Good Evening! U.S. equities fell on Friday as official employment statistics revealed that more than half a million jobs were created in January, undermining expectations for a halt in rate hikes.
The S&P 500 declined by 1.04%, but the Dow Jones dipped by 0.38%. The Nasdaq Composite closed 1.59% down.
ANOTHER STAKE, ANOTHER MEME STOCK?
The department store giant Nordstrom’s (JWN) stock soared on news that activist investor Ryan Cohen had acquired a position in the firm. A little refresher, Cohen is the co-founder of Chewy, and he may be most remembered for helping to send GameStop stock soaring in 2021 after he invested in the firm and pushed for a board reshuffle and other reforms.
How big is the stake? Cohen has accumulated a big enough stake making him one of the five largest stockholders outside of the Nordstrom family, according to The Wall Street Journal. Similar to what he did at GameStop, Cohen intends to pressure the failing department store company to make board changes.
How does he play his hands? As the company’s revenues decrease and it confronts secular headwinds, he feels that cutting expenses is the best solution. Nevertheless, investors should be wary because Cohen also maintained a position in Bed Bath & Beyond, contributing to the stock’s growth before “pulling the rug out” of other stockholders and making an estimated $60 million profit.
DOES ANYONE WANT TO BUY A FOREST?
The wealth management division of JPMorgan said that it bought 250,000 acres of forests in the Southeastern United States for $500 million.
Why? In this era of corporate sustainability commitments, businesses are eagerly purchasing carbon offsets to offset their own carbon emissions. One of the most common methods of carbon offsets involves paying lumberjacks to temporarily lay down their chainsaws and conserve naturally CO2-absorbing trees.
“Rather than waiting to be paid, they can now be paid to wait,” the global head of alternative investments for JPMorgan stated in a September blog post. However, the bank aims to utilize its new forest for both wood production and carbon offsets.
It is not only them… Investors are placing massive wagers on the carbon offsets market. A group headed by a T. Rowe Price company spent $1.8 billion for 1.7 million acres of forest in 17 states last October.