Zuckerberg Has Egg on His Facebook after Biggest One Day Plunge In History
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is about to undergo the single largest loss of value in a single day for a stock in world history. Poised to lose about $150 billion in market cap in one day, the absolute rout comes after disappointing earnings numbers, especially dwindling growth in active users and a warning that revenue would decline sequentially over the rest of the year. Privacy issues and ad targeting, and a general sense that the social network is now “uncool” have all come together to take shares to the woodshed. Put options traders are happy though, so there’s that.
SEE: Bank of England Embraces Blockchain Technology In New Interbank System
Toyota Going All Out With Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Expansion Plans
Toyota (NYSE:TM) is stepping up to bat in the alternative fuel car sector. Not quite electric, but hydrogen fuel cell, the kind that runs on hydrogen gas and emits only water vapor as exhaust. It recently announced plans to make mass market, affordable fuel cell models, make them more compact and powerful, and tackle the truck, SUV, and compact car markets. “We’re going to shift from limited production to mass production, reduce the amount of expensive materials like platinum used in FCV components, and make the system more compact and powerful,” Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of the Mirai, said in an interview with Reuters.
Ford Underwhelms, Tariffs and Commodity Prices to Blame
Ford (NYSE:F) reported a 48% year-over-year drop in net quarterly earnings yesterday, falling short of Wall Street’s expectations for earnings of 31 cents a share by 4 cents. The stock hasn’t quite cratered like Facebook’s, but shares are down 2.3% in the premarket this morning. The American carmaker complained of the impact of tariffs, which are designed to protect American companies, but not all of them. A truck production shutdown that lasted one week has also impacted earnings negatively.
Yemen Caused Yesterday’s Oil Spike? Yup. Yemen.
Yemen makes almost no contribution to the global economy, but yesterday it did help bring oil prices (NYSEARCA:USO) up a bit when Yemeni fighters bombed tankers belonging to a Saudi Arabian shipping firm. They were each carrying 2 million barrels of oil. In response, the Saudis suspended shipments through the Bab el-Mandeb strait until further notice. The Yemenis who attacked the vessels are believed to be backed by Iran, which wants to stir up trouble with Saudi Arabia given that sanctions against its own oil exports are about to be put into full force after the midterm elections.
Failed Centralized State-Owned Puerto Rican Power Grid Given Tesla’s Solar Power a Chance
Puerto Ricans are sick and tired of waiting for their state-owned power company to give them electricity, ten months after Hurricane Maria came and went. So instead, people in central Puerto Rico are turning to solar, supplied by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). Currently only about 4% of the power in Puerto Rico is produced from renewable energy sources, but that could rise if the island’s power company keeps failing so spectacularly, leaving so many residents still without reliable electricity.
