Plus, JPMorgan is buying OpenInvest, Walmart will start offering its own brand of analog insulin at a cheaper price for diabetes patients, and Capri Holdings raised its revenue guidance for the year on rising luxury sales.
Stocks were higher at the open on Tuesday with the Dow adding 55 points, or nearly 0.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both traded just above the flatline.
United Airlines has ordered 200 narrow-body Boeing 737 Max jets and 70 Airbus SE A321neo planes, in a deal valued at around $15 billion. The overhaul of its fleet is the biggest jetliner order in United’s history and comes as the carrier aims to capture more travelers, particularly high-paying ones in major coastal hubs like San Francisco and Newark, New Jersey. The airline also announced a hiring spree, saying it expects to add 25,000 union jobs by 2026. “We’re deadly serious at United Airlines about getting people to fly United,” said CEO Scott Kirby in a webcast presentation. “The bet we’re making today is not about business travel returning – business travel is going to return. The bet we’re making today is that customers care about the product.”
JPMorgan said it is buying OpenInvest, a San Francisco-based start-up backed by Andreessen Horowitz and founded by former Bridgewater Associates employees, marking its third fintech acquisition in the last year. Buying OpenInvest will help JPMorgan’s financial advisors customize clients’ investments in ESG to create highly personalized, dynamic values-based portfolios. “Clients are increasingly focused on understanding the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact of their portfolios and using that information to make investment decisions that better align with their goals,” Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO, J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management, said in a statement.
Walmart said today that it will offer its own brand of analog insulin for people with diabetes in an effort to boost its pharmacy business and counter Amazon’s recent push into medication sales. The private-label ReliOn NovoLog insulin will be available at Walmart pharmacies, and will cost between 58% and 75% less than the current cash price of branded insulin products for uninsured patients, the company said. “Diabetes is one of the most rapidly growing diseases in the country,” said Cheryl Pegus, executive vice president and head of Walmart’s health and wellness business. “We know from our customers that cost is a major factor in how you manage health care.”
Moderna shares are up 6% this morning after the company said its COVID-19 vaccine showed promise in a lab setting against coronavirus variants, including the highly contagious delta variant that’s rapidly spreading in the U.S. The company said the results were based on the blood serum of eight participants one week after they received the second dose of the vaccine and, while promising, may not reflect how the vaccines actually work against variants in real world settings. “We remain committed to studying emerging variants, generating data and sharing it as it becomes available,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a press release. “These new data are encouraging and reinforce our belief that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should remain protective against newly detected variants.”
And Capri Holdings—the parent of Michael Kors, Versace, and Jimmy Choo—is up more than 2% today after the company raised its fiscal 2022 forecast for profit and revenue in a bet on surging demand for luxury products as consumers emerge out of lockdowns and look to upgrade their wardrobes. “As the world reopens, we are pleased to be seeing better than expected performance from all three of our iconic fashion luxury houses and are raising our outlook for the year,” John D. Idol, Capri’s Chairman and CEO, said in a press release. “With greater visibility into the path of the global economic recovery, we now have even more confidence in the future and believe our three luxury houses position Capri Holdings to deliver multiple years of strong revenue and earnings growth.”
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QAD Inc (NASDAQ: QADA): QAD shares jumped nearly 20% yesterday after the cloud-based manufacturing and supply chain solutions company announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo in an all-cash transaction valued at around $2 billion, with shareholders receiving $87.50 per share. “Over the past four decades, we’ve grown QAD from a locally sourced, one-person start-up to a leading, trusted global provider of ERP solutions. Today we are beginning our next chapter of growth,” QAD Founder and President Pamela Lopker said in a statement. “Since QAD’s founding in 1979, our customers, our technology and the manufacturing industry have evolved significantly – and, at every step, QAD has adapted swiftly to maintain and build our leadership position. Global manufacturers are facing ever-increasing challenges, and we are pleased that our customers around the world can continue to rely on QAD’s next generation solutions to keep pace with emerging business disruptors. Through this partnership, we will be even better positioned to build on our strong foundation and enhance our value proposition.”