Good Evening! On Tuesday, U.S. stocks maintained their strong performance, increasing for the seventh consecutive session. The surge was due to investors gaining fresh confidence in the Federal Reserve’s decision to finish its tightening campaign this year.
The S&P 500 increased by 0.28%, while the Dow Jones saw a gain of 0.17%. The Nasdaq Composite surged by 0.90%.
A BUMPY ROAD
Rivian (RIVN), the manufacturer of electric adventure vehicles, exceeded expectations in the third-quarter. Additionally, the company raised its production prediction and lowered its projected loss for the year.
- Revenue: $1.34 Billion vs. $1.31 Billion Expected
- Production Forecast: 54,000 units vs. 52,000 Prior
- Earnings Per Share: ($1.19) vs. ($1.32) Expected
What else? Rivian announced that it is no longer obligated to sell its electric delivery van (EDV) solely to Amazon (a stakeholder in Rivian). Rivian intends to fulfill its previous deal with Amazon by manufacturing 100,000 delivery vehicles.
However, it has been a bumpy road… Rivian’s stock has had an 11% decline since Q2 and a 45% decrease over the last year. In contrast, the S&P 500 index has shown positive growth of nearly 14% over the same period. It is not only RIVN, though; stocks of electric and traditional vehicle manufacturers, such as GM and Ford, have also seen significant declines, as these companies have reported a decrease in demand for electric vehicles or a shift in the nature of this demand.
PAYMENT NOT FOUND
Last week, a “processing error” caused hundreds of thousands of payments to not be deposited into US bank accounts. Several days have passed, and the private corporation accountable for that mistake is still struggling with the consequences.
Let’s back up. In a statement made today, The Clearing House, a major processor of interbank electronic transfers in the US, acknowledged that certain payments were delayed on Thursday due to instructions sent to financial institutions with customer account numbers and names concealed.
So who is at fault? In a statement, the Clearing House explicitly absolved banks of any responsibility, emphasizing that the blunder was not a result of actions taken by the financial institutions involved nor by the companies or account holders who made the payments.
How big is the issue? The issue impacted about 850,000 transactions. Even though this accounts for only 1% of the 130 million transactions that were processed over the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system on Friday. JPMorgan is currently providing reimbursement for overdraft fees to affected customers who were unable to cover their bill payments due to insufficient funds.