Saturday, August 06, 2022

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
World Series of Poker player charged with spoofing gold market

Bloomberg News | August 5, 2022 |

Daniel Shak. Credit: World Poker Tour via Flickr

A Nevada metals trader with a side gig on the world poker circuit was charged Friday with manipulating gold and silver markets using a technique called spoofing.


The Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleges that Daniel Shak, who also runs a small hedge fund, repeatedly placed orders for gold and silver futures contracts with the intent to cancel the bids or offers before execution. Called spoofing, the practice gained notoriety following a high-profile criminal case involving several JPMorgan Chase & Co. bankers.

“These charges demonstrate once again that the CFTC will vigorously prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, misconduct that has the potential to undermine the integrity of our markets,” Gretchen Lowe, the CFTC’s acting division of enforcement director, said in a statement.

The announcement comes as jurors in Chicago continued a fifth full day of deliberations in the massive JPMorgan spoofing case, in which three former bankers are accused of running a criminal enterprise and conspiring to commit price manipulation, wire fraud, commodities fraud and spoofing on precious metals futures markets.

Shak already has a history with the CFTC, having settled with the agency in March 2015 over claims that he traded during the closing minute of the gold futures market after being ordered not to.

Shak, who is the founder of SHK Management LLC, is better known for competing in more than 150 major poker tournament events in which he earned more than $11.7 million going back to 2004. Precious metals investors may also remember Shak from more than a decade ago when the Wall Street Journal reported that his hedge fund roiled the gold market after it had made bad bets, forcing him to liquidate the position and return money to clients.

Shak at the time held gold contracts worth more than 10% of the US futures market.

(By Joe Deaux)
Ten Mexican miners remain trapped in coal mine after three rescued
Reuters | August 4, 2022 

Hardhat in a mine. (Image from RawPixel, CC0).

Rescuers in Mexico, including dozens of soldiers, were working desperately on Wednesday to reach ten miners trapped in a flooded coal mine following the collapse of an inner wall, the ministry handling the disaster said.


Three miners had been rescued and hospitalized, the Security and Citizen Protection Ministry said in an update on the rescue efforts at the mine in the Sabinas municipality of the northern state of Coahuila.

Television footage showed family members outside the mine clamoring for information on the missing men.

“I hope we find them safe,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said earlier on Twitter. Lopez Obrador had said nine miners were likely to be trapped, but authorities revised the number later.

Some 92 soldiers were working at the scene, as well as specialists and rescue dogs, the president said.

The Labor Ministry said it had not received any complaints about safety at the mine, which began operations in January.

(By Carolina Pulice, Adriana Barrera and Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle, Sandra Maler and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Day after Mexico mine collapse, families fret over 10 trapped miners

Reuters | August 4, 2022 | 

Stock image.

Families grew increasingly anxious on Thursday as they awaited word from rescue teams tasked with descending a flooded coal mine in northern Mexico to rescue 10 workers nearly 24 hours after an accident confined the crew deep underground.


The miners became trapped on Wednesday after their excavation work caused a tunnel wall to collapse, triggering flooding in three wells.

Erika Escobedo, the wife of one of the trapped miners, 29-year-old Hugo Tijerina, told Reuters she spent all night watching rescue efforts at the site in the northern border state of Coahuila.

“They say the water is rising,” she said, describing bigger water extraction pumps she saw hauled to the site.

Mexico’s Civil Protection agency did not immediately respond when asked about efforts to pump out the water, and if levels were rising.

Its director, Laura Velazquez, said earlier on Thursday that time was everything, and several hundred officials were “working day and night” to assist with the rescue.

Six divers from the Mexican Special Forces arrived at the site on Thursday morning to help the rescue effort along with search dogs, according to Agustin Radilla, a top military official. The mine’s wells, each 60 meters deep, were more than half flooded, Radilla added.

Families keeping vigil remained on edge.

“I want my husband to come out all right,” said Escobedo, her voice breaking in a phone interview from the site, as she watched rescuers bore another tunnel to try to reach the miners.

For now, she has told her three children not to worry about their father and that he will come home okay.

Five other miners escaped the accident. They all received medical treatment, and two have been discharged from hospital.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said investigations into those responsible for the mine’s safety will come only after the rescue effort.

“With all my soul, I want us to rescue the miners,” he said at a news conference. The mine opened in January and had no “record of complaints for any type of abnormality,” the Labor Ministry reported yesterday.

Still Elizabeth Vielma, the mother of three men who work at the site but were not involved in Wednesday’s accident, said she worried about conditions there.

“They just give them the drills and send them down,” she said.

(By Lizbeth Diaz, Kylie Madry and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Marla Dickerson)

Mexican president promises non-stop effort to save 10 trapped miners

Reuters | August 4, 2022 | 

Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Image courtesy of Mexican President’s Office.)

Rescue teams will work non-stop to free 10 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in Mexico’s northern border state of Coahuila, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.


The miners became trapped on Wednesday after three wells at the mine overflowed, causing an inner wall to collapse.

“With all my soul, I want us to rescue the miners,” Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference.

Five others were able to escape received medical treatment, and two of them have been discharged from a public clinic, Laura Velazquez, head of Mexico’s civil protection agency, said.

Several hundred local and federal officials were responding to the accident, according to authorities, underscoring a “firm commitment” to rescuing the trapped miners, which requires pumping wells to send rescue teams down to the mines.

“We haven’t slept, we’re working day and night … Time is key,” she said in a video at the president’s news conference.

Lopez Obrador added investigations into those responsible for the mine’s safety would come only after the rescue effort.

“We’ll leave all of that for later … we’re going to try to save the miners,” he said.

According to the Labor Ministry, the mine, which began operations in January, had no existing safety complaints.

In one of Mexico’s worst mining disasters, at a coal mine in Coahuila in 2006, 65 men were killed with only two bodies ever recovered. Lopez Obrador has vowed to find the bodies of the other victims. The technically complex work is expected to last through 2024.

(By Kylie Madry, Daina Beth Solomon, Ana Isabel Martinez and Barbara Lewis)



From a murderous affair to an anonymous Black jockey, the true story behind the moving pictures in Jordan Peele's 'Nope'
Muybridge's study of a horse in motion reveals a glimpse into the world of Black jockeys in the 19th and 20th centuries. Eadweard Muybridge/National Gallery of Art

The movie 'Nope' features a clip of a Black jockey on a galloping horse.

Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer, sought to capture horses and other animals in motion.
His photos offer a glimpse into the success of Black jockeys in the 19th and 20th centuries.

One of the early visuals in Jordan Peele's "Nope" features a clip of a Black jockey on a galloping horse in an entrancing loop.

"Did you know that the very first assembly of photographs to create a motion picture was a two-second clip of a Black man on a horse?" Emerald Haywood, played by Keke Palmer, asks at the start of the movie.

The clip was made of a series of photographs shot by Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer who emigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s.

Like the characters in "Nope," who try to take photos and videos of an elusive alien presence, Muybridge set out to capture a near-impossible shot using 19th-century technology: galloping horses.

Muybridge's photographs not only helped advance understanding of animal motion, but also offer a glimpse into Black success during the Jim Crow era, according to historians.

"The world of sports and entertainment was one of few in which African Americans could excel," John Ott, an art history professor at James Madison University, said. "The photographs show the opportunities and the means by which they could achieve a middle-class livelihood."
The story behind Muybridge's photography project

Starting in 1873, former California governor and industrialist Leland Stanford first commissioned Muybridge to photograph one of his horses. The project ended up a success, capturing the horse at full speed.

The work Muybridge and Stanford began was interrupted in October 1874, when Muybridge discovered his wife had had an affair with their friend. He tracked the friend down and shot him point-blank. Muybridge was arrested that night.


When he went on trial for murder in February, Muybridge pleaded insanity due to a severe head injury he suffered in a stagecoach accident more than a deade prior. He was ultimately acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide. By 1877, Muybridge resumed his work with Stanford.

Muybridge captured more running horses at Stanford's farm in 1878. "The Horse in Motion" series included photographs of one horse, Sallie Gardner, with a jockey who some historians believe may have been a Black rider.



By Eadweard Muybridge, Animation: Nevit Dilmen
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division;
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a45870, Public Domain, Link

The clip used in "Nope" comes from a later project Muybridge worked on with the University of Pennsylvania in around 1883. He and Stanford had fallen out over credit issues. The university tasked Muybridge with expanding his earlier project to look at other forms of motion, from the movement of kangaroos and lions to humans performing somersaults and lifting weights.

Muybridge published his final compendium, titled "Animal Locomotion," in 1887. The collection included photographs of an unnamed Black jockey riding a horse named Sallie G. The only other person of color featured in the collection was Ben Bailey, a mixed-race boxer.

Historians say the inclusion of Black athletes was double-edged

As an outsider from England, Muybridge was not deeply involved in the political and social struggles in the US, according to art historian and curator Philip Prodger. But he said the inclusion of Black athletes in Muybridge's collection offered a glimpse into their place in the social milieu at the time.

Sports presented one of the few opportunities for Black Americans to achieve a middle-class life, according to historians. The majority of the Black population at the time were laborers and took on other service jobs.

"Boxing and horse racing were two fields where they could make a name for themselves and could mingle with white Americans," Ott said.

Black jockeys in particular saw major success. In 1875, the inaugural year of the Kentucky Derby, 13 of the 15 jockeys who competed were Black. Fifteen of the first 28 Derbys were won by Black jockeys.

James Winkfield, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner, raced across Europe after encountering racism in America.
 Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum/Kinetic Corporation

But the opportunities came at a cost. The success of Black jockeys exposed them to long-standing racist ideas that African Americans were animalistic and "lesser," according to Ott. He added that horse-racing was also a physically punishing sport: Jockeys had to keep their weight down, and many turned to alcohol to curb their hunger.

As jockeys, which were originally not regarded as a high-status job, became more respected as a profession, and as horse-racing became more lucrative, Black Americans were increasingly shut out, Prodger said.

In 1905, the Washington Post published an article titled, "Negro Riders on the Wane: White Jockeys' Superior Intelligence Supersedes," where the author argued that the decline in Black jockeys was because the sport was no longer considered "ignoble."

"It cuts both ways, but it's ultimately a story of African Americans using opportunities available to them and recognizing the importance of imagery — using it to present themselves as accomplished," Ott said.

Friday, August 05, 2022

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FOOTBALL
EPL sets high bar in European soccer, finances and glamor



Thu, August 4, 2022



GENEVA (AP) — The world’s richest soccer league starts a new season in England on Friday as the rest of Europe looks for ways to catch up.

Off the field, the English Premier League is a commercial juggernaut with broadcasting deals worldwide fueling player transfers and wages most others cannot match. It helps explain why some clubs created the Super League project.

League riches helped English champion Manchester City make the marquee summer signing. Erling Haaland’s arrival from Borussia Dortmund cost City more than 100 million pounds ($122 million) in transfer and agent fees.

While Haaland was a boyhood City fan whose father played there, he was also lured to a competitive league that avoids the one-club dominance recently seen in Germany, Italy and France.

On the field, five different teams have won the Premier League in the past 10 seasons, including Leicester’s stunning 2016 title. Though City has four of the past five titles, two were epic duels with Liverpool.

The Champions League is also feeling Premier League power with four different teams in the past four finals, including two all-English games. Liverpool was in three of the past five finals while winning just one Premier League title.

Those same four teams — City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham — are England’s entry in the Champions League this season.

Manchester United and Arsenal qualified only for the second-tier Europa League and are by far the wealthiest clubs in it.

Here’s a look at English financial dominance and the challenge for other top leagues:

ENGLAND’S EARNING

Premier League broadcast rights earned 3.64 billion euros ($3.7 billion) last season with Spain’s La Liga next best at around 2 billion euros ($2.04 billion), according to UEFA’s annual survey of European soccer.

“This is of course the best example in the world of how to market a sports competition,” Jacco Swart, managing director of the 30-nation European Leagues group, said in praise.

Evenly weighted cash distribution gave the worst Premier League team, Norwich, 98 million pounds ($119 million) in prize money that beat the entire budget for most European clubs.

English clubs took 10 of the top 18 places in the latest Deloitte list of highest earners. Abu Dhabi-owned Man City led with 644.9 million euros ($657 million).

The total wage bill for 20 Premier League clubs was 2.88 billion euros ($2.93 billion) in 2020, according to UEFA – 1 billion euros ($1.02 billion) above La Liga, and more than Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A combined.

SPAIN'S CHASING

La Liga skews prize money toward top clubs with the winner taking about 160 million euros ($163 million), up to three times more than other clubs.

It's good for Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid — who have won all the league titles since Valencia’s in 2004 — though not for competitive balance.

“They do not have a very long tradition of selling (rights) collectively,” Swart said.

Real Madrid’s response to tough times was winning yet another Champions League by improbably ousting the top three English clubs and Paris Saint-Germain.

Madrid and Barcelona have long raised their Champions League earnings by using influence at the European Club Association — which they left to launch the failed Super League — to steer prize money toward storied clubs.

Barcelona has eased its own financial crisis, fueled by long-term overspending on wages, by trading future TV rights money for cash now from an investment firm.

Signing FIFA player of the year Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich was one result, though Barcelona's reputation is being hit by pressuring Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong to take a pay cut.

A Spanish success has been coach Unai Emery lifting, first, Sevilla and now small-town Villarreal to overachieve and win a combined four Europa League titles.

GERMANY'S CULTURE

The Bundesliga’s “50+1” ownership rule is widely liked for protecting clubs’ identity and preventing takeovers by the oil-rich states, oligarchs and billionaires lured to the Premier League.

Clubs controlling a majority of voting rights is embedded in German culture, which also curbs ticket and pay-TV prices — a principled stand which reduces revenue.

“What people are willing to pay to watch football in England is totally different to what people are prepared to pay in Germany,” Swart said.

The average season ticket price is 1,095 pounds ($1,325) at Arsenal but some Dortmund fans can pay just 240 euros ($244).

Dortmund also excels signing and nurturing English teenagers, then selling them back to the Premier League. Haaland’s former teammate, Jadon Sancho, went to Man United for a four-fold profit and Jude Bellingham is likely next.

ITALY’S DECLINE

After hosting the 1990 World Cup, Serie A was the rich, glamor league. Decline followed the 1992 launches of the Premier League and Champions League, and Italian stars started moving to Chelsea and even unfashionable Middlesbrough.

Serie A clubs fell further back by playing in city-owned stadiums -- some shared, with an athletics track, and dating fast -- they could not exploit commercially.

Juventus opened its own stadium in 2011 and won nine straight titles. Red tape has not helped stadium building plans in Rome, Milan and elsewhere, frustrating a new wave of American club owners.

Chinese ownership at AC Milan and Inter Milan has been complicated, though both ended a decade-long wait to win Serie A.

Italy’s favored bid to host the 2032 European Championship can spark a needed stadium modernization program and play has improved on the field.

Attack-minded teams Atalanta and Napoli helped Serie A shed a reputation for negative play, which dulled global interest in paying for broadcast rights.

FRANCE

Ligue 1 has mostly been owned by Paris Saint-Germain since Qatar bought the club in 2011 months after being named the 2022 World Cup host.

Lyon and Marseille have not won titles since 2008 and 2010, respectively, and both are now in American ownership.

Lyon’s new majority owner, John Textor, arrived in June promising to spend to pursue PSG at home with European ambitions next.

Marseille has had turmoil in six years under former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, though is now back in the Champions League.

Another foreign owner driving a renewed challenge at Nice is Monaco-based British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who was often linked to bids for Chelsea.

The overseas ownership model offers some stability after the collapse two years ago of the league’s touted new broadcast deal.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press
Sun Life shares up after earnings beat, U.K. unit sale

Nichola Saminather
Thu, August 4, 2022 

The Sun Life Financial logo is seen at their corporate headquarters in Toronto

PROVIDER OF BENEFIT PLANS TO CONSTRUCTION TRADES UNIONS IN CANADA


By Nichola Saminather

TORONTO (Reuters) -Sun Life Financial shares jumped on Thursday after reporting a better-than-expected second-quarter profit and announcing the sale of its U.K. business as well as an asset management partnership with the buyer, Phoenix Group Holdings.

Earlier on Thursday, Canada's second-largest life insurer agreed to sell its closed business in the United Kingdom to Phoenix for 248 million pounds ($301 million), and become its strategic asset management partner, managing about C$9 billion ($7 billion) of Sun Life UK's general account.

Sun Life expects to get a "good chunk" of the $25 billion Phoenix plans to deploy in North American fixed income and alternative investments over the next five years, CEO Kevin Strain said on an analyst call on Thursday. He added it will make up for some lost revenue and support earnings.

Strain said Sun Life has no current plans to sell other closed blocks, including the payout annuity part of the U.K. business, which it retained, and an individual life business (IFM) in the United States.

"We like the dynamics of those closed blocks," Strain told Reuters, adding these businesses can generate strong earnings and cash flow and good return on equity for at least 10 more years.

Sun Life shares rose 2.8% to C$60.80 in early afternoon trading in Toronto on Thursday, on track for its highest close in nearly eight weeks. The Toronto stock benchmark rose 0.14%.

Late on Wednesday, Sun Life reported core earnings per share of C$1.52, beating analysts' estimates of C$1.39, helped by improvement in its U.S. business and a better-than-expected performance in Canada that offset underwhelming results from its asset management and Asian units.

Sun Life executives said U.S. benefits provider DentaQuest, whose acquisition it closed on June 1, would help drive its goal of 10% organic growth in its U.S. group benefits business.

"DentaQuest has been a growth engine over its history," Dan Fishbein, president of its U.S. unit, said on the analyst call. "We think there's a lot of potential in the DentaQuest business on multiple fronts to continue to win new government contracts."

He cautioned that the business is "very lumpy" with small but very large contracts that could lead to sporadic growth in earnings.

($1 = 0.8243 pounds)

($1 = 1.2862 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by Josie Kao)
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; OLD SCHOOL
Coinbase ex-manager pleads not guilty to insider trading charges

 Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies are seen on motherboard in this illustration picture

Wed, August 3, 2022 
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A former Coinbase Global Inc product manager and his brother pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to wire fraud charges in what U.S. prosecutors called the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency.

Ishan Wahi, 32, the former product manager, was arrested last month in Seattle on charges he shared confidential information with his brother Nikhil and their friend Sameer Ramani about forthcoming announcements of new digital assets that Coinbase would allow users to trade.

Nikhil Wahi also pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. Ramani, who was also charged, is at large.

Prosecutors said Nikhil Wahi and Ramani used ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire the assets and traded at least 14 times before Coinbase announcements in June 2021 and April 2022. The announcements typically caused the assets to rise in value and generated at least $1.5 million in illicit gains, prosecutors said.

Coinbase is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

David Miller, a lawyer for Ishan Wahi, said the charges should be dismissed because insider trading needs to involve securities or commodities and this case did not.

Miller also said Coinbase tested new tokens before it publicly listed them, meaning the information his client was accused of sharing was not confidential.

Noah Solowiejczyk, a prosecutor, countered that the information was nonpublic and the prosecution was consistent with previous wire fraud cases.

U.S. regulators are weighing how to oversee cryptocurrency trading.

Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month, the company said it had shared with prosecutors its findings from an internal probe into the trading.

Bail for the Wahi brothers was set at $1 million each. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 22. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed related civil charges against them.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkEditing by Bernadette Baum)
U.N. chief urges tax on 'grotesque greed' of oil, gas companies



UN Secretary-General Guterres addresses media prior to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in New York


Wed, August 3, 2022 
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday slammed the "grotesque greed" of oil and gas companies and their financial backers and urged governments globally to "tax these excessive profits" to support the most vulnerable people.

"It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities, at a massive cost to the climate," Guterres told reporters.


The two largest U.S. oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron Corp CVX.N, British-based Shell and France's TotalEnergies combined earned nearly $51 billion in the most recent quarter, almost double what the group brought in for the year-ago period.

"I urge all governments to tax these excessive profits, and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times," Guterres said.

"And I urge people everywhere to send a clear message to the fossil fuel industry and their financiers: that this grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our only common home," he said.

Politicians and consumer advocates have criticised the oil companies for capitalizing on a global supply shortage to fatten profits and gouge consumers. U.S. President Joe Biden said in June that Exxon and others were making "more money than God" at a time when consumer fuel prices surged to records.

Last month, Britain passed a 25% windfall tax on oil and gas producers in the North Sea. U.S. lawmakers have discussed a similar idea, though it faces long odds in Congress.

Guterres said Russia's war in Ukraine and the climate breakdown was stoking a global food, energy and finance crisis.

"Many developing countries – drowning in debt, without access to finance, and struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic – could go over the brink," he said. "We are already seeing the warning signs of a wave of economic, social and political upheaval that would leave no country untouched."


(Reporting by Michelle NicholsEditing by Rami Ayyub and Chizu Nomiyama)
Alimentation Couche-Tard Stock Could Soar if it Acquires Suncor’s Retail Business

Pumps await a car for fueling at a gas and diesel station.

Written by Joey Frenette 
at The Motley Fool Canada
Thu, August 4, 2022 

Shares of Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD) have been powering higher over the past few weeks, thanks in part to some better-than-expected results and talks that the incredibly liquid firm may be in the running for Suncor Energy’s gas stations in what could be a marked-down price.

Indeed, hoarding cash leaves one feeling the full force of inflation’s impact. However, with market valuations contracting while credit becomes harder to come by as a result of higher interest rates, it’s cash and strong balance sheets that could separate the haves from the have-nots.

As valuations contract and firms look to sell retail assets, it’s Couche that could have a chance to pay three quarters to get a full dollar, so to speak. At writing, the company has more than $2.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, with the capacity to make a merger and acquisition (M&A) splash in the $10 range.

Undoubtedly, it’s been a while since Couche-Tard pulled the trigger on a massive deal. The last big deal it made was of CST Brands. Such locations have since been integrated and rebranded. Though Couche has been quiet, it’s not from lack of trying.

Management tried (but ultimately failed) to acquire French grocery firm Carrefour in the first half of 2021. The deal was met with skepticism, as Couche-Tard isn’t exactly in the business of generic grocery retail. Though it has introduced more fresh food across its convenience stores in recent years, the proposed tie-up was rather confusing to many.
Petro Canada stores up for grabs

Though Couche-Tard has moved on, it really hasn’t made a big splash. And its cash hoard could swell as the firm continues moving through a challenging environment. Though Couche has the means to make a big deal, investors shouldn’t expect one to happen, unless all the right boxes are checked. Couche’s managers put in the due diligence and then some prior to proposed deals. Their ultimate goal is to create value over the long run.

Looking ahead, Couche looks like it’s a frontrunner for Suncor’s Petro Canada retail unit. The deal could lie in the $10 billion range and help the firm make use of its solid liquidity position. According to Bloomberg, there’s quite a bit of overlap between Petro Canada stores and existing Couche-owned stores. This overlap could prove problematic. Further, there are anti-trust concerns that may make things difficult.

Couche-Tard is already such a dominant force in convenience retail. In any case, don’t count on Couche-Tard to run the risk of overpaying for the deal. If there’s no steal to be had, it’s more than fine with standing pat.

At the end of the day, Couche-Tard is a global player, leaving ample room for M&A at the international level. If anything, the company may wish to expand into the Asian region to improve upon its geographic diversification and returns on invested capital (ROIC).
Bottom line

Couche-Tard is in very capable hands.

The strong balance sheet makes the nearly $60 billion retail behemoth a top bidder for Suncor’s prized retail assets. With over $10 billion in acquisition capacity, Couche-Tard may very well be the only realistic buyer. The price tag will be really hard for smaller rivals like Parkland Fuel to justify. To make a deal happen, the $5.6 billion Parkland would have to raise astronomical amounts of debt. And I just don’t think it’s plausible.

The way I see it, Couche may have most of the leverage in a potential Petro Canada deal if federal regulators allow such a deal to happen.

The post Alimentation Couche-Tard Stock Could Soar if it Acquires Suncor’s Retail Business appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
Should You Invest $1,000 In Alimentation Couche-Tard?

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Fool contributor Joey Frenette has positions in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.


Posthaste: Why analysts see Canada leaving more oil in the ground

Gigi Suhanic
Thu, August 4, 2022 



Good Morning!

Oilsands CEOs are likely having an ‘I told you so’ moment after a major energy research group predicted that emission cuts, among other factors, will result in some oil staying in the ground.

S&P Global Commodity Insights forecasts that oilsands production is expected to rise over the next decade by about half a million barrels a day. But before you get excited, that “substantial” increase is a drop from previous forecasts, according to the new analysis.

The energy and commodities research company said oilsands production will exceed 3.5 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2030, 17 per cent more than this year, but down 100,000 (b/d) from its forecast last year.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened interest in the ability of Canada — and (the) oilsands specifically — to contribute more crude supply to the global oil market,” said Kevin Birn, Canadian oil markets chief analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights. “While this has increased the incentive to raise oilsands production in the near-term, a longer-term focus on strengthening returns to shareholders as well as decarbonizing the industry continue to weigh on growth for the longer-term.”

That longer-term focus is winning out.

As the logistics of future projects become untenable, investors have shifted their attention from “volume” to “value,” and fixed firmly on dividends and share buybacks, said Birn and senior research analyst Celina Hwang.

And investors have been rewarded.

“Last year, was the single most profitable year in the history of the oilsands with the core four operators generating, on average, over $6 billion in pre-dividend organic free cashflow,” the pair said, predicting that oilsands operators could deliver more record returns to investors in 2022 if crude oil prices remain elevated.

Another force Hwang and Birn cite as working to suppress oilsands production is the federal government’s “aggressive” carbon emission reductions goals. Recently, Ottawa called for energy operators to cut their CO2 output 42 per cent by 2030, something heavy-weight industry players have described as “almost unrealistic.”

In fact, Alex Pourbaix, CEO of Cenovus Energy Inc. worried on an earnings call that the Liberals emissions plan would result in lost barrels.

Instead, oilsands producers have committed to a 30 per cent reduction by 2030 under the Pathways Alliance — a consortium of six major oilsands companies that have pledged to decarbonize production to reach net-zero by 2050.

So where to from here?

Hwang and Birn predict that 80 per cent of the production growth they are forecasting will take place over the next few years from the “ramp-up, optimization and completion of projects where some capital has already been invested” — in other words, from existing projects.

Meanwhile, almost all of those lost 100,000 b/d they attribute to new projects that will likely never see the light of day.

“The story about the Canadian oilsands today is one that is looking to be increasingly less about growth, and more about returns, output optimization and maintenance, and accelerating technologies to lower emissions to put the industry in a position to compete on carbon,” said the analysts.
'Stray': How a virtual orange tabby is helping real cats

Thu, August 4, 2022 


NEW YORK (AP) — The virtual cat hero from the new video game sensation “Stray” doesn't just wind along rusted pipes, leap over unidentified sludge and decode clues in a seemingly abandoned city. The daring orange tabby is helping real world cats as well.

Thanks to online fundraising platforms, gamers are playing “Stray" while streaming live for audiences to raise money for animal shelters and other cat-related charities. Annapurna Interactive, the game's publisher, also promoted “Stray” by offering two cat rescue and adoption agencies copies of the game to raffle off and renting out a New York cat cafe.

Livestreaming game play for charity isn't new, but the resonance “Stray” quickly found from cat lovers is unusual. It was the fourth most watched and broadcast game on the day it launched on Twitch, the streaming platform said.

Viewers watch as players navigate the adventurous feline through an aging industrial landscape doing normal cat stuff — balancing on railings, walking on keyboards and knocking things off shelves — to solve puzzles and evade enemies.

About 80% of the game’s development team are “cat owners and cat lovers” and a real-life orange stray as well as their own cats helped inspire the game, one creator said.

“I certainly hope that maybe some people will be inspired to help actual strays in real life — knowing that having an animal and a companion is a responsibility,” said producer Swann Martin-Raget, of the BlueTwelve gaming studio in Montpellier, in southern France.

When Annapurna Interactive reached out to the Nebraska Humane Society to partner before the game's launch on July 19, they jumped at the chance, marketing specialist Brendan Gepson said.

“The whole game and the whole culture around the game, it’s all about a love of cats,” Gepson said. “It meshed really well with the shelter and our mission.”

The shelter got four copies of the game to give away and solicited donations for $5 to be entered into a raffle to win one. In a week, they raised $7,000, Gepson said, with the vast majority of the 550 donors being new to them, including people donating from Germany and Malta. The company also donated $1,035 to the shelter.

“It was really mutually beneficial,” Gepson said. ”They got some really good PR out of it and we got a whole new donor base out of it.”

Annapurna also bought out Meow Parlour, the New York cat cafe and adoption agency, for a weekend, as well as donating $1,000. Visitors who made reservations could buy “Stray” themed merchandise and play the game for 20 minutes while surrounded by cats. (The game also captivates cats, videos on social media show.)

Jeff Legaspi, Annapurna Interactive’s marketing director, said it made sense for the game's launch to do something "positively impactful and hopefully bring more awareness to adopting and not shopping for a new pet.”

Annapurna declined to disclose sales or download figures for the game, which is available on PlayStation and the Steam platform. However, according to Steam monitor SteamDB, “Stray” has been the No. 1 purchased game for the past two weeks.

North Shore Animal League America, which rescues tens of thousands of animals each year, said it hadn't seen any increase in traffic from the game but they did receive more than $800 thanks to a gamer.

In a happy coincidence, the shelter had just set up a profile on the platform Tiltify, which allows nonprofits to receive donations from video streams, the week the game launched. The player channeled donations to the shelter, smashing her initial goal of $200.

“We are seeing Tiltify and livestreaming as this whole new way for us to engage a whole different audience,” said Carol Marchesano, the rescue's senior digital marketing director. Usually, though, organizations need to reach out to online personalities to coordinate livestreams, which can take a lot of work, she said.

About nine campaigns on Tiltify mention the game “Stray,” the company’s CEO Michael Wasserman said. JustGiving, which also facilitates charity livestreams, said it identified two campaigns with the game.

For his part, Gepson from Nebraska reached out to an Omaha resident who goes by the name TreyDay1014 online to run a charity livestream. Trey, who asked that his last name not be used, has two cats, one of which he adopted from the shelter.

Last week, he narrated to viewers watching live on the platform Twitch as his cat character batted another cat’s tail and danced along railings.

“If I found out my cat was outside doing this, I’d be upset,” Trey said, as his character jumped across a perilous distance. Moments later, a rusty pipe broke, sending the tabby down a gut-wrenching plunge into the darkness.

“That is a poor baby,” Trey said somberly, “but we are okay.”

A $25 donation followed the fall, pushing the amount raised by Trey for the Nebraska shelter to over $100 in about 30 minutes. By the end of four and a half hours of play, donations totaled $1,500. His goal had been to raise $200.

“This has opened my eyes to being able to use this platform for a lot more good than just playing video games,” Trey said.

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AP business writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Thalia Beaty, The Associated Press