Tesla’s Delivery Wait Times Go Up, China Wants To Secure License For Generic Version Of Pfizer’s Paxlovid, India-Made iPhone Exports Surpass $2.5B: Today’s Top Stories

Bloomberg

Apple’s India-made iPhone exports surpass $2.5 billion in 9 months – nearly double previous fiscal year’s total

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) exported more than $2.5 billion worth of iPhones from India between April and December as the company diversified production amid supply disruptions in China.

The Cupertino-based tech giant’s total exports in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending in March 2023 were almost double the previous fiscal year’s total.

Goldman Sachs is reportedly planning to cut over 3,000 jobs in the coming week

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) is preparing to eliminate about 3,200 positions this week.

The investment bank is said to be zeroing in on its core trading and banking units for most of the job cuts.

A Semafor report in December said the bank was planning to lay off 4,000 workers as it struggles to meet profitability targets in a challenging economic environment.

Alibaba gains confidence boost as China eases Covid lockdowns: Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) said Chinese stocks could rise 15%, while the yuan could reach April 2022 levels as the country reopens and critical policy changes.

Brokerage analysts including Kinger Lau raised its 12-month index target for the MSCI China Index to 80 from 70, citing low ratings and multiple policy pivots in housing, internet regulation and geopolitics.

Separate Goldman analysts led by Kamakshya Trivedi saw the yuan rising to 6.5 to the dollar by the end of the year against its previous estimate of 6.9 on rekindling optimism.

Reuters

Tesla delivery wait times increase after increased discounts on electric vehicles

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ) reported longer wait times for potential buyers of some versions of the Model Y in China.

Tesla’s long wait times may have signaled that Friday’s price cut announcement boosted demand in the electric vehicle maker’s second-largest market.

The wait time for orders of the rear-wheel drive and long-range versions of the Model Y was a week longer on Monday than on Friday.

The story continues

Vodafone is likely to receive $1.8 billion from the sale of the Hungarian business

Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ: VOD ) agreed to receive 1.7 billion euros ($1.82 billion) in cash from the sale of its Hungarian business to domestic IT company 4iG and the Hungarian state.

The divestment, first revealed in August, coincided with Vodafone’s search for a new CEO after Nick Read’s growth and deal strategies to consolidate a fragmented European telecoms market failed to impress the board.

Proceeds from the sale will help repay Vodafone’s debt.

Vodafone’s interim CEO, Margherita Della Valle, stated that the Hungarian disposal would increase competition and boost competition in Hungary.

China in talks to secure license for generic version of Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 drug

China is said to be in talks with Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE ) to secure a license allowing domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of its COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid.

Beijing is keen to finalize the terms of the licensing agreement before the Lunar New Year.

Potential candidates have recently undergone “bioequivalence testing”.

Wall Street Journal

Solar firm Enpal’s moat helps it raise capital with liquid valuations from TPG

Enpal GmbH approached raising new funding from the group led by PE firm TPG Inc (NASDAQ: TPG ) that valued the closely held German solar panel company at $2.4 billion.

The potential deal would reflect how cuts in natural gas supplies from Russia spurred the adoption of solar and other clean energy sources as alternatives to fossil fuels.

Enpal’s stronger financial base provided a fundraising advantage in the current climate against high-risk, money-losing startups.

CNBC

More Chinese firms likely to grab iPhone market share from Taiwanese peers, analyst says

More mainland Chinese electronics manufacturing companies are likely to gain market share from Taiwanese peers such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (OTC: HNHPF ), Foxconn and Pegatron Corp (OTC: PGTRF ), an investment fund manager said. .

Chinese companies became competitors for iPhone assemblers of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), Kirk Yang, chairman and CEO of Kirkland Capital.

Financial Times

Apple in India hires signals to debut flagship store by March

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) began hiring retail store workers in India with room for more as it aims to debut its flagship location in the promising smartphone market by this quarter.

Apple’s career page listed openings for 12 different job functions for “various locations within India,” including technical specialist, business expert, senior manager, store manager and “genius.”

Many of the job descriptions report directly to core retail operations.

Gasoline

Elon Musk warns of more pain as commercial real estate prices retreat to 2009 levels

The housing market, the trigger point for the 2008 recession, is acting up again. The development is worrisome, as most economists have begun to discount a moderate to severe recession.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued an early warning over the weekend about more pain for the housing market.

Tech venture capitalist David Sacks, who co-founded PayPal, took to Twitter to point out that office space in San Francisco was offered at the same price as in 2009.

Elon Musk reacts as Tweet says Satya Nadella plans to beat Google, ‘Build the best search engine’

ChatGPT – an AI-powered chatbot – has been the talk of Twitter since it opened for testing last week. Now, users are having a field day pitting Microsoft Corporation against it

(NASDAQ: MSFT ) Bing vs Google Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ).

A Twitter user said that Satya Nadella is planning to integrate ChatGPT with Bing to take the top search engine crown from Google – and Elon Musk’s reaction was interesting.

Stellantis Paint Supplies Battery Materials With Element 25; Plans to make capital investments

Stellantis NV (NYSE: STLA ) has signed an agreement for Element 25 to supply battery-grade, high-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate for use in electric vehicle (EV) battery packs.

Element 25 is an ASX-listed company that operates a 100% Butcherbird Manganese Project in Western Australia and develops manganese sulfate monohydrate (HPMSM) products for traditional and new energy markets.

The five-year deal calls for deliveries to begin in 2026, a total volume of 45 kilotons.

Deere announces deal that allows farmers independent repair shops to repair high-tech tractors

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE ) signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation, ensuring that farmers can repair their farm equipment or take it to independent repair shops.

Under the agreement, equipment owners and independent technicians will not be allowed to “disclose trade secrets” or “bypass safety features or emissions controls or adjust power levels of Agricultural Equipment.”

QIAGEN acquires Verogen, strengthening its position in human ID / forensics

QIAGEN NV (NYSE: QGEN) has acquired Verogen, a privately held company founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Diego, for $150 million.

QIAGEN expects approximately $20 million in sales from the Verogen portfolio in 2023, building to approximately $5 million for QIAGEN in 2022 from the distribution agreement.

AstraZeneca to acquire CinCor Pharma to strengthen cardiorenal pipeline

AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ: AZN ) has agreed to acquire CinCor Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: CINC ) for $26.00 per share in cash plus an option with a contingent value of $10.00 per share in cash which is paid for with a specified regulatory submission of a baxdrostat product.

The first cash portion of the amount represents a transaction value of approximately $1.3 billion.

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.

Ocugen shares trade higher after encouraging data from late-stage COVID-19 vaccine study

Ocugen Inc (NASDAQ: OCGN ) announced results from the Phase 2/3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, COVAXIN.

COVAXIN has been demonstrated in clinical trials to generate a broader immune response.

Unlike other inactivated vaccines, evidence has shown that the TLR7/8 agonist adjuvant in COVAXIN generates a Th1-biased immune response that induces potent long-term memory B and T cell responses.

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