Good Evening. U.S. equities plunged significantly on Monday to begin the week, with losses in technology company shares leading the way as investors readied themselves for the start of the earnings season and brand-new inflation data due out on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 fell 1.50%, while the Nasdaq fell by 2.26%. Also, the Dow lost 0.52%. The stock market had a positive week, with all three indices posting weekly gains after closing flat on Friday following the release of the jobs report.
CAN'T HIDE FROM THE PAST
Newspaper allegations based on stolen papers claim that as part of its global expansion attempts from 2013 to 2017, Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) tried to lobby lawmakers and broke the law.
According to claims from publications like the Guardian and Le Monde, the firm purportedly obtained support for its initiatives from politicians, including French President Emmanuel Macron. The so-called “Uber Files,” which are based on more than 124,000 documents shared with the nonprofit International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, detail the lengths to which the company went in order to expand into crucial cities (Paris) during the time that co-founder Travis Kalanick served as CEO.
Instead of trying to deny any of it, Uber didn’t refute any of the claims in a statement sent shortly after the investigations were published. Uber instead emphasizes the modifications made after Dara Khosrowshahi was appointed CEO in 2017.
How did they turn this around? Khosrowshahi has changed the organization and given safety top priority. According to the statement, “When we say Uber is a different company today, we mean it literally”, 90% of current Uber employees joined after Dara became CEO.
POOL PARTY
This past weekend, protesters in Sri Lanka held one of the most strange pool parties ever by breaking into the complex of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and having a good time in his pool. Both Rajapaksa and the nation’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, announced they would soon step down from their positions as leaders because it is challenging to govern successfully. It is the pinnacle of an economic crisis that has resulted in severe gasoline, medication, and food shortages; Rajapaksa described Sri Lanka as a “bankrupt country.”
Let’s back up first
Sri Lanka, an island nation of 22 million people off the coast of India’s southeast, was regarded as an example of a developing, lower-income nation. After opening its economy to international investment in the 1970s, it cultivated a sizable and expanding middle class, and its economy quickly outperformed many of its peers in the region on a per capita basis. Many people were enjoying comfortable lives.
However… a number of governmental blunders and certain uncontrollable factors (like the pandemic) have reduced Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves and brought about the country’s economic collapse.
Bringing us back today, India has provided its neighbor with loans totaling $3.5 billion this year, but an IMF bailout remains Sri Lanka’s greatest chance for a turnaround.