American Express's most recent trend suggests a bullish bias. One trading opportunity on American Express is a Bull Put Spread using a strike $88.50 short put and a strike $83.50 long put offers a potential 59.24% return on risk over the next 3 calendar days. Maximum profit would be generated if the Bull Put Spread were to expire worthless, which would occur if the stock were above $88.50 by expiration. The full premium credit of $1.86 would be kept by the premium seller. The risk of $3.14 would be incurred if the stock dropped below the $83.50 long put strike price.
The 5-day moving average is moving up which suggests that the short-term momentum for American Express is bullish and the probability of a rise in share price is higher if the stock starts trending.
The 20-day moving average is moving up which suggests that the medium-term momentum for American Express is bullish.
The RSI indicator is at 57.71 level which suggests that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold at this time.
To learn how to execute such a strategy while accounting for risk and reward in the context of smart portfolio management, and see how to trade live with a successful professional trader, view more here
LATEST NEWS for American Express
Another Big Deal Sunk by Coronavirus: Amex GBT Investment Deal Falls Through
Sun, 10 May 2020 21:05:47 +0000
Private equity firm Carlyle Group and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC are pulling out of a deal to invest in American Express Global Business Travel, a corporate travel booking service that is 50 percent-owned by American Express, according to published reports. The investment would have given Carlyle and GIC a 20 percent stake in American […]
Dead, Delayed, Renegotiated: Deals and Fights Over Them Pile Up
Sun, 10 May 2020 14:15:05 +0000
(Bloomberg) — One megadeal can’t make up for all the others that have fallen by the wayside during the Covid-19 crisis.While executives at Telefonica SA and Liberty Global Plc were hashing out the final details of their $39 billion deal to merge O2 with Virgin Media over the past week, at least 17 other transactions were falling apart, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In total, more than $10 billion of mergers, acquisitions and investments have been terminated in the past seven days, the data show, with many more under threat as acquirers try to back out of agreements or renegotiate terms.Real Estate CrumblesReal estate deals have been particularly hard hit, with deals falling apart across the residential and travel sectors as millions of Americans face unemployment and tourists stay home.South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. on Sunday terminated its $5.8 billion purchase of 15 luxury hotels from an affiliate of Anbang Insurance Group Co. The portfolio included the JW Marriott Essex House, overlooking Central Park in New York City, and the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Anbang unit is suing Mirae to try to force the deal through, joining more than half a dozen virus-related deal challenges that are before Delaware judges.A lawsuit was also filed this week over SoftBank Group Corp.’s withdrawal of a $3 billion investment in WeWork. Co-founder Adam Neumann is suing the Japanese conglomerate over the deal, which was part of a rescue package after the workplace provider’s initial public offering was called off last year.Amherst Holdings on Monday called off its $2.3 billion deal to buy Front Yard Residential, less than three months after the real estate investment trusts inked a deal. Executives said that the global health crisis would make integrating the businesses, which include a portfolio of more than 15,000 homes, too complex.Just two months after announcing the sale of seven U.S. Kimpton hotels for $483 million, Xenia Hotels & Resorts Inc. said the transaction had been canceled. When the deal was announced, corporate travel restrictions were already in place in the U.S. and some hotel companies had pulled earnings forecasts.Retail RampageRetail transactions are also getting scuttled as international lockdowns keep customers inside and threaten brick-and-mortar retailers.The owner of lingerie chain Victoria’s Secret on Monday agreed to end a deal to sell the beleaguered business to private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Instead, L Brands will split Victoria’s Secret from its Bath & Body Works stores and attempt to turn around the brand as a separate entity. Sycamore had sued to get out of the $525 million deal, claiming the coronavirus pandemic was not an excuse for the company failing to pay rent and furloughing thousands of workers.Activist investor Dan Loeb wants to back out of a $2.5 billion deal for Global Blue SA, which processes tax refunds for international luxury shoppers. Loeb’s Far Point Acquisition Corp. wants its shareholders to vote against the transaction, setting itself up for a fight with Global Blue’s owner, private equity firm Silver Lake.An IPO of clothing brand Madewell looks unlikely after parent company J. Crew Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy — the first major retailer to go bankrupt during the shutdown. J. Crew was relying on the IPO to raise capital and ease its heavy debt load.Renegotiated DealsSaudi Aramco is considering staggering payments for the $69.1 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. because of the collapse in oil prices. Aramco is weighing pushing out payments for the 70% holding in the petrochemicals maker and reducing the size of the initial installment to the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The oil giant is also weighing cutting the price tag, one of the people said.Auto-parts makers BorgWarner Inc. and Delphi Technologies Inc. managed to salvage their January tie-up, which had been under threat after BorgWarner said Delphi had used up a credit line without permission. Investors cheered as the companies said they’d agreed to new terms, which reduced the share ratio that was initially proposed by 5%.Devon Energy Corp. and a unit of Banpu Pcl agreed to amend the terms of a deal struck in December for Devon’s Barnett Shale assets. Instead of $770 million upfront, Banpu will pay $570 million in cash plus an extra $260 million in contingent payments based on future commodity prices. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen more than 60% since the deal was signed.Megadeals Fall DownTwo of the biggest U.S. deals to fall apart hit a wall in late March and early April, just a couple of weeks after the first states went into lockdown.Rivals Woodward Inc. and Hexcel Corp. on April 6 called off a $6.4 billion merger agreement that would have created one of the world’s biggest aerospace and defense suppliers. The companies noted the pandemic’s effect on the aviation industry, which has so far been promised more than $85 billion in government funds after the crisis wiped out travel demand.Xerox Holdings Corp. decided to back off of its $35 billion hostile bid for HP Inc., saying the Covid-19 pandemic made the macroeconomic and market outlook too uncertain.Also, Carlyle Group Inc. and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. are backing out of a deal to buy a stake in American Express Global Business Travel. The deal, announced at the end of 2019, valued the American Express Co. unit at $5 billion, including debt. Carlyle and GIC agreed to purchase a 20% stake and American Express retained 50% ownership.Slow IPOsSoftware maker Procore Technologies Inc., Warner Music Group Corp. and retailer Cole Haan all pushed back plans for IPOs as the pandemic hit, Bloomberg News has reported.At least three companies that got as far as picking dates for their share sales have delayed their listings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest of those would have been an offering of as much as $253 million by SHE Beverage Co., with smaller offerings by Avadim Health Inc. and F5 Finishes Inc.Fifteen companies filed to withdraw their IPOs this year, the data show. That includes industrial software maker Vontier Corp. It said in April that it was pulling its listing “due to recent market and economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”Some companies are still managing to get deals done. Special purpose acquisition companies have raised $6.5 billion this year through IPOs in the U.S., and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd. raised $510 million Thursday in the first major U.S. listing of a Chinese company this year.(Adds bullet item on Saudi Aramco)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
U.S. Cases Up 2.1%; Travelers to U.K. Must Isolate: Virus Update
Sat, 09 May 2020 20:58:38 +0000
(Bloomberg) — U.S. cases rose 2.1% to 1.3 million as the global tally passed 4 million. The federal government reversed course and will let states distribute remdesivir to hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients.Italy had the fewest cases in four days. Germany and Spain are ready to lift some restrictions. Russia’s largest gold mine in Siberia has 89 sick workers.Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla’s operations after a California county blocked its only U.S. car plant.Key Developments:Virus Tracker: cases top 4 million; deaths exceed 277,000Half-empty bar feels like a win after Georgia reopensBrazil is new virus hotspot as infections triple in two weeksMass shootings in the U.S. have plungedAustria under pressure over ski resort hot spotAuto industry to raise $100 billion from banks for virus reliefSubscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus. See this week’s top stories from QuickTake here.U.K. to Require Traveler Self-Isolation (4:30 p.m. NY)Travelers arriving in the U.K., including Britons returning from abroad, will be told to self-isolate for 14 days as part of the government’s plans to try to avoid a second wave of the coronavirus.The rules, set start next month, will force travelers to declare where they will stay in isolation, said a person familiar with the plans. Violators face fines as high as 1,000 pounds ($1,145) or deportation.The measures may heighten criticism that Boris Johnson’s government was slow to contain the pandemic. Johnson is set to announce on Sunday steps to to ease shelter-in-place restrictions. A person familiar with the matter suggested the rules may not change significantly until June.U.S. Cases Climb 2.1%, Data Shows (4 p.m. NY)U.S. cases increased 2.1% from the same time Friday to reach 1.3 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. That matches the average daily increase over the past week. U.S. deaths reached 78,320.New York reported 2,715 new virus cases, for a total of 333,122, with 226 new deaths, bringing the total to more than 21,271.New Jersey had 1,759 new cases, bringing the total to 137,085, Governor Phil Murphy said. The state added 166 deaths, raising the total to 9,116. Patient numbers for critical or intensive care continue to fall, he said.Illinois had 2,325 new cases, bringing the total to 76,085, with 111 new deaths — the fewest in four days — for a total of 3,349, the health department said.Pennsylvania reported 1,078 new cases, bringing the statewide total to 55,316. The state added 72 deaths, for a total of 3,688, the state health department said.Michigan had 430 new cases, bringing the total to 46,756, with 133 new deaths, for a total of 4,526, the state reported on its website.Florida reported 802 new cases, raising the total to 40,001, with 46 new deaths, for a total of 1,715.Ohio reported 681 new cases, for a total of 23,697, with an additional 25 deaths, bringing the total to 1,331, the health department reported.North Carolina added 407 cases to bring its total to 14,360, and 15 new deaths for a cumulative total of 544, the health department said.Trump Response a ‘Chaotic Disaster:’ Obama (3:30 p.m. NY)Former President Barack Obama excoriated Donald Trump’s handing of the pandemic as he urged members of his administration to rally behind presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden.While “it would have been bad even with the best of governments,” Obama said, “it has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”Obama, in Friday’s remarks reported by Yahoo News, said the response is an outgrowth of a trend where “being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others as an enemy” have emerged as a stronger impulse in America.Read the story here.N.Y. Deaths Steady, Cuomo Warns About Children (2 p.m. NY)Governor Andrew Cuomo reported 226 new deaths in New York, while new hospitalizations, based on a three-day rolling average, dropped to the lowest since March. Daily deaths have remained “infuriatingly constant,” Cuomo said, in the 200s for more than a week.Cuomo also raised a warning that children are becoming seriously ill, and three have died, after developing unconventional and dangerous symptoms.New York reported another 2,715 virus cases on Saturday, for a total of 333,122.Read the full story.Musk: Tesla to Quit California (1 p.m. NY)Elon Musk said on Twitter he is moving Tesla’s headquarters and future programs to Texas and Nevada “immediately” after a California county blocked plans to open an assembly plant shut during the pandemic.He had earlier tweeted he was suing Alameda County for “acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!” The county on Friday said Tesla’s sole U.S. plant in Fremont, California, didn’t meet the criteria to reopen. Musk told staff he aimed to restart the factory Friday.Canada Gets China Medical Gear (12:50 p.m. NY)Canada is securing large amounts of personal protective equipment on daily flights of goods from China and elsewhere, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.So far, about 23 flights from China have brought millions of PPE items. In order to gradually restart the economy, Canada needs enough equipment to ensure people can work in safe environments, he said. Equipment arriving from other countries will be tested before being sent out to front-line workers.Africa Seeks Debt Relief, Stimulus (12:40 p.m. NY)African nations needs a two-year debt standstill to give governments the fiscal space to fight the pandemic, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.A $100 billion injection of emergency economic stimulus is also required to combat the impact of the disease and almost half of that could come from waiving interest payments, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.African finance ministers are discussing debt-relief proposals, including a special-purpose vehicle to exchange their sovereign debt for new concessional paper to avoid having to use funds needed to battle the virus to pay private creditors.Italy Has Fewest Cases Since May 5 (12:20 p.m. NY)Italy registered 1,083 new cases on Saturday — the fewest since May 5 — compared with 1,327 a day earlier. Confirmed cases now total 218,268. Daily fatalities fell to 194 from 243 on Friday, with a total of 30,395.With the government cautious on easing measures after an initial relaxation on Monday, an Ipsos survey published in newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday showed 58% of Italians want all economic sectors to restart as soon as possible.N.Y. Hospitalizations Fall (11:50 a.m. NY)New York reported 572 new hospital cases based on a three-day rolling average on Saturday, the lowest level since late March, which Governor Andrew Cuomo called “welcome news.”New deaths were 226, the same as five days ago and an increase from 216 reported on Friday. The rate of hospitalizations fell again.FDA Chief in Self-Quarantine (11:45 a.m. NY&)Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn has quarantined himself after coming into contact with someone who tested positive. Hahn, a member of the White House virus task force, notified staff of his decision in a note Friday, according to an emailed statement from the agency.“Per CDC guidelines, he is now in self-quarantine for the next two weeks,” the FDA said. “He immediately took a diagnostic test and tested negative.”The FDA didn’t identify the infected person, but Hahn’s Covid-19 exposure comes as several aides working in the White House have the virus. Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive Friday, a day after a positive test was reported for a member of the military who works as a valet to President Donald Trump.U.K. Urges Cycling, Walking (11:30 a.m. NY)The U.K., the European country hardest hit by the outbreak, plans to spend 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) to encourage people to cycle and walk to work and help relieve pressure on transport systems.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the U.K. has passed the peak of the outbreak, and limiting travel on public transit will help curb the risk of a second wave of infections, said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. The government will also spend more on electric-car charging points and extend trials of e-scooters and permit their rentals.Daily deaths rose by 346, Shapps said Saturday, down from 626 on Friday and the lowest since May 4. Total deaths reached 31,587, surpassed only by the U.S., with total infections at 215,260.U.S. Can’t Wait for End of Outbreak: Carson (11:25 a.m. NY)America’s economic infrastructure could be destroyed if the nation waits too long to reopen closed businesses, said White House coronavirus task force member Ben Carson, who also is secretary of Housing and Urban Development.The nation has to learn to live with the coronavirus before it can be eradicated, Carson said on Fox News. “If we wait until it’s all gone before we come out, our economy will be gone also.”Carson, who also heads the president’s revitalization council, stressed that it’s possible to resume activity, guided by “data and evidence” from regions that reopened first.Collapse of Travel Demand Scuttles Deal (10:50 a.m. NY)Carlyle Group Inc. and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. are backing out of a deal to buy a stake in American Express Global Business Travel, hit hard by the pandemic. The parties were in talks on terms of the deal, which was set to close this week, but couldn’t reach an agreement, people familiar with the matter said. The deal valued the American Express Co. unit at $5 billion with debt.U.S. Ships Gilead’s Drug to States (10:40 a.m. NY)The U.S. is sending Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir to Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan and New Jersey after doctors raised questions about the federal allocation of the drug to treat Covid-19 patients.State health agencies — rather than the federal government — will distribute doses to the hospitals, the Department of Health and Human Services said Saturday. Illinois and New Jersey each get more than 100 cases, with the other states receiving from 10 to 40 cases. Each case has 40 vials.After remdesivir won U.S. approval for emergency use, the federal government said it would decide which hospitals got the drug. Doctors then raised questions about the opaque process for getting the therapy to U.S. hospitals.FDA Clears Antigen Test (9:39 a.m. NY)The FDA issued the first emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 antigen test. The diagnostic tests quickly detect fragments of proteins found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs, Quidel Corp. said in a statement that linked to a letter from the FDA. The authorization was issued late Friday for its Sofia 2 SARS Antigen FIA.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Carlyle, GIC Back Out of Deal with American Express Travel
Sat, 09 May 2020 18:03:05 +0000
(Bloomberg) — Carlyle Group Inc. and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. are backing out of a deal to buy a stake in American Express Global Business Travel, which has suffered losses from the Covid-19 pandemic.The parties were in talks to renegotiate terms of the deal, which was set to close this week, in an effort to keep it from falling apart. But the groups couldn’t reach an agreement, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the dispute.The deal, announced at the end of 2019, valued the American Express Co. unit at $5 billion, including debt. Carlyle and GIC agreed to purchase a 20% stake and American Express retained 50% ownership.The pandemic has roiled the travel industry, with companies suffering huge revenue drops, prompting worker layoffs. The American Express unit offers travel services primarily to businesses that book airfare and hotel rooms.The corporate travel business was growing before the advent of Covid-19, generating $5.7 trillion in annual revenue and creating 319 million jobs. Companies spent more than $305 billion on travel in 2018, a 4.5% gain from the year earlier, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, citing data from the Global Business Travel Association.LawsuitsAmerican Express Global Business Travel has “the backing of strong, long-term investors and have taken appropriate actions to reduce operating costs in the current environment,” the company said in a statement. “There are absolutely no concerns about liquidity.”An investment group, which includes Certares LP and the Qatar Investment Authority, own the other half of the business-travel joint venture.A unit of the Qatari agency sued Carlyle in Delaware Chancery Court last week seeking to force the investment firms to “comply with their contractual obligation to proceed to the closing of a share purchase agreement,” according to a court filing. The unit is asking Chancery Judge Joseph Slights III to put the case on the fast track for trial.Carlyle countersued May 8, arguing it could renege on the agreement because other investors violated “various provisions of the share purchase agreement,” Carlyle’s lawyers said in a court filing.“The sellers violated several terms of the purchase agreement and as a result we are seeking a judicial confirmation that we have no obligation to close the transaction,” Brittany Berliner, a Carlyle spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.The Delaware cases are Carlyle Roundtrip, LP v. Juweel Investors, No. 2020-0351, Delaware Chancery Court and Juweel Investors Limited v. Carlyle Roundtrip, LP, No. 2020-0338, Delaware Chancery Court (Dover).For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
2 Stocks I Bought This Week, and 2 Stocks I Sold
Sat, 09 May 2020 14:00:00 +0000
I switched out my airline stocks. I also bought a former tech darling and sold a financial-services giant.
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