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Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all seven criminal counts. (00:23) Apple (AAPL) slips even as Q4 sales top estimates. (01:59) Amazon (AMZN) to shut apparel stores to focus on grocery business. (03:03)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX (FTT-USD), has been found guilty on all seven criminal fraud counts.
A jury found him guilty late Thursday evening and now the former FTX CEO faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison.
The jury deliberated for less than five hours Thursday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan set a sentencing date for March 28, 2024.
US Attorney Damian Williams, whose office led the investigation, said at a press conference outside the courthouse on Thursday that, “Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. A multibillion dollar scheme designed to make him the King of Crypto.”
Since his arrest in December, the former billionaire has maintained his innocence, having pleaded not guilty to seven counts of federal fraud and conspiracy tied to the downfall of FTX (FTT-USD) and its sister trading firm Alameda Research.
Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer said in a statement to CNBC, “We respect the jury’s decision, but we are very disappointed with the result. Mr. Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him.”
Earlier this month, three of Bankman-Fried’s business associates told the jury that he posted or had influenced others to post misleading messages on social media to falsely represent the health of FTX (FTT-USD) in an effort to bring an end to a deposit run, Reuters noted in a story on Monday. All three cooperating witnesses pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is down 3.1% premarket even as it reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday that topped expectations.
For the period ending September 30, Apple (AAPL) earned $1.46 per share as revenue fell 1% year-over-year to $89.5B.
Revenue attributed to the iPhone came in at $43.8B, up 3% year-over-year and in-line with expectations. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are still constrained due to high demand.
The Mac contributed $7.6B, down 34% year-over-year and below the $8.63B expected, while the iPad accounted for $6.44B, above expectations.
Seeking Alpha has a complete analysis of Apple earnings including the earnings call transcript.
Amazon (AMZN) is closing its clothing stores. The stores opened less than 2 years ago.
The two locations are in California and Ohio and will close their doors on November 9th.
A company spokesperson said physical retail remains important for Amazon (AMZN), which will continue to invest in growing its grocery store business, including Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market.
Recall last year, Amazon (AMZN) closed all its brick-and-mortar bookstores, as well as Amazon 4-star and Amazon Pop Up shops in the U.S. and U.K.
This year, Amazon (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy has been keen on opening more physical grocery stores.
The Amazon Style store closures come ahead of the holiday shopping season, which is expected to see 3%-4% increase in spending from a year ago, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
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U.S. stocks on Thursday ended in a sea of green.
The S&P 500 (SP500) posted its best intraday gain since late April, rising 1.89%. The Nasdaq (COMP.IND) gained 1.78% posting a five-day win streak for the first time since late August. The Dow (DJI) added 1.70%, notching its best session since early June.
All 11 S&P sectors ended in positive territory. Energy and Real Estate topped the leaderboard.
The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) was down 12 basis points to 4.67%,. The 2-year yield (US2Y) was up 2 basis points to 4.99%.
Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the red. The Dow is down a small fraction, the S&P 500 is down 0.2% and the Nasdaq is down 0.3%. Crude oil is down 0.2%.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.1% and the DAX is up 0.2%. The markets in Japan are closed for a holiday.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: DigitalOcean Holdings (NYSE:DOCN) is up 20% after reporting strong revenue and profit performance. Following mixed Q3 results, Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) is down 23% after reporting a sales forecast that missed estimates.
On today’s economic calendar
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8:30am non farm payrolls. Economists forecast 168K job additions for the month and expect the unemployment rate at 3.8%. Average hourly earnings are expected to be up 0.3% month-over-month and 4% year-over-year.
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3:30pm the Fed’s Michael Barr will speak virtually on the Community Reinvestment Act.
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