Good Evening! On Wednesday, markets digested the Federal Reserve’s decision to increase rates by 0.25% and closed, pretty much, at their opening levels.
The Dow Jones was the only index to finish above the open by 0.23%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished below by 0.02% and 0.12% respectively.
COMPETITION IS COMING
Meta Platforms (META) released Q2 earnings that exceeded expectations in both Revenue and Net Income. This in turn led the stock to surge over 4% in after hours trading.
- Revenue: $32 Billion vs. $31.2 Billion Expected
- Earnings Per Share: $2.98 vs. $2.92 Expected
However… The company’s VR division, Reality Labs, did disclose an operating loss ($3.74 Billion loss vs. $3.74 Billion Expected loss). On top of that, the company expects a continuation of these losses as it persists in its investments in AR and VR technology. This is nothing new, however, with Reality Labs incurring a loss of $13 Billion in 2022.
There’s going to be some competition too… Even with the release of the latest headset, Meta Quest 3, which is scheduled to come out this fall. Apple is expected to enter the market with the release of the Apple Vision Pro later this year.
WORKING AGAINST THE CLOCK
The FSO Safer, a deteriorating vessel, is currently located in the Red Sea near the coast of Yemen, holding a cargo of 1.1 million barrels of oil. The ongoing civil war in Yemen has resulted in the neglected ship that has not undergone maintenance for eight years.
What could happen? This poses a significant risk as the potential failure or explosion of the ship could lead to and oil spill. This would have detrimental effects on a busy shipping route, contaminate desalination plants that provide drinking water, and cause severe damage to marine ecosystems. According to the United Nations (UN), the estimated cost of recovering from a spill is $20 billion, and complete cleanup is deemed unachievable.
So what is the plan? Remove all oil from the Safer vessel without causing any leakage or explosion. Which will be done by the UN, which recently acquired a tanker valued at $55 million, which has been positioned alongside the Safer’s vessel. The UN ship has commenced oil transfer from the Safer. Just to be safe, the UN-led team has implemented a water-balloon shield as a precautionary measure to prevent potential boat-on-boat collisions.
If successful… The UN will acquire approximately $75 million worth of oil from the Safer. The objective is to sell the crude oil and reinvest the generated revenue into the Yemeni economy.