Bloomberg
“U.S. Futures Pare Losses as Traders Weigh Turkey: Markets Wrap”
U.S. stocks rose while European shares trimmed earlier losses as traders tried to assess how the economic crisis in Turkey could bleed into global markets. The dollar rose to the highest in more than a year, while developing-nation currencies slumped.
The major U.S. equity gauges opened higher, led by the Nasdaq 100 Index. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index recovered from its lows but was still dragged down by banks, which are heavily exposed to borrowers in Turkey. Treasuries dipped and Italian bonds led a slump in European peripheral debt. Gold fell with oil.
The Turkish lira tumbled again alongside the country’s equities after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintained his defiance toward both the U.S. and financial-market orthodoxy in speeches on Sunday. Central bank moves to boost liquidity provided little relief. The pain spread across emerging-market assets and the South African rand touched the lowest since June 2016.
Reuters
“Netflix finance chief David Wells to step down”
Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) Chief Financial Officer David Wells will step down after eight years in the role, the video streaming company said on Monday.
Wells will remain with Netflix until his successor is found, a search that will consider both internal and external candidates, Netflix said.
«Personally, I intend my next chapter to focus more on philanthropy and I like big challenges but I’m not sure yet what that looks like,” Wells said.
Wells joined Netflix in 2004, two years after the company went public, and was responsible for content operations and strategic planning. He was made vice president of finance planning and analysis in 2008.
Netflix shares fell 1.8 percent to $339.72 on Monday morning.
BBC News
“Turkey accuses US of ‘stab in back’ as currency woes persist”
Moves to ease Turkey’s economic woes have failed to stop market turmoil as the country’s row with the US.p00
Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Monday that the US was seeking to «stab it in the back».
The US last week imposed sanctions on Turkey over its refusal to extradite a US preacher imprisoned in the country.
The sanctions caused market turmoil, which the central bank attempted – but failed – to soothe with a series of market-boosting measures.
Mr Erdogan told a news conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara: «You act on one side as a strategic partner, but on the other, you fire bullets into the foot of your strategic partner.
«We are together in Nato and then you seek to stab your strategic partner in the back.»
As the crisis deepened at the end of last week, the lira and the Turkish stock market slid sharply. Mr Erdogan, who has presided over soaring inflation and borrowing levels, says the lira’s fall is the result of a plot rather than prevailing economic conditions.
Turkey’s interior ministry said it was taking legal action against 346 social media accounts it claimed had posted comments about the weakening lira «in a provocative way».
Bloomberg
“Elon Musk Says Saudi Interest Sparked Effort to Take Tesla Private.”
Elon Musk elaborated on what precipitated his effort to take Tesla Inc. private, portraying the interest that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has shown in the electric-car maker as key to the gambit.
The Saudi Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund had approached Musk going back almost two years about taking Tesla off the market, he wrote in a blog post Monday, confirming that the fund recently bought an almost 5 percent stake. Musk described a July 31 meeting in which the Saudi fund’s managing director expressed regret that Tesla hadn’t moved forward with a go-private transaction.
“I left the July 31st meeting with no question that a deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed, and that it was just a matter of getting the process moving,” Musk wrote in the post. He said this is why he tweeted on Aug. 7 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 a share.
Tesla rose as much as 1.8 percent to $362 as of shortly after the open of regular trading.