shares from falling earlier in the week.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/options-trading-strategy-market-wizards-schwager-tony-saliba-shares-advice-2020-9">Legendary options trader Tony Saliba famously put together 70 straight months of profits greater than $100,000. Here's an inside look at the strategy that propelled him to millionaire status before age 25.</a>"The overall message was reassuring: no loss of momentum with existing partners, prospective customers, suppliers and employees," Coster said in a Wednesday note.Spot gold climbed as much as 1%, to $1,973.60. The US dollar erased losses and gained slightly, and Treasury yields ticked higher after the Fed's announcement.Crude-oil futures jumped above $40 per barrel after the American Petroleum Institute reported that US inventories fell by 9.5 million barrels last week, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-15/oil-extends-rally-after-report-shows-decline-in-u-s-stockpiles?srnd=markets-vp">according to Bloomberg</a>. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti" target="_blank" rel="noopener">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> gained as much as 5.4%, to $40.33 per barrel. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestmp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brent crude</a>, oil's international standard, climbed 4.5%, to $42.37 per barrel, at intraday highs.Now read more <keyword id="31671" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets">markets</keyword> coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-strategy-skybridge-gayeski-hedge-fund-managers-to-invest-in-2020-9">The co-investing chief of SkyBridge explains how he finds opportunities in places where no one is looking — and shares the 3 hedge fund titans he's plowing money into ahead of market-wide 'muted returns'</a><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-rally-continue-fed-aid-economic-recovery-ubs-2020-9-1029591603">The world's largest wealth manager says central banks still have plenty of ammo that can keep stocks rallying</a><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-volatility-stocks-us-election-wells-fargo-2020-9-1029595832">Wells Fargo says stock market volatility will balloon after US election</a>

US stocks close mixed as tech slump overshadows Fed's plans for long-term support

<ul><li>The <keyword id="70622" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dow-Jones-Industrial-Average">Dow Jones Industrial Average</keyword> closed at record highs on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Powell signaled that the Fed will continue to remain accommodative. </li><li>Powell wrapped up his second day of testimony to Congress and said the economy still needs support given that the unemployment rate and inflation has yet to reach the Fed's target.</li><li><a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell&amp;hash=8122c716833601fc1471f79af063b104?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestts&amp;utm_medium=ingest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell</a>.</li></ul>The Dow closed at record highs on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell wrapped up his second day of testimony to Congress.Powell reiterated his view that the US economy still has a long way to go before hitting the Fed's unemployment rate and inflation targets, signalling that the Fed is likely to continue remaining accommodative with its near-zero Federal Funds Rate and monthly bond purchases.Technology <keyword id="6354298" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Stocks">stocks</keyword> rebounded following a volatile Tuesday sell-off that was sparked in part by fears of rising interest rates and inflation. The 10-year Treasury yield hit a high of 1.42% on Wednesday.Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:<ul><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500_500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a>: 3,925.35, up 1.13%</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dow Jones industrial average</a>: 31,961.86, up 1.35% (424.51 points)</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasdaq composite</a>: 13,597.97, up 0.99%</li></ul>The volatile trading in bitcoin continued on Wednesday, as it hovered around the $50,000 level. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sq-stock">Square</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mstr-stock">MicroStrategy</a> both said <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-square-purchases-additional-170-million-cryptocurrency-cash-app-2021-2-1030118484">they purchased more bitcoin,</a> and Ark Invest's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/ark-cathie-wood-very-positive-bitcoin-btc-price-cryptocurrency-2021-2-1030117456">Cathie Wood said she is still "very positive" on the cryptocurrency.</a>EV company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/fisker-stock-price-foxconn-partnership-new-electric-vehicle-manufacture-2021-2-1030118781">Fisker Inc. soared as much as 45% after it inked a memorandum of understanding</a> with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to develop a new vehicle scheduled for a release in 2023. A steep decline for <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> this week served as an opportunity for <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cathie-wood-tesla-shares-slump-flagship-fund-tech-shakeout-2021-2-1030117068">Ark Invest to buy the dip</a> for its investment funds, with the investment management company buying more than 200,000 shares. But not all EVs are being bought up by Ark Invest. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cciv-stock">Churchill Capital Corp. IV</a> has<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/churchill-capital-corp-iv-stock-price-plunged-lucid-motors-deal-2021-2-1030120139">fallen over 50% since it announced a merger with Lucid Motors. </a>The FDA said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jj-single-dose-covid-19-vaccine-full-study-results-2021-2">Johnson &amp; Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective,</a> paving the way for the vaccine to be authorized for emergency use later this week. The healthcare company said it could deliver 100 million of its single-dose vaccines by the end of June.Warren Buffett's right-hand man Charlie Munger blasted Robinhood, the rise of SPAC IPOs, and questioned bitcoin at the Daily Journal annual meeting. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/charlie-munger-daily-journal-bitcoin-robinhood-spac-stock-market-speculating-2021-2-1030119897">Here are the highlights of his conversation.</a>Oil prices were higher. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> jumped as much as 2.53%, to $63.23 per barrel. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestts&amp;utm_medium=ingest">Brent crude</a>, oil's international benchmark, rose 2.57%, to $67.05 per barrel.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price">Gold</a> fell 0.3%, to $1,800.40 per ounce.

Dow closes at record high as Powell signals Fed to remain accommodative

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Good morning. An <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/explosion-heard-in-iran-according-to-state-media-2024-4">Israeli strike hit Iran</a> on Thursday night, per multiple reports that cited US officials. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike.In today's newsletter, we're looking at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hush-money-trial-will-include-stormy-daniels-sex-testimony-2024-4">first week of former President Donald Trump's criminal trial</a> and what's at stake.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Based on recent comments from Fed officials, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-delay-powell-inflation-economy-money-monetary-policy-2024-4">don't hold your breath for rate cuts</a>.</li><li>Tech: Meet <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-lieb-y-combinator-group-partner-bump-google-photos-2024-4">Y Combinator's newest group partner</a>.</li><li>Business: Netflix's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-beats-new-subscriber-estimates-earnings-2024-4">password-sharing crackdown is working</a>.</li></ul>But first, let's head to the courtroom.If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><h3>The big story</h3><h2>A Presidential trial</h2><div type="image" title="Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels" height="1500" width="2000" msid="109436276" hostid="261" sizebytes="170100"></div>A former US president and a porn star walk into a courtroom.What sounds like the start of a joke is a soon-to-be reality.Former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial — the first-ever criminal trial of a former president — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hush-money-trial-will-include-stormy-daniels-sex-testimony-2024-4">got underway this week</a> with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beheading-mark-ruffalo-naked-memes-sunk-trump-hush-money-jurors-2024-4">jury selection</a>.Despite the historical relevance, so far it's been a bit of a snooze. Literally. Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-struggles-stay-awake-sleeping-criminal-trial-2024-4">appeared to nod off</a> in court. Meanwhile, keeping jurors on the case <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-juror-worried-identity-being-revealed-2024-4">became a bit of a problem</a> before <a target="_blank" href="https://businessinsider.com/jurors-seated-donald-trump-trial-manattan-trial-who-are-they-2024-4/">12 were ultimately chosen</a> yesterday.We did get a preview of Trump's potential defense: "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-into-defense-jury-selection-hush-money-trial-2024-4">Some accountant</a>" handled the paperwork he's on trial for, Trump told reporters. And there have been some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-courtroom-sketch-artists-2024-4">great courtroom sketches</a>.However, things are set to heat up in the coming weeks.The trial is focused on 34 felonies alleging the Trump Organization's business records were falsified to hide other crimes. That might not seem spicy. But prosecutors say some books were cooked, in part, to hide a hush-money payment to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-stormy-daniels-porn-star-affair-donald-trump-2018-1">porn star Stormy Daniels</a>.That means Daniels will eventually take the stand and likely testify that she had sex with Trump in 2006.How Trump, who has steadfastly denied there was a sexual encounter, reacts will be interesting to see. The former president has previously been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-heckling-e-jean-carroll-defamation-trial-judge-warning-2024-1">reprimanded for his courtroom outbursts</a>.<div type="image" title="Donald Trump" height="1334" width="2000" msid="109436279" hostid="261" sizebytes="115290"></div>The trial is expected to take about six weeks, wrapping up in late May or early June.Trump's legal team still has appeals underway regarding the case. But a mid-trial stoppage <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-out-of-options-to-delay-monday-hush-money-trial-2024-4">would be highly unlikely</a>, according to legal experts.So, barring a hung jury, that basically leaves one of two outcomes:Trump gets acquitted. From a legal perspective, this would be the least complicated. But a win in the hush-money trial doesn't mean Trump is out of the woods. He faces <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/full-text-all-4-indictments-against-former-president-donald-trump-2023-8">three other criminal trials</a> related to the 2020 election and the holding of classified documents, all of which are still in the indictment stage.Trump is found guilty on some or all charges. Here's where things get tricky.Trump will almost certainly appeal the conviction. In the meantime, there is nothing in the Constitution preventing a convicted felon from running for president. In fact, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-indictment-could-run-for-president-2-others-did-2023-3">it's happened before</a>, but both candidates were longshots.Still, Trump might not be able to vote for himself come November. Convicted felons in Florida, where Trump is registered to vote, are disenfranchised <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-florida-voting-rights-felony-conviction-desantis-amendment-4-2023-8">until after completing their sentences</a>.Which gets to the bigger question: Could Trump actually see jail time?Trump's campaign <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-campaign-texts-supporters-locked-up-hush-money-trial-2024-4">is suggesting as much</a>, texting supporters that he "could be locked up for life." But legal experts Business Insider spoke to said the former president likely won't spend time behind bars.But if Trump did go to jail and won November's election…No one seems to know how a sitting US president could <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/can-trump-run-for-president-from-prison-jail-2024-2021-5">run the country from a jail cell</a>. And while Trump could pardon himself as president, that only applies to federal crimes and has never been done before.<h2>3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="red arrow pointing down on a graph" height="1000" width="2000" msid="109436280" hostid="261" sizebytes="386578"></div><ol><li>The Fed wants you to know it will not be rushed into a rate cut. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said the central bank's policy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-delay-powell-inflation-economy-money-monetary-policy-2024-4">will eventually loosen up</a>, "but we don't have to do that in a hurry." New York Fed President John Williams is in a similar boat: "I definitely don't feel an urgency to cut interest rates."</li><li>Speaking of annoyingly high rates… Mortgage rates have spiked above 7% again. That coincides with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-rates-today-30-year-7-housing-market-prices-affordability-2024-4">the housing market screeching to a halt</a>, as March saw the largest monthly drop in existing home sales in over a year.</li><li>These six stocks are set to benefit from the AI data center boom. It takes massive data centers to train and distribute large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT for public use. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-stocks-benefiting-ai-data-center-boom-bank-of-america-2024-4">Bank of America highlighted six stocks to buy</a> if you're looking to take advantage of the trend.</li></ol><h2>3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="Reddit icons overtaking a Google search page" height="1500" width="2000" msid="109436281" hostid="261" sizebytes="88766"></div><ol><li>Meet Y Combinator's newest group partner. David Lieb, the man who led Google Photos to 1 billion users, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-lieb-y-combinator-group-partner-bump-google-photos-2024-4">is stepping into the role</a>. His move comes after a year and a half of advising at the startup accelerator.</li><li>Google just made a huge company shakeup. CEO Sundar Pichai <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-big-shakeup-gives-more-power-to-deepmind-pixel-leaders-2024-4">announced a series of reorgs</a> in an effort to move faster in AI. As a result, Demis Hassabis, Google's DeepMind chief, has gained more power, and the head of Pixel will also oversee Android.</li><li>Is tech dealmaking back? Bankers and venture capitalists nibbled on caviar sushi and sipped champagne and sake at the closing dinner of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/at-the-jefferies-private-internet-conference-dealmaking-was-back-2024-4">the Jefferies Private Investor Conference</a>, BI's Ben Bergman writes. There was talk of a comeback for IPOs and M&amp;As, and plenty of buzz about generative AI being a new catalyst for rising tech valuations.</li></ol><h2>3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Prince Harry and Meghan Markle divided by a ripped $100 bill with a downward trending line" height="600" width="1200" msid="109436282" hostid="261" sizebytes="60760"></div><ol><li>ALICEs abound. More Americans are becoming ALICEs, an acronym for asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. The growing demographic earns too much to qualify for government assistance but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/middle-class-americans-earning-above-poverty-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-2024-4">not enough to afford daily life</a>.</li><li>Samsung execs reportedly got a schedule change — and not a fun one. Executives now have to work six days a week, according to the Korea Economic Daily. It's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-executives-six-day-work-week-report-2024-4">a shift into "emergency mode," </a>brought on by economic headwinds and underwhelming 2023 results.</li><li>Netflix's password-sharing crackdown is working. The streaming giant added more than 9 million subscribers over the first quarter, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-beats-new-subscriber-estimates-earnings-2024-4">smashing Wall Street's expectations</a>. That bodes well for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-benefitting-from-password-crackdown-good-for-disney-2024-4">Disney and Warner Bros.</a>, which plan to follow suit later this year. But Netflix's shares still tumbled in premarket trading after it posted a disappointing revenue outlook.</li></ol><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mistral-raising-new-round-up-to-2-billion-2024-4">OpenAI rival Mistral is in talks to raise up to $2 billion in new funding, sources say</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstones-data-center-bets-have-climbed-10-fold-to-100-billion-2024-4">Blackstone's data-center bets have climbed 10-fold to $100 billion in just 3 years. And it's just the start, Steve Schwarzman says</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-will-stop-sharing-subscriber-numbers-why-explained-streaming-stock-2024-4">Netflix is going to stop telling the world how many subscribers it has. Why?</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/filmmaker-paul-trillo-pros-cons-test-openai-sora-hollywood-2024-4">I'm a filmmaker testing OpenAI's video generator Sora. It's incredibly liberating, but not ready for Hollywood yet</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-growth-takes-off-again-record-75-americans-use-2024-4">Amazon Prime looked like it had plateaued. Now a record 3 out of 4 Americans use it</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-deluxe-anthology-surprise-songs-2024-4">Taylor Swift surprised fans with 15 more songs from 'The Tortured Poets Department' 2 hours after the album was released</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/read-email-stability-ai-leaders-sent-employees-announcing-layoffs-2024-4">Read the email Stability AI leaders sent employees announcing layoffs</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tsmc-q1-earnings-taiwan-semiconductor-chipmaker-industry-growth-stock-price-2024-4">The world's largest chipmaker just issued a warning that the industry's red-hot growth could slow</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-tesla-elon-musk-slashing-jobs-buffalo-new-york-2024-4">We now know more about where Tesla is slashing jobs</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-dominates-influencer-driven-purchases-social-shopping-takeaways-new-data-2024-4">Amazon dominates influencer-driven purchases, new data shows. Here are 5 other key takeaways about social shopping</a>.</li></ul><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Today's earnings: American Express, Procter &amp; Gamble, and other <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">companies are reporting</a>.</li><li>Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," is released.</li><li>Bitcoin's fourth halving is expected as early as today.</li></ul>The Insider Today team: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jordan-parker-erb">Jordan Parker Erb</a>, editor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, senior editor, in London. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/george-glover">George Glover</a>, reporter, in London.

Trump's hush-money trial is set to heat up

Hey there. It's <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, and I'm thinking about this Hugh Grant fan who stalked him for three days at the <a href="https://www.insider.com/hugh-grants-stalked-man-in-hot-dog-suit-comic-con-2023-1">San Diego Comic-Con convention dressed as a hot dog</a>. Today, we've got stories on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-junior-bankers-think-of-goldman-sachs-jpmorgan-and-more-2022-12#base-pay-plus-bonus-at-boutiques-versus-bulge-bracket-banks-4">bulge bracket vs. boutique bank pay</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-startups-ipo-hiatus-bankers-databricks-instacart-stripe-tripactions-netskope-2023-1">the return of the IPO</a>, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/raw-food-diet-was-ranked-worst-for-2023-experts-2022-12">why that New Year's resolution diet of yours might actually be a terrible idea.</a>But first, the interns are coming. If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-on-wall-street">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-to-summer-analyst-internship-at-investment-bank-lazard-2022-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>1. The long road from intern to analyst.Wall Street's version of the Hunger Games — nabbing a summer internship at an investment bank — is about to kick off. Thousands of college students are eagerly refreshing investment banks' careers pages awaiting applications to open for internships for the summer of 2024. (Yes, you read that right, this summer's internship spots have already been wrapped up for a while.)In an effort to ease some anxieties, Insider's Emmalyse Brownstein spoke to Danielle Dodgen, head of US campus recruiting at Lazard, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-to-summer-analyst-internship-at-investment-bank-lazard-2022-12">about tips she has for candidates</a>. From how much you should rehearse beforehand to navigating tricky questions, Dodgen shared five tips that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-to-summer-analyst-internship-at-investment-bank-lazard-2022-12">every aspiring summer analyst should know heading into interview season</a>. It's a unique thing, the investment bankers' career path. The majority of people these days don't work in a field that correlates to their degree (if they have one at all). Most peoples' résumés aren't straight lines, and include plenty of stops along the way.But investment banking has a fair bit of tradition and structure. It's a process that results in young people making decisions that will set them on a certain path for years to come.Just see if you can follow this timeline:<ul><li>A sophomore in college picks an internship in the spring.</li><li>The internship starts the following summer, after their junior year.</li><li>At the end of the internship, and before the start of their senior year, most candidates receive an offer for a job at the same firm.</li><li>That job, which they won't start until after graduating, will ideally be one they hold for at least two years (the traditional length of an investment-banking analyst program). </li></ul>What that all means is that you essentially have a 19- or 20-year-old college sophomore picking a job that a 24-year-old person will still be working at. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't let 19-year-old me pick out my socks, let alone set me up on a four-year trajectory. And we wonder why so many young bankers are burning out? Perhaps Wall Street could do with a bit more flexibility early on instead of locking people into roles they might not even full understand. But in the meantime, may the odds be forever in your favor. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-to-summer-analyst-internship-at-investment-bank-lazard-2022-12">Click here to read more about how you can nail your interview for an investment-banking internship.</a>In other news:<a href="https://www.insider.com/mediterranean-diet-ranked-as-best-diet-of-year-6th-time-2023-01"></a><div type="image" title="mediterranean diet" height="800" width="1066" msid="96740624" hostid="261"></div>2. Does a bigger bank mean a bigger paycheck? Compare what type of base comp and bonus you can expect at a bulge-bracket bank vs. a top boutique as a younger banker. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-junior-bankers-think-of-goldman-sachs-jpmorgan-and-more-2022-12#base-pay-plus-bonus-at-boutiques-versus-bulge-bracket-banks-4">Further proof bigger doesn't always mean better</a>. 3. The University of California is all-in on Blackstone's real-estate fund. Blackstone's BREIT, which had to halt redemptions in late 2022, just got a massive endorsement in the form of a $4 billion investment from UC Investments, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-california-to-invest-4-billion-in-blackstones-breit-real-estate-vehicle-11672723902">The Wall Street Journal reports</a>. 4. Don't knock living in your parent's basement. This 25-year-old's crypto business minted $7 million in after-tax profit in 2021 despite being based in his parent's home. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-investor-traded-2-billion-from-parents-suburban-home-2023-1">More on how some of mom's meatloaf can help you hit it big</a>. 5. It's not all bad news at Wells Fargo. Despite a difficult end to the year for the bank thanks to a costly fine, Wells' investment bank <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/wells-fargo-scores-a-top-10-deal-adviser-spot-for-first-time?sref=5xrDvJna">was actually among the top 10 advisors in M&amp;A in 2022</a>, Bloomberg reports. 6. Fidelity hasn't been a fan of Twitter's Elon Musk era. The firm decreased the carry value of its Twitter stake by 56% in November, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/twitter-valuation-cut-half-since-musk-takeover-fidelity-says-tesla-2023-1">which was Musk's first full month as its owner</a>. 7. Honey, wake up. The IPOs are back. Yes, companies are planning to start going public again. Check out these five startups <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-startups-ipo-hiatus-bankers-databricks-instacart-stripe-tripactions-netskope-2023-1">that seem primed to end the IPO winter</a>. 8. Please don't ask Sam Bankman-Fried who's helping bail him out of jail. The disgraced FTX founder's lawyers requested to redact the names of the two people planning to back his $250 million bail package. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-judge-bail-guarantors-confidential-bankruptcy-court-2023-1">More on the mystery benefactors</a>.9. No more free lunches for startups. Venture capital's appetite for fundraising isn't very high, forcing startups to consider taking on debt. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-debt-vs-venture-capital-startup-advantages-2022-12">Here's why it might actually be a good thing for them in the long run</a>. 10. Here's the best, and worst, ways to diet. If you're like most people, you probably set a goal for yourself in the new year to shed a couple pounds. But before you jump on another fad diet, check out what got ranked the <a href="https://www.insider.com/mediterranean-diet-ranked-as-best-diet-of-year-6th-time-2023-01">healthiest</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/raw-food-diet-was-ranked-worst-for-2023-experts-2022-12">least-healthiest diets</a> for 2023. Curated by Dan DeFrancesco in New York. Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:ddefrancesco@insider.com">ddefrancesco@insider.com</a>, tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/dandefrancesco">@dandefrancesco</a>, or <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63b45b245178b066fa02f0e9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fdan-defrancesco-29b12449%2F">connect on LinkedIn</a>. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffrey_cane">@jeffrey_cane</a>) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/hallam_bullock">@hallam_bullock</a>) in London.

Wall Street's competitive and rigorous internship process could use a facelift

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In a losing year for US stocks, here are the 10 biggest percentage decliners on the S&amp;P 500. </li><li>Meta, Tesla, and Match made the cut as their shares veered toward losses of more than 60% each. </li></ul>Equity investors are no doubt eager to usher out 2022 after a turbulent year of sharp losses.Shaped greatly by Russia's war in Ukraine and central banks responding to soaring inflation with massive rate hikes, the relatively risky asset class was dragged into a bear market. The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">S&amp;P 500</a> was on course to fall about 20%, and the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite">Nasdaq Composite</a> was looking at a decline of more than 30%. Looking at the carnage another way, about 70% of companies on the S&amp;P 500 were logging negative returns as 2022 wraps up. Large-cap tech stocks including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">Apple</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock">Amazon</a> were beaten down as higher borrowing costs weigh on the value of future profits. With recession fears ramping up, high-profile tech companies including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/meta-stock">Meta</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/msft-stock">Microsoft</a> combined have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-layoffs-2022-causes-outcomes-2022-11">laid off thousands of workers</a>. The 10 S&amp;P 500 companies that have experienced the largest stock-price declines heading into the end of 2022 have wiped out a combined market value of more than $1.6 trillion.Here are the benchmark index's 10 biggest losers in 2022 on a percentage basis. 10. PayPal <div type="image" title="Previews of the new rewards section of the PayPal app interface." height="3000" width="6000" msid="96547634" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/pypl-stock">PYPL </a> YTD Performance: -63.4% Market Value Decline: $142.49 billionLike many tech companies, the digital payments processor is seeing a slowdown after a pandemic boom. Net new accounts in the third quarter increased by 2.9 million compared with 13.3 million in the year-ago period. CEO Dan Schulman told analysts the macro environment looks difficult in part with inflationary pressures in Europe and in the US, and a potentially shallow recession in the US. The shares popped higher earlier in December, however, after <a href="https://www.altfi.com/article/10197_paypal-ceo-positive-outlook">Schulman reportedly said</a> fourth-quarter per-share earnings were tracking "slightly ahead" of its expectations. 9. V.F. Corp.<div type="image" title="The North Face" height="450" width="900" msid="96547636" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/vfc-stock">VFC </a> YTD Performance: - 64.4% Market Value Decline: $18.6 billionThe company behind The North Face, Supreme, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vans-targeting-genx-millennials-new-releases-insoles-2022-12">Vans</a> and other apparel labels rounded off a rough year for its stock with the <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/vf-corp-ceo-exits-unexpectedly/637950/">unexpected departure of Steve Randle as CEO</a>. The Denver-based company said this year it's been navigating through a "more disrupted global marketplace," pockmarked by COVID-related issues in China and consumers facing economic uncertainty.8. Signature Bank <div type="image" title="2022 stock chart of Signature Bank's share-price performance." height="1042" width="1228" msid="96547639" hostid="261"></div> Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sbny-stock">SBNY</a> YTD Performance: -64.5% Market Value Decline: $12.4 billion"We are not just a crypto bank and we want that to come across loud and clear," <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/12/06/signature-bank-to-reduce-crypto-tied-deposits-by-as-much-as-10-billion/">CEO Joe DePaolo reportedly said</a> at a Goldman Sachs investor conference this month. The bank's shares have been hit as the so-called crypto winter has slashed the cryptocurrency market's value from its high of more than $1 trillion and crypto deposits at the bank have declined. Signature anounced plans to reduce crypto-related deposits by $8 billion to $10 billion. The stock did rise on the mid-November day that Signature said its deposit relationship with collapsed crypto exchange FTX <a href="https://investor.signatureny.com/pme/press-releases/news-details/2022/Signature-Bank-Provides-Digital-Asset-Banking-Update/default.aspx">was less than 0.1% of its overall deposits</a>.7. Meta Platforms<div type="image" title="Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook's first ever retail location Meta Store" height="518" width="1037" msid="96547642" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/meta-stock">META</a> YTD Performance: -64.9% Market Value Decline: $611.17 billionInvestors have largely pushed back on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-mark-zuckerberg-cant-be-fired-as-meta-facebook-ceo-2022-11">CEO and major shareholder Mark Zuckerberg's</a> metaverse ambitions that led to the company's rebranding from Facebook last year. Its Reality Labs unit centered on virtual-world technology has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-spent-15-billion-metaverse-reality-labs-what-costs-less-2022-10">lost nearly $20 billion</a> since last year. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-losses-facebook-brad-gerstner-open-letter-2022-10">One prominent investor</a> has called on Meta to cut back on its Reality Labs investment. Well aware of the backlash, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-not-majority-were-doing-facebook-meta-focus-2022-11">Zuckerberg recently said</a> 80% of Meta's investments are still directed to its core social media business. The drop in Meta's valuation has sliced more than $80 billion off of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/mark-e-zuckerberg/?sref=GUP2BhaG">Zuckerberg's vast wealth,</a> which recently stood at more than $44 billion.6. Tesla <div type="image" title="Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk speaks to the media next to its Model S in Hong Kong on January 25, 2016." height="2731" width="5463" msid="96547644" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">TSLA </a> YTD Performance: -65% Market Value Decline: $703.12 billionThe pummeling of the EV maker's stock price this year knocked CEO Elon Musk from his perch as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/elon-musk-becomes-the-second-richest-man-check-out-top-10-richest-people-name-and-networth/slidelist/96219815.cms">the world's richest man</a>. A few forces were at work here: Musk himself <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-stock-price-federal-reserve-interest-rates-hikes-2022-12">blames the Federal Reserve</a> for driving down Tesla's valuation, saying its aggressive rate hikes have pushed up US Treasury bond yields, boosting the appeal of that low-risk debt over relatively riskier assets. Meanwhile, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-criticisms-twitter-stock-sales-tesla-investor-issues-complaints-2022-12?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">some investors and analysts</a> say Tesla has been hurt by Musk's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sales-twitter-debt-inflation-recession-fed-2022-12?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">sales of billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares</a> and his focus on Twitter after his controversial $44 billion acquisition of the social media site in October. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teslas-electric-vehicle-struggles-china-europe-preview-elon-musk-usa-2022-12">Supply chain problems in China</a> have also been a pressure point although the company has been able to log record monthly sales during 2022. For those watching Musk's net worth, it's fallen by more than $130 billion on the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/elon-r-musk/?sref=GUP2BhaG">Bloomberg Billionaires Index</a>. 5. Catalent <div type="image" title="GettyImages 1228456459" height="1666" width="2223" msid="96547646" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ctlt-stock">CTLT</a> YTD Performance: - 66.1% Market Value Decline: $15.1 billionThe contract manufacturer for pharmaceutical, consumer health and biotech companies, has worked on producing coronavirus vaccines for <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mrna-stock">Moderna</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/jnj-stock">Johnson &amp; Johnson</a>. But with coronavirus infections slowing overall, the company has flagged "<a href="https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/08/29/catalent-ctlt-q4-2022-earnings-call-transcript/">headwinds from COVID-related volume declines</a>," and last month cut its <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1596783/000159678322000182/earningsreleaseex991-fy23x.htm">2023 revenue projection</a> to a range of $4.63 billion to $4.88 billion. 4. SVB Financial Group <div type="image" title="Silicon Valley Bank" height="2499" width="5000" msid="96547648" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sivb-stock?miRedirects=1">SIVB </a> YTD Performance: - 68% Market Value Decline: $27 billionSilicon Valley Bank is a "good proxy for deal flow in Tech," Bespoke Investment Group said in October as SVB shares plunged double-digits following fourth-quarter results. The company has cut its 2022 outlook for net interest income as it's seen market challenges hitting liquidity flows to private companies and the overall tech landscape hurt by fears of recession and spiking borrowing costs. It's also been a rough year for innovative companies seeking to go public, with the<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ipo-volume-global-2022-rates-hikes-inflation-nasdaq-nyse-markets-2022-12"> global IPO market volumes down 45%</a>. 3. Align Technology <div type="image" title="woman getting invisalign" height="999" width="1999" msid="96547650" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/algn-stock">ALGN</a> YTD Performance: - 69% Market Value Decline: $35.8 billion<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/video/chinas-covid-19-lockdowns-really-145829862.html">CEO Joe Hogan told Yahoo Finance</a> earlier this year that high inflation and supply chain constraints pressured the company behind Invisalign clear braces. The "shutdowns in China really hurt our business," he said about its second-largest market. He made his observations months before China recently began easing restrictions in its strict zero-COVID policy, with economists broadly saying that should reinvigorate growth there - and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-risks-2023-outlook-china-inflation-economy-mortgages-rates-2022-12">perhaps re-ignite inflation</a>. 2. Match Group <div type="image" title="Tinder app" height="1183" width="2366" msid="96547652" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mtch-stock">MTCH</a> YTD Performance: -69.3% Market Value Decline: $26.2 billion Shares of the parent company of Tinder, Match.com, Plenty of Fish and other dating sites have hit their lowest since publicly launching in 2015. The company has run into slowing revenue growth in part as younger and less affluent customers feel the pinch in their discretionary spending. Match says its visibility into 2023 is "challenging." 1. Generac Holdings<div type="image" title="Generac Generator installation" height="2577" width="5154" msid="96547656" hostid="261"></div>Ticker: <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gnrc-stock">GNRC</a> YTD Performance: -73.8% Market Value Decline: $16.6 billion Mass COVID lockdowns helped sparked big demand for backup generators as people worked and studied at home. The power systems maker has since seen residential sales slow while commercial and industrial sales have grown. Generac last month slashed its 2022 sales outlook, driving the stock down further from its pandemic-era heights.

The 10 biggest losers in the S&P 500 this year have seen $1.6 trillion in market value erased

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6354947" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bitcoin">Bitcoin</keyword> falls more than 8% Friday as part of a wider slump in the <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword> market.</li><li>South Korea is reportedly set to levy a 20% tax on <keyword id="2721952" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto">crypto</keyword> transactions starting next year. </li><li>The value of the global cryptocurrency market has slid to $1.6 trillion during May. </li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">Bitcoin</a> dropped by more than 8% to trade under $36,000 during Friday's session, slumping alongside other cryptocurrencies as the market starts wrapping up a month rocked by regulatory threats and Tesla's about-face on accepting bitcoin as payment. The world's largest cryptocurrency lost as much as 8.5% at $35,178 but trimmed the loss to 7.5%. It again lost grip of the $40,000 level it had reached on Thursday. Meanwhile, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/eth-usd">ether</a>, the token of the <keyword id="2810876" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="ethereum">Ethereum</keyword> blockchain, fell nearly 7%, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/bnb-usd">Binance Coin</a> lost 8%, as did <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/ada-usd">Cardano-ADA</a>, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/doge-usd">Dogecoin</a> moved 6% lower.Volatility in the crypto market was showing signs of a pickup on Friday. The <a href="https://cvi.finance/">Crypto Volatility Index</a> climbed above 133 after falling to roughly 127. The CVI has soared from the 80 level at the start of May, but is off its recent high close to 183. Downbeat crypto news flowed through the market Friday, led by South Korea moving ahead with its plan to impose a 20% levy on cryptocurrency transactions beginning in 2022, <a href="https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210528007651315?section=national/politics">Yonhap News Agency reported</a>. Gains from virtual assets will need to be reported when filing for general income taxes in May 2023, the report said. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda criticized bitcoin during an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-28/kuroda-joins-chorus-of-central-bankers-casting-doubt-on-bitcoin?srnd=premium&amp;sref=GUP2BhaGBhaG">interview with Bloomberg.</a> "Most of the trading is speculative and volatility is extraordinarily high," he said. "It's barely used as a means of settlement."For the month as a whole, bitcoin is facing a loss of roughly 38% after taking a number of blows, including China <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-price-reaction-china-reiterates-crypto-mining-trading-crackdown-2021-5-1030455767">reiterating its call to restrict mining and trading activities</a> surrounding bitcoin and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> saying it would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bans-bitcoin-payments-due-to-impact-on-environment-2021-5?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestm=ingest">stop taking bitcoin as payment</a> because of the "insane" amount of energy needed to create new coins and secure the network. But bitcoin's price is poised to regain upward momentum, said Peter Jensen, CEO of RocketFuel Blockchain, in a note."BTC always recovers from past dips and surpasses the previous upper boundary/ceiling price," he wrote. "We could see a similar upward trend in the coming months due to the Robinhood IPO and release of Central Bank Digital Currencies from various countries, which is expected to cement crypto as the future medium for trade and settlement."

Bitcoin sinks 8% as crypto market volatility again rears its head

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Just weeks after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-nikola-announce-2-billion-partnership-2020-9">GM and Nikola established a strategic partnership</a>, the deal has become embattled amid allegations of fraud against the electric truck startup.</li><li>The SEC and DOJ are investigating, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nikola-founder-trevor-milton-resigns-following-fraud-allegations-2020-9">Nikola founder Trevor Milton stepped down as chairman this week.</a> His replacement is Stephen Girsky, a <keyword id="6372405" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="gm">GM</keyword> veteran who formed the blank-check investment fund that merged with <keyword id="1192755" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nikola">Nikola</keyword> earlier this year, taking the automaker public.</li><li>GM has what looked like a risk-free deal to use Nikola vehicles as platforms for GM's new Ultium battery technology.</li><li>But GM's risk assessment might have underestimated Milton's entrepreneurial willingness to distort capabilities in the interest of creating a great story.</li></ul>Once the details of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-nikola-announce-2-billion-partnership-2020-9">General Motor's $2 billion deal with electric and fuel-cell vehicle startup Nikola</a> came to light, it was clear that the largest US automaker wasn't taking any big risks.GM's 11% equity stake in Nikola was wrapped up with a $700 million payment to GM, to effectively make it a contract manufacturer for Nikola's Badger pickup. The truck would be a showcase for GM's new Ultium battery technology, along with the electric Cadillac and Chevy models the automaker will roll out in the next few years. Moreover, while the new pickup would be Nikola-badged, GM would get <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-09-08/gm-nikola-pickup">80% of the emission credits associated with the vehicle</a> (with an option on the rest), offsetting GM's portfolio of top-selling gas-powered pickups and SUVs.So: GM was spending exactly nothing. It had a fresh place to showcase its new battery tech. And it would get the credits to make meeting regulatory demands easier. The only meaningful risk in an otherwise slam dunk deal was reputational: What if Nikola founder and chairman <keyword id="8866561" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="trevor-milton">Trevor Milton</keyword>, an outspoken character, proved to be a liability? He had, after all, <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nikolas-milton-scraps-with-startups-media-critics">spontaneously started fights with both Bloomberg and CNBC this year</a>, attacking reporters and insisting that if he were punched, he would punch back. GM is a company that's happy to defend itself against media criticism, but it typically doesn't start fights, favoring a more diplomatic approach (in many ways, GM runs itself like a country, not a firm). But CEO <keyword id="798973" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mary-Barra">Mary Barra</keyword> seemed unconcerned. She joined Milton on a conference call with reporters when the Nikola deal was announced. After <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nikola-founder-trevor-milton-resigns-amid-fraud-allegations-timeline-2020-9">allegations of fraud emerged</a> from a short-seller's damning report published just days after the deal was announced, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nikola-fraud-short-sellers-hindenburg-research-general-motors-not-worried-2020-9">she defended GM's due diligence to Wall Street</a>.<h2>And then everything got more complicated</h2><div type="image" title="GM EV Barra" height="1333" width="2000" msid="78259441" hostid="261"></div>That was before Milton stepped down this week, with Stephen Girsky taking over as chairman. The former GM board member and executive created the blank-check fund, VectoIQ, that acquired Nikola earlier this year and took it public in a $3.3 billion reverse merger. The move generated a market capitalization that, at one frothy point, surpassed Ford's.Nikola shares have slid more than 30% since Hindenburg Research, a firm run by Nate Anderson, released a report on September 10 alleging that Nikola is "an intricate fraud." Hindenburg also disclosed a short position on the stock. (GM stock declined as well, but not as much as Nikola's — cold comfort for a company whose shares have underperformed the markets since 2010.) Anderson's report — <a href="https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/">"</a><a href="https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/">Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America"</a> — maintained among other things that Nikola had promoted proprietary technology that didn't exist, claimed it was on the verge of a battery breakthrough and a revolution in hydrogen production for fuel-cell purposes, and showcased a non-functional semi-truck prototype, a "pusher" in the parlance of the auto industry.The SEC and the Department of Justice opened probes into Nikola's business, and GM's riskless deal, slated to close before the end of September, started to look a lot riskier than anyone had reckoned. But the big automaker, in a statement to Business Insider, affirmed its commitment to what it had previously termed a strategic partnership."We acknowledge Trevor Milton's departure from Nikola and the decision of the Nikola Board to move forward," the company said."We will work with Nikola to close the transaction we announced nearly two weeks ago to seize the growth opportunities in broader markets with our ... fuel cell and Ultium battery systems, and to engineer and build the Nikola Badger. Nikola, Honda and other companies who are looking to GM's technology as a platform for their products, represent just one part of our overall EV strategy. Our overall goal is to put everyone in an EV and accelerate adoption."(GM's arrangement with Honda entails an investment in self-driving company Cruise, which GM acquired in 2016 and is now led by former GM President Dan Ammann, and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-honda-alliance-is-just-the-beginning-of-auto-consolidation-2020-9">North American alliance to develop new vehicles</a>.)<h2>Milton had to go</h2><div type="image" title="nikola badger 1" height="1317" width="1756" msid="78259447" hostid="261"></div>Still, what looked like a foolproof deal for GM had become anything but, as the media and Wall Street swarmed the Hindenburg news."It's clear Steve Girsky and Nikola were not prepared for serious public scrutiny, even if Girsky did have a full understanding of Nikola's capabilities before initiating the talks with GM," Karl Brauer, executive analyst at online auto resource iSeeCars.com, said in an email to Business Insider."Regardless of what Girsky and GM knew before the Hindenburg report, there's the appearance of Nikola misleading them. That doesn't negate the long-term potential of the partnership, but it undeniably damages the short-term image of both companies while putting more pressure on GM and Nikola to deliver something concrete as soon as possible."The fastest way to take unexpected risk off the deal and assure investors that Nikola was being professionally managed was to sacrifice Milton, and the Nikola board did so in short order — though Milton's resignation was voluntary. <a href="https://sec.report/Document/0001104659-20-106691/">According to an SEC filing</a>, Milton also gave up all his performance-based equity and agreed to stay out of Nikola's business for three years. (He will remain available as a consultant through December.)<h2>The flashy are falling</h2><div type="image" title="Travis Kalanick" height="2000" width="3000" msid="78259451" hostid="261"></div>If you're keeping track, high-profile founders are struggling to retain their positions at high-profile companies, once those companies start moving toward going public. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-path-to-ipo-travis-kalanick-resign-ceo-2017-6">Travis Kalanick was forced out of Uber in 2017</a> as the ride-hailing company sought to reform a bare-knuckled, sexist culture, and Adam Neumann was deposed from WeWork prior to the commercial real-estate startup's IPO last year, when a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weworks-nightmare-ipo">bevy of questionable management details were revealed</a>. Milton now joins their ranks, and some of his controversies weren't even that controversial: The Hindenburg report alleged that Nikola's semi-trucks weren't ready for prime time when they were showcased for potential customers, something GM likely assessed as an opportunity to provide a startup with what it couldn't develop on its own, such as salable vehicles and viable drivetrains.For GM, this is all more of a headache than a terminal illness. The company is still selling millions of gas-powered cars and trucks every year, and it should meet its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-details-22-electric-vehicles-plans-to-launch-by-2023-2020-3">22-EVs-by-2023</a> goal should with its own vehicles. But it is yet another instance of new-economy entrepreneurship, with all its positives and negatives — creating excitement and then colliding with the more mundane concerns of dealmaking with the old-economy players who want to join in, but who have to play by well-established rules.The big question now is whether GM has stabilized the deal, or whether there's more trouble on the horizon.

GM struck a nearly foolproof deal with Nikola — but Trevor Milton posed a bigger risk than anyone expected

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty ImagesThe turnaround plan announced last week by WeWork executive chairman Marcelo Claure promises to stem the company's outflow of cash while at the same time opening hundreds of new locations.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/real-estate">Real-estate</a> and business experts who spoke with Business Insider were baffled by the turnaround plan <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/wework">WeWork</a> unveiled to employees on Friday.</li><li>The company plans to shore up its bottom line and stanch its outflow of cash, but at the same time, it plans to open hundreds of new locations.</li><li>Those goals would seem to be contradictory, because it's costly to open new locations, both in the short and long term.</li><li>WeWork, which was weeks away from running out of cash before <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/softbank">SoftBank</a> bailed it out last month, has burned through billions of dollars, much of through the build out of new office centers, and it already has billions of dollars in rent bills that will come due starting next year even before its new expansion.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-latest-wework-news-2019-6">Read more WeWork news here</a>.</li></ul>WeWork's got a turnaround plan. If you can make sense of it, you'll be better off than many real estate and business experts.On Friday, the real-estate company's management team <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-staff-meeting-after-layoffs-path-to-profitability-new-executives-2019-11">discussed with employees its new path forward</a>. Part of the plan was expected - WeWork, which has been burning through cash like a California wildfire, is going to try to get that under control.But part of the plan was a surprise. It's firebreak does not include cutting back on its hundreds of number of locations, whose opening and leasing costs have been the primary cause of its cash inferno. Instead, WeWork's new management team plans to open hundreds of additional locations in coming months, doubling its current count.That baffled the experts, because, at least on the face of things, the two goals seemed mutually contradictory.WeWork's plan "is not believable, because you can't say those two things simultaneously," said Tom Smith, a cofounder of Truss, an online commercial real-estate marketplace. He continued: "You don't have to go and get the opinion of a tenured economist to tell you that this doesn't pass the straight-face, common-sense test."Representatives for WeWork did not respond to emails seeking comment.The real estate giant's profligate spending has been legendary. Despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/definitive-history-wework-company-valuation-2019-9">raising more than $8 billion in venture capital funding</a> since it was founded in 2011, WeWork was <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wework-rushing-to-get-jpmorgan-debt-financing-deal-could-run-out-of-cash-2019-10-1028592883">weeks away from running out of cash</a> when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-takes-control-of-wework-in-bailout-deal-neumann-out-2019-10">SoftBank bailed it out</a> last month. The company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wework-3q-losses-cash-explain-softbanks-5-billion-valuation-2019-11-1028688529">burned through about $1 billion</a> in the third quarter alone and around $2.5 billion in the first nine months of this year.<h2>WeWork's new executive team has been touting fiscal responsibility</h2>But after ousting founder and former CEO Adam Neumann, WeWork's new management team - led by co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham and executive chairman Marcelo Claure - has been trying to show that the company has a newfound sense of fiscal responsibility.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">GettyUnder former CEO Adam Neumann, WeWork nearly quadrupled its number of locations in two years and burned through billions of dollars in cash.</div></div></div>In recent weeks, they've <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-wants-sell-3-businesses-managed-by-q-conductor-meetup-2019-9">put on the auction block three startups WeWork acquired</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-is-putting-neumanns-60-million-jet-up-for-sale-2019-9">as well as the company jet</a>. They've announced that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-closes-wegrow-rebekah-neumanns-school-effort-2019-10">they're shutting down WeGrow</a>, the private school the company ran, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weworks-flatiron-school-lays-off-dozens-of-people-2019-11">laid off staff at Flatiron School</a>, a subsidiary that offers coding camps. And last week, right before they presented their turnaround plan to employees, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-lays-off-2400-employees-2019-11">they cut 2,400 additional jobs</a>.In the turnaround presentation, Claure further emphasized his team's new focus on the bottom line. The company is exploring ways to make money off its existing spaces, including by renting out conference rooms. It plans to start using dynamic pricing for its services to adjust to market demand. And outside of 12 core markets, where it will continue to sign lease agreements on its own, it plans in the future to explore office management, revenue-sharing, and joint-venture agreements that could allow it to shift some of its costs to partners.WeWork's management set a goal of the company achieving a kind of profitability - if you grade on a curve and leave out a whole host of expenses - by 2021. They plan for the company to actually be generating cash by 2023.But the turnaround plan left out what many real-estate and business experts thought would be an essential component - closing locations and shrinking WeWork's number of spaces. Instead, Claure and his team vowed to keep on opening locations.<h2>But shrinking is not part of their plans</h2>At the end of September, WeWork had 600 open locations in 122 cities, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-presentation-has-numbers-critics-say-should-have-been-ipo-2019-11">an investor presentation the company put together last month</a>. Those numbers were up from 528 in 111 cities at the end of June and 425 in 100 cities at the end of last year.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">WeWorkOne of WeWork's hundreds of office locations. Much of the company's cash expenditures come from building out and furnishing new office spaces.</div></div></div>In other words, in just nine months, during a time when its business model has come under increasing scrutiny and its losses have swelled, WeWork increased its number of open locations by 41%. That's after nearly quadrupling its number of locations between 2016 and 2018.And now, despite being near death a month ago, it plans to keep on opening more. By next year, WeWork's management team plans to have 1,200 open locations.Jeff Langbaum was among those who expected WeWork, in the wake of its near-death experience, to take a quite different approach and severely cut back on its expansion. Langbaum, a real-estate analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, was surprised that it's going to keep on expanding at a rapid pace."Going from running out of money over the next couple of weeks to continuing to try and double the size of your business ... they seem relatively incongruous," he said.The reason why real-estate and business experts are skeptical that WeWork can push toward profitability while at the same time opening hundreds of new locations is because of the costs involved in leasing, opening, and renting out new spaces.<h2>Building out and furnishing new spaces is costly</h2>In the first six months of this year - a period in which it opened 103 locations - WeWork burned through $1.3 billion in cash on capital expenditures, costs that are largely associated with building out new spaces and providing them with furnishings. Such costs comprised the vast majority of its cash outflow during that period.As it opens 600 new locations in coming months, those costs will almost certainly swell."It totally makes sense to be confused by" WeWork's plan to continue to rapidly expand and work toward shoring up its finances at the same time, said Walter Johnston, who focuses on the real-estate market as a vice president of credit ratings at the research firm DBRS Morningstar. "A lot of the cost associated with with WeWork's cash flow burn is wrapped up in [its] expansion," he continued. "The setting up of an office is usually the most cash-intensive part of the business plan."For their part, in the investor presentation it put together last month, WeWork said the amount the company spends for each new desk it adds has been declining, going from $7,300 per workstation in 2014 to $3,700 each in the first half of this year. But that still implies that it expects a massive outflow of cash as it opens new centers.Assuming it doubles its number of desks from the 676,000 it had at the end of September along with doubling its number of locations, it could expect to spend a whopping $2.5 billion on capital expenditures opening those new sites. That's more than a third of the $6.5 billion WeWork is getting from SoftBank as part of its bailout package.<h2>Discounts are often used to fill new locations</h2>But opening new locations incurs other costs beyond just those associated with the build-out. It's common practice in the real estate industry when opening a new building or office space to offer discounts to prospective tenants to fill up the space. And WeWork has tended to be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-used-disounts-to-convince-tenants-to-relocate-new-locations-2019-9">much more aggressive about handing out those discounts</a> than traditional landlords or even other rivals in the coworking segment that it competes in. As Business Insider reported, it has in the past offered deals <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-used-deep-discounts-to-lure-customers-from-rivals-2019-10">in which it essentially saw no revenue</a> over a two-year rental agreement.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Francois G. Durand/Getty ImagesWeWork's new management team recently brought in branding expert Maurice Levy to shore up the company's image.</div></div></div>Even if its new management team moves away from such extreme promotions, they still will likely rely on discounts to fill up their new office spaces. Such discounts can significantly limit the amount of revenue a new space provides.And whatever the intentions of WeWork's management, the company may need to still heavily rely on discounts to get people in the door of its new offices. That's because WeWork's reputation has suffered heavily in the last couple of months due to its failed public offering, massive valuation decline, and near bankruptcy. Potential customers could be turned off by the idea that WeWork's business is foundering or could be worried that its services will suffer thanks to its cutbacks.Claure seemingly recognized WeWork's image problem when he <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wework-interim-cmo-publicis-maurice-levy-didnt-want-job-ft-2019-11-1028715179">recently hired branding guru Maurice Levy</a> to head the company's marketing efforts."The WeWork brand right now is trashed and tarnished," said Robert Siegel, a lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business.<h2>Filling so many centers at once will likely be a tough task</h2>And WeWork faces <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weworks-answers-to-its-5-biggest-questions-left-analysts-concerned-2019-8#how-is-competition-affecting-the-market-13">lots of competition</a>. There are at least 250 other coworking providers in the US alone, Truss' Smith said - up from just 50 a few years ago. Many of the workers and managers WeWork has shed are going to those rivals, helping them to better compete for space and deals, he said."If you thought the competitive landscape was challenging for WeWork's expansion and profitability plans before, it's lot harder now," Smith said.Even assuming that WeWork can secure 600 new locations in the timeframe it's talking about - which Smith says is an open question - opening that many in that short of a time period and then trying to fill them all will be extraordinarily difficult. Given the sheer numbers of new locations, it's likely that at least some of them will be in suburban locations where WeWork to date hasn't shown that there's a demand for its service, Smith said."There's a general feeling that the markets that would be most responsive to their model" - places like New York and London - "are pretty saturated," Smith said. That saturation and the increased competition WeWork faces "makes absorption of doubling of centers seem, even at their current brutal margins, seem unbelievable."In other words, WeWork can't expect to fill all the new locations that it will be opening without some massive discounting.<h2>WeWork has some big bills coming due</h2>And there's another, obvious, cost to opening new centers - rent. Typically in the real estate business, landlords offer tenants who sign long-term leases a discount off their initial rent payments. Sometimes this comes in the form of a credit for some of the improvements they make, other times it's just a reduction in initial rent charges.But landlords usually make up those discounts and credits in the latter years of the leases with higher rent charges. And some of the rent that WeWork has deferred in the past is already about to start coming due.At the end of last year, WeWork had some $2.8 billion in deferred rent - essentially the accumulation of these kinds of discounts - on its books. It added about $1.3 billion of that last year as its location count swelled.Next year, some of those rent bills will start coming due. It <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-faces-cash-crunch-but-partners-likely-bail-it-out-2019-9/amp/">has at least $2.2 billion in lease payments due next year</a>. All the new centers could only add to that bill next year and in the years to come."It is interesting that they see this as their turnaround plan, because it seems like a pretty cash-intensive operation," said Johnston.<h2>The company says new buildings quickly start generating cash</h2>To be sure, WeWork asserts that on a site-by-site basis, its locations quickly start generating cash, at least if you exclude certain costs. On average, seven to 12 months after its centers open, their "contribution margin" - a kind of per-site operating profit - is 5% of revenue, according to the company's investor presentation. Sites that have been operating for more than 24 months have contribution margins of 21% on average.It's possible that WeWork's unit economics are such that its massive expansion could make sense, some business experts said. If it's able to quickly get those new locations up to where they are generating cash, the build-out could be worth the big investment they said.If what WeWork says about the profitability of its individual locations is true, "then theoretically, this level expansion doesn't preclude them from reaching profitability" by its target date, said Langbaum.WeWork will likely need to raise more money at some point. But after its failed IPO and its cash crunch, the company faces intense skepticism from the investment community, said Siegel. The company's managers know they need to rebuild trust with clients, landlords, and Wall Street. In that environment, it's hard to believe that the company didn't put a lot of thought into its new turnaround plan, he said."The people who are involved with that company are not dumb," Siegel said. "You can't imagine they're going to repeat the same mistakes that happened before," he continued. "It's almost inconceivable."But even Siegel thinks it shouldn't be taken as a given that WeWork's new plan will work or even makes sense."Given that it was a house of cards before, having a healthy skepticism is probably warranted," he said. "It's incumbent on WeWork to prove ... that they really have changed the business."Got a tip about WeWork? Contact this reporter via email at twolverton@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/troywolv/">@troywolv</a>, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tip-business-insider-securely-guide-signal-securedrop-2017-6"> contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop</a>.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more about WeWork:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-neumann-startup-investor-role-revealed-best-and-worst-tendencies-2019-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Adam Neumann personally invested tens of millions in startups while he ran WeWork. Founders who took his money reveal what it was like.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-softbank-didnt-let-wework-go-bankrupt-2019-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">SoftBank could have just walked away from WeWork and its $9 billion investment. Business experts explain why it didn't.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbanks-struggling-vision-fund-likely-prompted-wework-bailout-2019-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">SoftBank likely had the Vision Fund on its mind when it decided to rescue WeWork</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-used-deep-discounts-to-lure-customers-from-rivals-2019-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">WeWork used massive discounts - in some cases, essentially giving away space for 2 years - to try to poach customers from rivals</a></li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/40-big-tech-predictions-for-2019?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=wework&amp;itm_campaign=40-big-tech-predictions-for-2019-2"></a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/safest-walk-ice-penguin-2017-2">The safest way to walk on ice is to impersonate a penguin</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

WeWork's turnaround plan calls for it to stanch its losses while opening hundreds of new locations. Here's why business and real estate experts are baffled.

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