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More China news: Shares in six newly listed companies started trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen today after a five-month hiatus on initial public offerings. The companies had filed to go public between February and June, but the government banned new share sales in July in an effort to stem a plunge in the markets, creating an IPO backlog of nearly 700 companies. Under current rules, buyers must back their order with cash up front, even though the entire share order is unlikely to be filled.
China also plans to introduce a new round of auto purchase subsidies for rural residents that will cover vehicles with engines smaller than 1.6 liters, Bloomberg reports. The country last introduced the subsidies (although not for passenger cars) in the depths of the global financial crisis to help prop up economic growth. That spending propelled the nation past the U.S. to become the largest market in the world for new vehicle sales. Chinese automaker shares surged on the news: Geely Automobile (OTCPK:GELYY) +6.2%, Chongqing Changan Automobile +6.1% and BYD (OTCPK:BYDDY) +5.3%.
Yahoo is weighing a sale of its core Internet business and will not sell its stake in Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), according to a CNBC report. The moves represent a stark rejection of CEO Marissa Mayer’s plan to sell the $ 30B Alibaba stake, and revive the core Internet unit focusing on growing mobile, video and social media ads. The firm is also considering what to do with its stake in Yahoo Japan. YHOO +2% premarket.
Computer Sciences has agreed to buy Xchanging for about £480M ($ 721M), beating out other suitors in a bidding war for the insurance-focused outsourcing company. According to a press release, “Xchanging (OTC:XCNGF) would offer CSC a newly modernized suite of insurance platforms, which are well established with the largest insurers, managing agents and brokers.” The acquisition is expected to close in the next six months pending receipt of regulatory approvals. Xchanging +8.8% in London.
The world’s biggest brewer faced tough questions on Tuesday in a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee. Lawmakers expressed concerns over AB InBev’s (NYSE:BUD) plan to buy SABMiller (OTCPK:SBMRY), stating that the MegaBrew deal could hurt the fast-growing U.S. craft beer industry. Despite the panel’s worries, it will have no say on whether it goes ahead. That decision lies with the U.S. Justice Department.
As widely expected, Kinder Morgan has slashed its 2016 quarterly dividend to $ 0.125/share from the current $ 0.51, marking the company’s first-ever dividend cut. The company said the move will enable it to use a significant portion of its cash flow to fund the equity portion of its expansion capital requirements, eliminate any need to access the equity market for the foreseeable future, and maintain a solid investment grade credit rating. “This is in the best long term interest of our shareholders,” CEO Steven Kean told WSJ. KMI -6.5% premarket.
The bill for last month’s catastrophic Samarco dam failure in Brazil could be growing by the day, WSJ reports, as the joint venture between Vale (NYSE:VALE) and BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) struggles to formulate an emergency plan demanded by local prosecutors in case of additional accidents. The disaster unleashed an avalanche of mud that killed at least 15 people, destroyed villages downstream, and polluted hundreds of miles of waterways in the Rio Doce basin.
Apple has suspended plans to offer an online TV service, and will focus for now on helping media companies directly sell content via the App Store, Bloomberg reports. The news service adds that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) isn’t completely giving up on providing a live TV service, but notes its original plan to sell 14 or so channels for $ 30-$ 40/month has “run into resistance from media companies that want more money for their programming.” Media executives have said they expect Apple and other new entrants to pay more per channel than pay-TV incumbents. AAPL -0.4% premarket.
Alphabet is making its biggest bet yet on spreading connectivity across the nation. On top of 20 other metro areas, Google Fiber now plans to come to Los Angeles and Chicago – the second and third-largest U.S. cities by population – if they pass a long review. The latest announcement follows the Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) restructuring, which puts Fiber in a separate division from core Google.
Some of the world’s largest companies, including Unilever (NYSE:UL), Total (NYSE:TOT), Bank of America, (NYSE:BAC), Patagonia and Ikea, announced their commitment on Tuesday to cutting carbon emissions and participating in practices that would support sustainable energy. The pledges came at The New York Times Energy for Tomorrow conference, being held in concurrence with the international climate talks outside Paris. “We are not going to solve this at government level,” said Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to an audience at the American ambassador's Paris residence on the eve of the conference. “You are going to make the difference.”
The steady drip of additions to JAB Holding’s coffee empire, most recently Keurig Green Mountain (NASDAQ:GMCR), is threatening to leave a bitter taste for traders who supply its growing network of roasters with beans. After being purchased by JAB, many roasters have increased their net financing terms to 120 days or more, up from an industry standard of 30 days, meaning that middlemen have to wait at least four months before being paid. Such a move poses problems and gives importers a choice between paying more in interest payments on the additional credit, or losing the roaster as a customer.
According to a new study by the NPD Group, the all-day breakfast initiative at McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) is bringing in new customers. The research firm found that 33% of all customers who ordered breakfast items past the normal cut-off time did not visit the restaurant chain in the thirty days before the launch. In another positive data read from NPD, the average check around lunchtime for all-day breakfast customers was found to be on the rise.
Hertz gained 3.4% in extended hours trading after activist investor Carl Icahn upped his stake in the company. Icahn added 11.79M Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) shares at $ 14.23 each yesterday, bringing his stake to 63.7M shares, or 14.34% of the company.
Samsung Electronics is setting up a new division to focus on automotive-related technology such as components for driverless cars. However, details about the unit were scarce and the company did not say how big the team would be. The news comes as Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) looks to find fresh growth drivers amid slowing smartphone sales and as an increasing number of tech firms look to jump into the automotive space.
More than 500 civil lawsuits filed against Volkswagen (OTCQX:VLKAY) over the use of software to evade emissions limits will be heard by a federal judge in California, where the first case in the country was filed. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro said he was pleased with the selection. Volkswagen shares are also on watch this morning after a probe into its carbon-dioxide emissions scandal found that it affects far fewer vehicles than originally thought.
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