The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share…

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(Bloomberg) — One of the world’s major credit-rating companies fired a warning shot regarding the U.S.’s worsening public finances on Friday, just as lawmakers in Washington contemplate spending more to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on the country’s credit score to negative from stable, citing a “deterioration in the U.S. public finances and the absence of a credible fiscal consolidation plan.” The country’s ranking remains AAA.“High fiscal deficits and debt were already on a rising medium-term path even before the onset of the huge economic shock precipitated by the coronavirus,” Fitch said. “They have started to erode the traditional credit strengths of the U.S.”Unemployment has skyrocketed and the U.S. economy just notched up its worst quarter on record, with pandemic-related shutdowns helping drive an annualized gross domestic product contraction of 32.9% in the three-month period through June. And with infections still spreading rapidly in many states, the virus’s damaging impact on output looks set to continue.Support from Congress has buoyed the economy in recent months, but further action will be critical in determining the path toward recovery. Crucial lifelines for jobless workers, like an extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits, are expiring, and lawmakers have made little progress on agreeing to another stimulus package.But while further measures — if settled on — could help support the economy, they would also likely add to the nation’s debt pile and worsen the fiscal deficits that caused Fitch additional concern. There is, however, no sign yet of a deal as upcoming elections for the presidency and Congress help sharpen partisan divisions.Stimulus BurdenGeneral government debt is expected to exceed 130% of GDP by 2021, Fitch said, noting that the U.S. had the highest government debt of any AAA rated sovereign heading into the current crisis.“Financing flexibility, assisted by Federal Reserve intervention to restore liquidity to financial markets, does not entirely dispel risks to medium-term debt sustainability, and there is a growing risk that U.S. policy makers will not consolidate public finances sufficiently to stabilize public debt after the pandemic shock has passed,” Fitch said.The U.S. central bank this week reiterated its promise to use all its tools to support the recovery, keeping interest rates near zero and noting that the economy’s path is “extraordinarily uncertain” in the face of virus risks.Fitch is not the first major ratings company to take a less-than-stellar view of America’s public finances. S&P Global Ratings has already gone further, taking an ax to the country’s AAA score back in 2011 and downgrading it to AA+. Moody’s Investors Service, meanwhile, continues to rank the U.S. as Aaa — its top grade.Fitch’s warning, just as the U.S. Treasury is preparing to release its quarterly financing plans next week, comes even as borrowing costs fall to unprecedented levels. Nominal yields on Treasuries are close to historic lows, while the real rate on 10-year debt — which factors in the impact of inflation — fell to around minus 1% on Friday.Yet even with an assumption that real rates will remain negative and support public debt, and the credit assessor’s view that America’s debt tolerance is higher than other AAA sovereigns, Fitch has become less optimistic about the U.S. outlook.(Updates throughout.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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The Japanese conglomerate is currently negotiating terms with Nvidia after receiving an approach last month, the report said, citing an unidentified source familiar with the matter, adding that it is possible that SoftBank would take stake in Nvidia after it bought Arm. The report did not mention how much stake the company will retain in Arm.

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It’s a mixed start to the day for the majors. A fall through the daily pivot levels would bring support levels into play.

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Eastman Kodak (KODK) stock has tripled today alone after the company said it received a loan from the government to produce ingredients for drugs used to battle the coronavirus. This week, Kodak stock has climbed than 2,000%, carrying its valuation to almost $2 billion following the news about the government loan. However, after today's initial […]

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Spree Capital Advisers recently released its Q2 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download here. The fund posted a return of -12.41% in the first half of 2020, underperforming its benchmark, the S&P 500 which returned -3.1% in the same period. You should check out Spree Capital's top 5 stock picks for […]

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Billionaire Philanthropist Bill Gates told Yahoo Finance what he would do differently if put in charge of the U.S. fight against the coronavirus, proposing a testing plan directed by the federal government, a bipartisan push for mask-wearing, and a “complex discussion” about reopening.

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Square is in a bullish setup with earnings due next week.

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(Bloomberg) — Nvidia Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire Arm Ltd., the chip designer that SoftBank Group Corp. bought for $32 billion four years ago, according to people familiar with the matter.The two parties aim to reach a deal in the next few weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Nvidia is the only suitor in concrete discussions with SoftBank, according to the people.A deal for Arm could be the largest ever in the semiconductor industry, which has been consolidating in recent years as companies seek to diversify and add scale. But any deal with Nvidia, which is a customer of Arm, would likely trigger regulatory scrutiny as well as a wave of opposition from other users.Cambridge, England-based Arm’s technology underpins chips that are crucial to most modern electronics, including those that dominate the smartphone market, an area in which Nvidia has failed to gain a foothold. Customers including Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp., could demand assurances that a new owner would continue providing equal access to Arm’s instruction set. Such concerns resulted in SoftBank, a neutral company, buying Arm the last time it was for sale.No final decisions have been made, and the negotiations could drag on longer or fall apart, the people said. SoftBank may gauge interest from other suitors if it can’t reach an agreement with Nvidia, the people said. Representatives for Nvidia, SoftBank and Arm declined to comment.Divestment Drive“With Nvidia’s low-cost fabless model enabling it to focus on R&D, engineering and programming, the fit with Arm would be perfect,” said Neil Campling, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities.Nvidia is the largest maker of graphics processors and it’s spreading the use of the gaming component into new areas such as artificial intelligence processing in data centers and self-driving cars. Marrying its own capabilities with central processor units designed by Arm may enable it to take on Intel and Advanced Micro Devices in a more comprehensive way, according to Rosenblatt Securities analyst Hans Mosesmann. He estimates Nvidia would have to pay about $55 billion for Arm.“You need control of BOTH CPU and GPU roadmaps and this, of course, includes data centers,” he wrote in a note Friday, referring to central processing units and graphic processing units. “Strategically, Nvidia needs a scalable CPU that can be integrated into its GPU roadmap, as is the case with AMD and Intel.”Billionaire Masayoshi Son has been selling some of SoftBank’s trophy assets as the company seeks to pay down debt at the Japanese conglomerate. SoftBank has offloaded part of its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and a chunk of its holdings in wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc.SoftBank has been exploring options to exit part or all of its stake in Arm through a sale or public stock listing, Bloomberg News has reported. The chip-design company could go public as soon as next year if SoftBank decides to proceed with that option, people with knowledge of the matter have said.Arm has become more valuable as it pushes its architecture into smart cars, data centers and networking gear. The company could be worth $44 billion if it pursues an initial public offering next year, a valuation that may rise to $68 billion by 2025, according to New Street Research LLP.Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, is the world’s largest graphics chipmaker. The stock has surged more than twenty-fold in the past five years, giving the company more firepower to do large deals. Nvidia’s market value has increased to more than $260 billion in that time, surpassing Intel. The stock was little changed Friday in New York.(Updates with analyst comment in eighth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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In his latest letter to investors, Mohnish Pabrai warned about the perils of buying stocks at high prices. He explained that it’s possible to overpay for even the market’s most promising companies. Giving Microsoft as an example, Pabrai noted: "MICROSOFT HAD A VERY STRONG ENTRENCHED MONOPOLY POSITION IN MOST OF ITS MARKETS. IT CONTINUED TO DO WELL […]

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