Bottom of the pile

Citigroup is no longer the least-loved big bank stock on Wall Street. That honor now belongs to Morgan Stanley. Citigroup had held the lowest consensus rating among the six biggest US banks since May 2022. That changed this week when an analyst at HSBC shuffled his recommendations—upgrading Citigroup and lowering Morgan Stanley. “Citigroup is an attractive vehicle to gain bank exposure,” HSBC’s Saul Martinez wrote in a note, adding that the firm is “our preferred choice among large-cap banks.” Meanwhile, the majority of analysts now recommend investors hold Morgan Stanley, but not to add shares. No analysts give it a sell rating. Four of the biggest US banks are set to release earnings on Friday. —David E. Rovella

Among would-be issuers of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the race is already picking up speed. Invesco, Bitwise, Valkyrie and WisdomTree lowered the fees in their applications ahead of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s highly anticipated decision on the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF application.

A group of UK lawmakers is planning to push the SEC to block a New York Stock Exchange listing of JBS SA, the world’s largest meat supplier, saying doing so would threaten efforts to slow global warming. JBS “has a well-documented history of engaging in deforestation, violating human rights and seizing land from Indigenous communities,” according to a draft letter signed by 12 parliamentarians set to be delivered Wednesday to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “The company’s practices pose a significant threat to the ecosystem for global climate regulation and biodiversity conservation.”

BlackRock is to terminate about 600 employees, or roughly 3% of its global workforce. The asset-management industry has been buffeted over the past two years, first by declines in stock and bond markets in 2022 and then by investors who grew skittish over higher interest rates. “We see our industry changing faster than at any time since the founding of BlackRock,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito wrote Tuesday in a memo to staff.

War over Taiwan would have a cost in blood and treasure so vast that even those unhappiest with the status quo have reason not to risk it. Bloomberg Economics estimate the price tag at around $10 trillion, equal to about 10% of global GDP—dwarfing the blow from Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic and 2008 financial Crisis.

A Chinese state-backed institution has devised a way to identify users who send messages via Apple’s popular AirDrop feature, the Chinese government claims. The Beijing institute developed the technique to crack an iPhone’s encrypted device log to identify the numbers and emails of senders who share AirDrop content. The declaration drew attention to an iPhone feature that activists around the world have employed to spread their message. Requiring just a nearby Bluetooth connection, it was widely used by protesters to share pro-democracy slogans during 2019 protests in Hong Kong.

Six of the top-10 performing economies in the world are forecast to come from Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024. Collectively, they are helping to make a difference in a region that remains severely challenged by poverty and inequality. “Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth prospects are brightening,” said Bloomberg Africa Economist Yvonne Mhango. “Eight of the region’s top-10 biggest economies—which together account for another 40% of regional GDP—will grow by a strong 5% on average.”

A thousand miles from his usual Wall Street perch, a 60-year-old powerlifter prepared to dead-lift more than 410 pounds. His name is Mike Mayo, a Wall Street analyst who spends his days sparring with financial leaders, often moving bank shares with just a few words. Sucking in a breath, he squatted 336 pounds, then benched 230 and finally finished with the dead lift. This week, the action for this heavyweight shifts to his New York office where he’ll be watching the nation’s giant banks post their annual earnings. Mayo is convinced shares of US lenders are poised for liftoff, and that short sellers should be ready for a torching.

Bloomberg Intelligence tracks some 2,000 companies in sectors ranging from finance to food, and this year its analysts have identified 50 that warrant a closer look. The analysis combines contrarian views and upcoming catalysts for change such as new leadership, asset sales or acquisitions and plans for new products and services. Companies will be affected by developments in artificial intelligence and the increasingly dramatic effects of global warming. Lingering concerns over inflation and the prospect of falling interest rates are also important, as are the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict, the shift to electric vehicles and China’s troubled property market.

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