Happy Wednesday, Barkada --

The PSE closed up 69 points to 7204 ▲1%.

Greetings to all of the new subscribers that joined yesterday and this morning! I hope you enjoy what Merkado Barkada has to offer. If you do, please forward out to friends and family who might also enjoy it... and if not, please contact me at [email protected] to let me know why! I'm always interested in constructive feedback on how to make MB a better place for investors and traders alike.

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COVID Update

WW: 67965859 PH: 441385 

Top 3 MB indices:

 POGO Gaming ▲13.40% Logistics ▲3.24% #COVID-19 ▲2.56% 

Bottom 3 MB indices:

 Telco ▼0.88% MiddleClass ▼0.39% 2020 IPOs ▼0.29% 

Main stories covered:

• [NEWS] DFNN [DFNN 6.35 ▲41.43%] granted PH’s first online casino license, stock soars 41%... the license allows the PAGCOR-approved company to develop and operate online casino games. DFNN said that the online casino would “only available to VIP players who must meet strict eligibility and registration procedures,” and would help in “regenerating revenues for the government”.
  
  • MB: PAGCOR has repeatedly tried to pitch “gaming” generally as the government’s cure to the cash crunch problem caused by its COVID-depressed tax income. I doubt it needed more than three slides in its pitch deck to government to get approval for the new license type. The government aches for income to replace what’s been lost. Investors and traders liked the news, in part because the complete surprise of the announcement allowed there to be a steep gap-up in the price (that’s always fun), but also because the license acts as something of a temporary monopoly for DFNN in terms of online gaming. There’s no word yet whether PAGCOR intends to license other gaming outfits to operate similar online casinos, but I’d bet that Dennis Uy and Enrique Razon are more than a little interested to join in on the fun, considering how poorly their profit puppies have performed through the pandemic. Especially if the license type will expand beyond the initial restriction to domestic bets only.
• [NEWS] PH Resorts [PHR 3.00 ▼0.99%] halted for an hour after issuance of shares to Udenna Corp disclosed... the Dennis Uy-owned integrated casino/resort developer disclosed that it sold 1,686,309,523 common shares from its unissued capital stock to Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp for P2.8bn (P1.68/share). The PSE halted the stock for one hour under the “additional listing” rule. That lede was buried in a press release that was supposedly about PHR “topping off” the two towers at its Emerald Bay facility.
  
  • MB: The follow-on offering that PHR conducted a month ago sold 450m shares at the same price, but this transaction is significantly larger. When the FOO dropped, Dennis Uy said: “At the offer price, investors will be given a good opportunity to get in early at attractive valuation levels.” He was really talking about himself, and about the private placement sale to Udenna that was to come. This transaction dilutes everyone materially, including the FOO buyers that diluted the previous shareholders.
• [NEWS] Mergermarket reporting Indonesian coffee chain looking for JV partner in PH... Kopi Kenangan is Indonesia’s fastest growing coffee chain, and it’s fresh off of a Sequoia Capital India-led Series B investment round that netted it a US$109m warchest for expansion. The coffee chain reportedly prefers a Philippine “family-led conglomerate”, both for the conglomerate’s deep pockets but also its experience in the domestic retail sector. Kopi Kenangan is looking to co-locate its stores in buildings with a strong BPO presence.
  
  • MB: Looking for a family-led conglomerate with deep pockets is like shooting fish in a barrel in the Philippines. Kopi Kenangan is going to be able to run a beauty pageant to maximize the value of its potential JV. This store concept is not exactly like a convenience store (more like Luckin Coffee, actually), but it does serve some of the low-cost goodies (coffee, milk tea, snacks) that convenience stores like Seven-11 [SEVN 110.70 ▲4.43%], Ministop [RRHI 68.70 ▲0.51%], and Family Mart [PNX 12.74 ▼0.31%] use to lure customers in for repeated visits. That’s not exactly Kopi’s DNA, though, as it’s building its name and brand off of “coffee on demand” that is ordered by an app and either picked up in a small-footprint shop, or delivered direct to consumer. It’s not clear what Kopi Kenangan’s end-goal strategy is, whether it wants to be a stand-alone brand under the Kopi Kenangan flag here in the PH with its own locations, or whether it’s willing to be a branded component of a conglomerate’s overall offering, like “Ministop, with coffee by Kopi Kenangan”; either way, this is an indication that our convenience and coffee store market is heating up.
• [NEWS] Metro Pacific Investments [MPI 4.55 0.00%] buys 20% of Philippine Tank Storage International (PTSI)... the purchase was part of a larger deal that saw Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) and MPI together acquire 100% of PTSI’s stock for US$333.8m. According to Mergermarket, PTSI owns the Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation (PCSPC), which is “the largest petroleum products import storage facility in the Philippines”. KIT and MPI purchased PTSI from the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (PINAI). PTSI’s storage capacity includes three “tank farms” and one marine terminal area, all within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
  
  • MB: There are no comments from the MPI side of the deal yet, but KIT is on record saying that this is a “strategic” acquisition to strengthen its distributable cash flow (the money that the company uses to declare dividends). KIT says the investment will help it “capture the expected growth in demand for petroleum products in [the Philippines].” I assume MPI’s reasons for entering the deal are substantially similar.

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Happy Thursday, Barkada --

The PSE closed up 128 points (!!) to 6464 ▲2%.

I'm blown away by your response to the MB Patreon page. I have a hard time putting into words how it feels to see notifications from Patreon, many featuring familiar names from Reddit, Discord, and email chats, saying that someone has donated some money to the MB effort. During a pandemic, a down market, and a crazy year like this.
A huge shout-out and humbled thank-you goes out to our new

• "Ministop Coffee Crew" patrons: JRVS, Phantom-Spirit, and Jelo Agnasin
• "Starbucks Coffee Crew" patron: Karlos Naidas
• "Daily Production Team" patrons, Charles A Yeung, FinanceForever, and Marilin Nery! Thank you all for your support.

You didn't have to, but you did, and I appreciate that. I raise my coffee mug in thanks to the Ministop and Starbucks Coffee Crews, and to the Daily Producers, I say keep an eye on your inbox as I'll be in touch to figure out the specific day you'd like to sponsor!
To anyone else who would like to contribute, please use this link. Remember, there's no obligation, no special access, and people who don't have an EF yet shouldn't donate! Focus on yourself first.
Thank you, Patreon supporters. And thank you to all the Barkadans for reading!

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COVID Update

WW: 47842841 PH: 387150 

Top 3 MB indices:

 Fast Food ▲5.78% POGO Gaming ▲5.34% 2019 IPOs ▲4.86% 

Bottom 3 MB indices:

 Telco ▼0.38% MiddleClass ▼0.34% Power Gen. ▲0.29% 

Main stories covered:

• [UPDATE] PH Resorts [PHR 3.27 susp] FOO is today, be prepared for wackiness... the follow-on offering for Dennis Uy’s integrated casino/resort developer will hit the market a lot like the weird Altus Property Ventures [APVI 13.08 ▲0.62%] offering “by way of introduction” did: with no ceiling or floor. PHR last closed at P3.27/share before it was suspended pending this offering, which was priced at P1.68/share.
  
  • MB: BE CAREFUL. Every single AVPI share purchased on its offering day is still underwater. Have a read of what happened on that day (I sort of live-blogged it), when it finished up 82% on the day, but down 93% from its intra-day peak. If you are trading price action, SET YOUR STOPS. You don’t want to end up joining the sad crew of momentum chasers that turned into “invals” (involuntary value investors).
• [Q3] Globe [GLO 2002.00 ▼0.89%] profit ▼22% y/y... Q3/20 profit of P4.4bn, down 22% from Q3/19 profit of P5.6bn. Part of that decline could be attributed to the continuing trend of consumers moving away from “traditional” voice and SMS, where margins for GLO are ridiculously high; revenue from these sectors was down 3% y/y to P36.7bn. GLO did say that the “upturn in prepaid top-ups and subscriber acquisitions” was improved q/q by the less restrictive quarantine measures over Metro Manila allowing more people to transact digitally.
  
  • MB: Up until the end of Q3, it had been GLO and TEL just tromping around the country harvesting pesos from a captive audience that had no other choice. In the broadband world, Converge [CNVRG 14.72 ▲1.24%] has loudly splashed into the national spotlight through its “PLAYER 3 HAS ENTERED THE GAME” IPO last month. While the stock hasn’t popped, CNVRG has already banked the cash. CNVRG will hit the market with a long history of experience in providing the service that it offers, with the customer support (I know, I know), back-office team, and network of commercial subscriber funnels to efficiently consume new markets. So, while Dito Telecommunity is that same “PLAYER 3 HAS ENTERED THE GAME” moment on the mobile communications front, it’s starting from way further back. It has no proven processes; it’s never processed a transaction; it’s never dealt with an outage; and it’s never performed a network upgrade with live customers. That’s not to say that Dito couldn’t figure it out (it’s probably dangerous for GLO and TEL to discount Dito outright), but it is to say that public-facing communications infrastructure, at scale, is hard. That’s part of the reason why only GLO and TEL have survived. But from Q4 onward, the gloves are off.
• [Q3] Century Foods [CNPF 17.00 ▲0.95%] profit ▲15% y/y... Q3/20 profit of P1.032bn, up 15% from Q3/19 profit of P0.898bn. The profit growth was driven by the company’s “”branded marine, meat and milk products” segment, which accounted for 81% of CNPF’s total revenue. Sales in this segment, which includes brands like Century Tuna, 555, Argentina and Birch Tree, were up 16%.
  
  • MB: This result might come as cold comfort to some investors. It’s not like people have all of a sudden grown an outsized appetite for canned goods and non-perishable milk products... it’s the pandemic. At first, in the heat of the ECQ lockdown, Filipinos flocked to the familiar safety of CNPF products when presented with the possibility of the country’s supply chain failing, or other apocalyptic scenarios that had all barangays seriously considering what life would be like to have barangay captains ration food out to residents amid a medical catastrophe of unknown severity. We filled our storage areas with tuna, corned beef, and whatever else might taste ok and not spoil. Then, when our fears of systemic failure did not come to pass, but the ravages of one of the world’s longest lockdowns began to cripple commerce resulting in job losses, under-employment, and vastly reduced household earnings with plummeting consumer confidence, we “downshifted” our eating habits to recognize the need to be conservative. Instead of eating at a restaurant, we went to Jollibee. Instead of eating at Jollibee, we ate street food. Instead of eating street food, we cooked at home. Instead of fresh meat and vegetables, we bought canned goods. This was explicitly mentioned by McDonalds PH in its conference call with Goldman Sachs that I covered in August. Consumers are shifting down, and that is pushing CNPF up. If the economy improves, and things go back to normal, will these customers stay? What is CNPF doing right now to encourage continued loyalty through changing circumstances?
• [Q3] International Container Terminal Services [ICT 115.50 ▲0.43%] profit ▲23% y/y... Q3/20 profit US$69m, up 23% from Q3/19 profit of US$56m. The shipping terminal owneoperator’s revenues are a pretty good proxy for global trade, as they have facilities in the Philippines (including the Manila International Container Terminal), across SE Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. ICT has a fairly clear lack of penetration into Russia/China, Europe, India, and North America, but otherwise has a strong presence in developing countries with significant raw material exports and significant finished goods imports. In Q3, ICT made more revenue (6.7% more) with fewer expenses (1.1% less), an outcome that ICT attributes to “stringent cost management”.
  
  • MB: ICT should be well-positioned to benefit from any uptick in global trade. The cost management initiative will serve ICT (and its investors) well in the time between now and when COVID fears begin to lift. We aren’t there yet, but ICT will be one of those “recovery stocks” to watch. It’s probably too early now, but keep an eye on it.

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Happy Friday, Barkada --

The PSE closed up 181 points (!!) to 6645 ▲2.8%.

Thanks to JD for writing with some ideas on how to hack down my monthly Mailchimp costs. My eyes/ears are open to suggestions, but I'm paranoid of spam filters. Thanks to kidfrom93 for pointing out that my "no ceiling no floor" analysis on PHR's FOO was only half-right: there was a ceiling, but no floor. Not that the ceiling came into play, but still. :) Shout-out to keneno89 and amasai12! Thanks for the support!
A huge shout-out and humbled thank-you goes out to our new

• "Ministop Coffee Crew" patrons: Mico K and John Archie Trinidad
• "Starbucks Coffee Crew" patrons: Sanjay Chatlani and Jing E

To anyone else who would like to contribute, please use this link. Remember, there's no obligation, no special access, and people who don't have an EF yet shouldn't donate! Focus on yourself first.
If you like what you see, please consider forwarding MB to friends/family who might be interested. If you like like it, drop me a message and let me know what you like the best and what sorts of things you'd like to see in the future from MB!

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COVID Update

WW: 48406375 PH: 388131 

Top 3 MB indices:

 Fast Food ▲4.16% #COVID-19 ▲3.88% POGO Prop. ▲3.36% 

Bottom 3 MB indices:

 POGO Gaming ▼0.92% Power Gen. ▼0.70% Cement ▼0.42% 

Main stories covered:

">- PH Resorts had a FOO, and it was both a mess and a rousing success

• Background PH Resorts [PHR 2.18 ▼33.33%] is Dennis Uy’s casino resort developer that has struggled to fund completion of its Cebu-based resort due to COVID. PHR had been exploring options to fund the project for months, but ultimately elected to push through with a follow-on offer priced at P1.68 per share, which was a little bit shocking considering the stock’s closing price before the announcement was P3.27/share.
  
• What happened leading up to yesterday? The FOO added 450 million shares to PHR’s outstanding shares, bringing the total from 4,793,266,504 to 5,243,266,504 (an increase of 9.4%). But the way it got there was a little bit... unfortunately for PHR investors. PHR announced in late September that it would look to do a FOO, but provided no pricing information. From that point, the stock jumped from P2.15/share to up to P3.20/share. Then, on the morning of October 19, PHR announced that the price would be P1.68/share. The price dropped, and by the end of the day, PHR had applied for a voluntary trading suspension until yesterday. Everyone invested at that time that was not able to sell was “trapped” in the dilutive situation.
  
• How did the FOO go? Depends who you ask! If you ask someone who was quick enough to buy the FOO (brokers sold out quickly, for obvious reasons) at P1.68 and who sold anywhere around P2.18/share, that person is probably happy for the 70% gain. But... if you ask an investor who owned PHR stock before October 19th, at a closing price of P3.27/share, and who is holding stock worth P2.18/share today, you probably are not talking to someone excited about a sudden 33.3% loss.
  
• BARDAKA BOTTOM-LINE Dennis Uy got crushed on the market yesterday. PHR was down 33%, Chelsea [C 4.94 ▼6.44%] was down 6.4%, and DITO CME [DITO 5.89 ▼6.66%] was down 6.7%. The recent move by Chelsea to sell its stake in Dito Telecommunity, arguably one of the most important and mysterious companies in the country, to a completely unknown private corporation with a confusing name and absolutely no guidance as to what is happening or why aside from “restructuring”, and now this double-dip that is gleefully pitched by PHR”s executives as just another step in the master plan (FOOs are never part of the master plan, unless you’re Injap), well maybe you’re sort of losing patience with this loosey goosey attitude toward shareholders and potential investors. I’m not an investor in PHR, but if I was, I’d be right choked that I was forced to buy-up some stupid FOO to protect myself from the dilutive losses.
  
  • [Q3] LBC [LBC 15.72 ▲0.13%] profit ▲37.6% y/y... Q3/20 profit of P448m, up 37.6% from Q3/19 profit of P326m. LBC attributes the great result to its “significant growth” in gross revenue by 6% (+ ~P200m), and by a 9% reduction in the cost of services (+ ~P250m). The gross revenue bump was due largely to 33% higher sales in LBC’s retail logistics segment.
• MB: LBC is coming off an absolutely ba-ruuuutal quarter where it lost over half a billion pesos due to the lockdown and various movement restrictions implemented around the country. Q3 saw many of those restrictions ease, but I wonder if perhaps some of the bounce-back could be from the country’s growing ease with using third parties to deliver everything from food to furniture.
  
  • *[UPDATE] Megawide [MWIDE 7.58 ▲2.43%] FOO details confirmed for listing on November 27... * MWIDE will sell up to 50 million preferred shares, split into two symbols (MWP2A and MWP2B), at P100/share, to raise P5bn. Offer period runs from November 10 to 17, with listing on November 27.
• MB: Specific details on the terms of the preferred shares are not yet available, but I will update. My feeling here is that MWIDE is cashing up to take advantage of its recent run of “good luck” in bagging contracts from the government. Make hay while the sun shines.
  
  • [UPDATE] DITO CME [DITO 5.89 ▼6.66%] shareholder dumps 50m shares... Eric Recto, the former owner of ISM Communications, which Dennis Uy purchased to (eventually) convert into DITO, had owned over 234m shares of DITO as of January this year. With this latest sale of 50m shares on November 3, Mr. Recto now owns only 1.89m shares of DITO out of the nearly 2 billion listed shares.
• MB: This looks like DITO “cleaning up its cap table”, which is finance-speak for tying up loose ends in the list of major shareholders before a major change is made. From Dennis Uy’s perspective, if he were truly to use DITO as a vehicle for Dito Telecommunity, he would need to somehow transfer Dito Telecommunity into DITO. Any existing shareholders would “benefit” from this acquisition, possibly by way of a higher stock price. So it’s in Dennis Uy’s best interest (if this is what’s happening -- I have no idea) to get rid of as many hangers-on as possible at the pre-acquisition stock price to “capture” as much of that gain for himself as possible. Having Eric Recto as a major shareholder is a pretty significant value-leak. This whole paragraph is just speculation, so please take it with a kilo of salt. I have no idea what Dennis Uy is doing, or what Eric Recto is doing. Just trying to make an educated guess.
  

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America is uniquely empowered to chart its own course. International creditors have a far weaker hold on us than on any other country. Our financial firms make the vast majorities of their profits domestically. Most countries are desperate to achieve even a shadow of the standing in international finance that we have. And the dollar - our currency - is the reserve currency of the world, at least for now. All of these factors combine to make America capable of taking control over our destiny and, rather than letting ourselves be held to the whims of a cabal of multinational corporations who have no interest in the well-being of Americans, only their own bottom lines.

“Financiers never believed in markets in the first place. They believed, instead, in controlling the market. By whatever means possible.” The financial sector has, today, devolved into a few huge, international institutions. These institutions have close links to regulators, and dominate the financial market, while using their quasi-monopolistic power to extract “super-normal profits” from ordinary investors. In order to achieve these monopolistic ends, they innovated along the way. Financial innovations like the development of the mortgage-backed security (MBS), the collateralized debt obligation (CDO), and the credit default swap (CDS) all dramatically increased the profitability of big international banks in the 1990s and early 2000s. They also contributed to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The solution to this is, in the minds of the Santana presidential administration, simple. The state, as the only set of institutions with the necessary power, legitimacy, and resources, must take back control of financial markets and impose regulatory control over the saboteurs. This is, of course, not a new proposition. However, the Santana solution differs from that of most economists. Economists, in their desire to be “neutral,” frantically seek out so-called neutral and objective, “solutions” to modern policy problems from inequality to climate change, with their solutions always ending up as technocratic and “wonkish,” which economists claim facilitate an evidence-based approach to regulation, free from any ideological baggage.
The problem with these traditional solutions is that there is no such thing as apolitical state intervention, and there is certainly no neutral, non-ideological view of the economy. Santana acknowledges this, with one internal document saying “The state is not a neutral economic actor. Diverse sets of competing interests control the decisions made by policymakers, including those of the finance sector itself.” Under the American system as it exists, wealth translates to political power, and power back to wealth.
As such the Santana administration has implemented a wide-ranging series of capital controls, which are intended to ensure that the United States will not be held hostage by the “malefactors of great wealth.” The first of these is the expansion of the United States international sanctions network, with the President now officially stating that “Individuals who deliberately avoid fairly levied taxes from the United States will be targets of sanctions similar to those which are emplaced on members of authoritarian regimes, and the same being applied to those in leadership positions on companies which engage in tax avoidance.” This program is intended to utilise the unique ability of the United States to implement wide-ranging sanctions which dramatically harm the ability of an individual to do business for good, rather than the traditional usage which was to enforce global American dominance.
The second was the implementation of a program of public control of the financial sector. Simply put, if a bank or investment group begins to engage in capital flight, it will be nationalised (with three quarter market-rate compensation) and its assets seized, to be put under national control. This program was not made public until it was already implemented, thus preventing these institutions from engaging in these malignant practices without legal control being implemented over them.
These new public financial institutions will be rolled into the new Public Bank, which will operate with branches at every post office in the United States. This new public banking will do away with predatory lending and speculative investing on exotic financial derivatives, instead refocusing on boring banking and long-term stability. By avoiding the toxic assets and casino-style speculation that spur on instability, the public banking sector will instead engage in socially responsible investment with longer time horizons, generating a new form of patient social capital. Public loans will also provide another avenue (alongside direct investment and increased social spending) to help improve the lives of everyday Americans.
The new capital control regime has also implemented a simple program that all companies will owe taxes based on the revenue they generate in the USA, with the taxes on that revenue being assessed as if they were a company based in the USA prior to the implementation of this setup. This will encourage companies to move their headquarters back to the USA, as it will not impact their tax rate, but will also enforce that companies must make the choice between paying American taxes to the American government, or surrendering their access to the American government.
The next focus, however, went far beyond capital flight control. This was the reinstatement of numerous capital controls that were slowly reversed over the course of the neoliberal turn in the United States. The first was the reinstatement of the Glass Steagall act, which was given minor updates for the modern era, but by and large was kept the same as the original act, which was eliminated in 1999. The second was the repeal of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which exempted credit-default swaps from numerous regulations. The fights to make both of these happen were bloody affairs, but ultimately, Santana managed to force the few remaining corporate Democrats, and interestingly one Republican Senator, who had replaced Tom Cotton and was considered by many to be an outright fascist (his vote was unnecessary and unexpected in the end).
This act, however, has deeply worried the remaining corporate Democrats. Santana has made it clear that she will use every lever at her disposal (one of the main threats made was that if people would not vote for the act, Santana would use her new control over the DCCC to ensure they received no money for their reelection campaigns). This has made the remainder severely worried, as it is clear that they are nothing but a temporary holdover that Santana is determined to eliminate entirely. What they will do next is unclear, but it is unlikely they will continue to bow down for the socialist revolution, or that they will be able to take the party back.

I know we've got some low-to-mid tier guys who browse this forum, so I've decided to offer some advice that may help our bankers out in this difficult time. I call this the M3-to-MB Fix.
Say you're a large bank with a cash flow problem. You can create money by extending loans, but only for the benefit of those to whom you're lending. You can't just create money to pay your obligations to other banks. You need cash flow coming in from your debtors to turn your long loans into bookable profits to pay off your creditors. This creates a problem - there's no cash flow right now, and no money coming in means there's a big fucking liquidity shortfall worldwide that's only being filled by the Fed. I'm sure you're eyeing all those shitty leveraged loans on and off your books and thinking "wow, I'm fucked."
Right? Wrong! It's time to turn credits into debits and vice versa. Have a couple of your executives start up a ghost bank, which we'll call "B2," while your bank is "B1." B1 will extend as much credit as possible to B2 given leverage and capital constraints. This credit will be issued at 0% rates with a maturity date of 9,999 years in the future, with the first payments due 9,998 years hence. It is obviously up to you at B1 to decide whether or not to bear the risk of B2's future default and issue credit accordingly. B2 will then immediately repay said credit, as cash, into a separate fund at B1. Problem solved! You've got trillions in cash coming in, plenty to pay off your buds who are all demanding their money now. This will work best for U.S. banks, but could work for EU banks until EUUSD swap lines are completely tapped.
Let's say, hypothetically, that you're constrained because you're already maxed out your leverage ratio and can't make any new loans. In this case, just assume a couple of debtors (let's say airlines, casinos, etc.) have defaulted in advance - just delete their accounts from the balance sheet and hope the SEC/Fed forget about it.
Simple diagram:
Bank 1 == (Big fucking loan) ==> Ghost Bank 2
Ghost Bank 2 == (Loan, but as cash now) ==> Bank 1
(Shout out to my boys at Wells Fargo, good luck guys!)

Good morning traders and investors of the wallstreetbets sub! Welcome to the new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, February 3rd, 2020

• U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open, but not close to erasing a significant portion of Friday’s coronavirus-driven sell-off. The Dow had its worst day since August on Friday. The S&P 500 since October. Both were pushed into negative territory for January. The Dow is now at its lowest since Dec. 18, with the S&P 500 finishing at its lowest since Dec. 30. The Nasdaq, however, did manage to finish January with a 2% gain. (CNBC)
• Chinese markets plunged on their return from the extended Lunar New Year holiday, and maintained steep declines by the close. The Shanghai composite fell 7.72% while the Shenzhen component dropped 8.45%. The moves in Chinese stocks were playing catch up as the coronavirus outbreak continues to widen. (CNBC)
• On today’s U.S. economic calendar, both the ISM manufacturing Index and December construction spending are released at 10 a.m. ET. Food distributor Sysco (SYY) is one of the few companies set to release quarterly earnings this morning, while Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) grabs the spotlight in today’s after-the-bell reports. The pace of earnings reports picks up substantially over the next few days, with 86 S&P 500 companies scheduled to issue numbers. (CNBC)
• Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg all have a good chance to leave today’s first-in-the-nation Iowa presidential caucuses with the most delegates. Recent polls show a tight race, and the fluid nature of the caucuses suggest any of the leading candidates could enjoy a surprisingly strong showing in the first nominating contest. (CNBC)
• Iowa caucus: What it is, how it works and why it’s important (CNBC)
• Big Tech faces high-stakes test with Iowa caucuses (CNBC)
• ‘I will pay more’: Bloomberg unveils $5 trillion tax plan targeting wealthy and corporations (CNBC)
• John Kerry overheard discussing possible 2020 bid (NBC News)
• Senate leaders have reached a deal to postpone the final vote in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, whether to convict or acquit him, until Wednesday The arrangement delays the vote until after tonight’s Iowa caucus, and the president’s State of the Union Address, scheduled for tomorrow. (CNBC)
• Poll: US is split on Trump’s removal from office; top Dems lead him in 2020 race (CNBC)
• Key dates on the US presidential election calendar (Reuters)
• Italy’s health ministry has confirmed health ministers from the Group of Seven will discuss the coronavirus outbreak in a teleconference call at 8 a.m. ET today.The U.S. reported two more coronavirus cases Sunday, for a total of 11. China’s reported a total of 361 deaths and 17,205 confirmed cases. (CNBC)
• Apple temporarily shuts all stores and offices in mainland China (CNBC)
• Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced today the city would suspend 10 out of a possible 13 border crossings with mainland China in an effort to curb the coronavirus. Thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong went on strike, in hopes of convincing the city’s government to a complete shutdown of its borders with the mainland. (CNBC)
• Bernard Ebbers, a former telecom executive convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history, died yesterday, just over a month after his early release from prison. The Canadian-born Ebbers was convicted in New York in 2005 on securities fraud and other charges and received a 25-year sentence. (AP)
• WeWork reportedly intends to name Sandeep Mathrani, a veteran in the real estate industry, as its new CEO. Mathrani was previously CEO at Brookfield Properties’ retail group, and is on the executive board and board of trustees for the International Council of Shopping Centers and the board of directors of Host Hotels & Resorts. (CNBC)
• It took 50 years, but the wait is now over for the Kansas City Chiefs after coming back from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Chiefs, which last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1970, won their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in three Super Bowl appearances. (CNBC)
• Watch all the Super Bowl commercials right here (CNBC)
• Tom Brady’s cryptic tweet was just an ad for Hulu (CNBC)

STOCK FUTURES CURRENTLY:

(CLICK HERE FOR STOCK FUTURES CHARTS!)

LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP!)

TODAY'S MARKET MAP:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S MARKET MAP!)

LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S!)

THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($DIS $GOOGL $SNAP $TWTR $ABBV $F $QCOM $UBER $SYY $SPOT $ON $PINS $TWLO $BMY $CMG $IRBT $CHKP $MRK $CNC $SNE $SIRI $GM $GILD $PTON $BP $ABG $LITE $WYNN $ATVI $CTLT $NSSC $ACM $GOOS $SAIA $DSPG $RACE $RCL $COP $AMG $RL $PLUS $NXPI $MCK $CI)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($SYY $ON $CHKP $ABG $CTLT $SAIA $ACM $DSPG $NSSC $AMG $PINE $LUB)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS AFTERNOON'S POST-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

([CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!]())

T.B.A.

EARNINGS RELEASES BEFORE THE OPEN TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

EARNINGS RELEASES AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

NONE.

FRIDAY'S ANALYST UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #2!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #3!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #4!)

FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS!)

TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• AIMT
• LK
• GILD
• CLVS
• CHKP
• ON
• YANG
• XOM
• ROKU
• CNP

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

(source: cnbc.com)

Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) – These will be among casino stocks on watch, on news that gambling revenue in Macao fell a worse-than-expected 11.3% amid the spread of the coronavirus.

STOCK SYMBOL: LVS

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), United Airlines (UAL) – These and other airline stocks will also be in the spotlight, as new restrictions on travel to and from China are implemented.

STOCK SYMBOL: DAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: AAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: UAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Apple (AAPL) – Apple shut down all its stores and corporate offices in mainland China due to the coronavirus. The closure is scheduled to last until Feb. 9.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT) – The drugmaker received Food and Drug Administration approval for the first-ever treatment for peanut allergies.

STOCK SYMBOL: AIMT

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Check Point Software (CHKP) – Check Point reported quarterly profit of $2.02 per share, 3 cents a share above estimates. The cybersecurity company’s revenue also beat Street forecasts, boosted by an increase in subscriptions.

STOCK SYMBOL: CHKP

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Boeing (BA) – Boeing faces a new obstacle in getting the grounded 737 Max back in service, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper quotes people familiar with the matter as saying that European regulators want what they regard as potentially hazardous wiring relocated to avoid short circuits.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Verizon (VZ) – Verizon was downgraded to “neutral” from “outperform” at Credit Suisse, which said the stock lacks positive near-term catalysts. Credit Suisse feels positive influences for the stock are weighted toward the back half of the year, ahead of the mass market launch of 5G service.

STOCK SYMBOL: VZ

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Seagate Technology (STX) – Seagate was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Stifel Nicolaus, pointing to improving fundamentals for the disk drive maker.

STOCK SYMBOL: STX

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Nike (NKE) – The athletic footwear and apparel maker’s stock was added to the “Analyst Focus List” at J.P. Morgan Chase, which sees a recent pullback as a buying opportunity. J.P. Morgan points to Nike’s innovation and product pipeline.

STOCK SYMBOL: NKE

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Uber (UBER) – Uber was added to the “Best Ideas” list at Wedbush, which feels the ride-hailing service has laid the groundwork for growth, especially amid the streamlining of the Uber Eats operation.

STOCK SYMBOL: UBER

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Northrop Grumman (NOC) – The defense contractor’s stock received a double downgrade at Goldman Sachs, which pushed its rating to “sell” from “buy.” Goldman said the company’s organic revenue growth is slower than that of its peers and that profit margins are compressing.

STOCK SYMBOL: NOC

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at wallstreetbets?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, February 3rd, 2020! :)

Good morning traders and investors of the StockMarket sub! Welcome to the new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

(CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL SOURCE!)

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, February 3rd, 2020

• U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open, but not close to erasing a significant portion of Friday’s coronavirus-driven sell-off. The Dow had its worst day since August on Friday. The S&P 500 since October. Both were pushed into negative territory for January. The Dow is now at its lowest since Dec. 18, with the S&P 500 finishing at its lowest since Dec. 30. The Nasdaq, however, did manage to finish January with a 2% gain. (CNBC)
• Chinese markets plunged on their return from the extended Lunar New Year holiday, and maintained steep declines by the close. The Shanghai composite fell 7.72% while the Shenzhen component dropped 8.45%. The moves in Chinese stocks were playing catch up as the coronavirus outbreak continues to widen. (CNBC)
• On today’s U.S. economic calendar, both the ISM manufacturing Index and December construction spending are released at 10 a.m. ET. Food distributor Sysco (SYY) is one of the few companies set to release quarterly earnings this morning, while Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) grabs the spotlight in today’s after-the-bell reports. The pace of earnings reports picks up substantially over the next few days, with 86 S&P 500 companies scheduled to issue numbers. (CNBC)
• Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg all have a good chance to leave today’s first-in-the-nation Iowa presidential caucuses with the most delegates. Recent polls show a tight race, and the fluid nature of the caucuses suggest any of the leading candidates could enjoy a surprisingly strong showing in the first nominating contest. (CNBC)
• Iowa caucus: What it is, how it works and why it’s important (CNBC)
• Big Tech faces high-stakes test with Iowa caucuses (CNBC)
• ‘I will pay more’: Bloomberg unveils $5 trillion tax plan targeting wealthy and corporations (CNBC)
• John Kerry overheard discussing possible 2020 bid (NBC News)
• Senate leaders have reached a deal to postpone the final vote in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, whether to convict or acquit him, until Wednesday The arrangement delays the vote until after tonight’s Iowa caucus, and the president’s State of the Union Address, scheduled for tomorrow. (CNBC)
• Poll: US is split on Trump’s removal from office; top Dems lead him in 2020 race (CNBC)
• Key dates on the US presidential election calendar (Reuters)
• Italy’s health ministry has confirmed health ministers from the Group of Seven will discuss the coronavirus outbreak in a teleconference call at 8 a.m. ET today.The U.S. reported two more coronavirus cases Sunday, for a total of 11. China’s reported a total of 361 deaths and 17,205 confirmed cases. (CNBC)
• Apple temporarily shuts all stores and offices in mainland China (CNBC)
• Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced today the city would suspend 10 out of a possible 13 border crossings with mainland China in an effort to curb the coronavirus. Thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong went on strike, in hopes of convincing the city’s government to a complete shutdown of its borders with the mainland. (CNBC)
• Bernard Ebbers, a former telecom executive convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history, died yesterday, just over a month after his early release from prison. The Canadian-born Ebbers was convicted in New York in 2005 on securities fraud and other charges and received a 25-year sentence. (AP)
• WeWork reportedly intends to name Sandeep Mathrani, a veteran in the real estate industry, as its new CEO. Mathrani was previously CEO at Brookfield Properties’ retail group, and is on the executive board and board of trustees for the International Council of Shopping Centers and the board of directors of Host Hotels & Resorts. (CNBC)
• It took 50 years, but the wait is now over for the Kansas City Chiefs after coming back from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Chiefs, which last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1970, won their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in three Super Bowl appearances. (CNBC)
• Watch all the Super Bowl commercials right here (CNBC)
• Tom Brady’s cryptic tweet was just an ad for Hulu (CNBC)

STOCK FUTURES CURRENTLY:

(CLICK HERE FOR STOCK FUTURES CHARTS!)

LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP!)

TODAY'S MARKET MAP:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S MARKET MAP!)

LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S!)

THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($DIS $GOOGL $SNAP $TWTR $ABBV $F $QCOM $UBER $SYY $SPOT $ON $PINS $TWLO $BMY $CMG $IRBT $CHKP $MRK $CNC $SNE $SIRI $GM $GILD $PTON $BP $ABG $LITE $WYNN $ATVI $CTLT $NSSC $ACM $GOOS $SAIA $DSPG $RACE $RCL $COP $AMG $RL $PLUS $NXPI $MCK $CI)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($SYY $ON $CHKP $ABG $CTLT $SAIA $ACM $DSPG $NSSC $AMG $PINE $LUB)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS AFTERNOON'S POST-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

([CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!]())

T.B.A.

EARNINGS RELEASES BEFORE THE OPEN TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

EARNINGS RELEASES AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

NONE.

FRIDAY'S ANALYST UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #2!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #3!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #4!)

FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS!)

TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• AIMT
• LK
• GILD
• CLVS
• CHKP
• ON
• YANG
• XOM
• ROKU
• CNP

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

(source: cnbc.com)

Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) – These will be among casino stocks on watch, on news that gambling revenue in Macao fell a worse-than-expected 11.3% amid the spread of the coronavirus.

STOCK SYMBOL: LVS

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), United Airlines (UAL) – These and other airline stocks will also be in the spotlight, as new restrictions on travel to and from China are implemented.

STOCK SYMBOL: DAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: AAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: UAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Apple (AAPL) – Apple shut down all its stores and corporate offices in mainland China due to the coronavirus. The closure is scheduled to last until Feb. 9.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT) – The drugmaker received Food and Drug Administration approval for the first-ever treatment for peanut allergies.

STOCK SYMBOL: AIMT

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Check Point Software (CHKP) – Check Point reported quarterly profit of $2.02 per share, 3 cents a share above estimates. The cybersecurity company’s revenue also beat Street forecasts, boosted by an increase in subscriptions.

STOCK SYMBOL: CHKP

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Boeing (BA) – Boeing faces a new obstacle in getting the grounded 737 Max back in service, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper quotes people familiar with the matter as saying that European regulators want what they regard as potentially hazardous wiring relocated to avoid short circuits.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Verizon (VZ) – Verizon was downgraded to “neutral” from “outperform” at Credit Suisse, which said the stock lacks positive near-term catalysts. Credit Suisse feels positive influences for the stock are weighted toward the back half of the year, ahead of the mass market launch of 5G service.

STOCK SYMBOL: VZ

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Seagate Technology (STX) – Seagate was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Stifel Nicolaus, pointing to improving fundamentals for the disk drive maker.

STOCK SYMBOL: STX

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Nike (NKE) – The athletic footwear and apparel maker’s stock was added to the “Analyst Focus List” at J.P. Morgan Chase, which sees a recent pullback as a buying opportunity. J.P. Morgan points to Nike’s innovation and product pipeline.

STOCK SYMBOL: NKE

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Uber (UBER) – Uber was added to the “Best Ideas” list at Wedbush, which feels the ride-hailing service has laid the groundwork for growth, especially amid the streamlining of the Uber Eats operation.

STOCK SYMBOL: UBER

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Northrop Grumman (NOC) – The defense contractor’s stock received a double downgrade at Goldman Sachs, which pushed its rating to “sell” from “buy.” Goldman said the company’s organic revenue growth is slower than that of its peers and that profit margins are compressing.

STOCK SYMBOL: NOC

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

FULL DISCLOSURE:

bigbear0083 has no positions in any stocks mentioned. Reddit, moderators, and the author do not advise making investment decisions based on discussion in these posts. Analysis is not subject to validation and users take action at their own risk. bigbear0083 is an admin at the financial forums Stockaholics.net where this content was originally posted.

DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at StockMarket?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, February 3rd, 2020! :)

Good morning traders and investors of the stocks sub! Welcome to the new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, February 3rd, 2020

• U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open, but not close to erasing a significant portion of Friday’s coronavirus-driven sell-off. The Dow had its worst day since August on Friday. The S&P 500 since October. Both were pushed into negative territory for January. The Dow is now at its lowest since Dec. 18, with the S&P 500 finishing at its lowest since Dec. 30. The Nasdaq, however, did manage to finish January with a 2% gain. (CNBC)
• Chinese markets plunged on their return from the extended Lunar New Year holiday, and maintained steep declines by the close. The Shanghai composite fell 7.72% while the Shenzhen component dropped 8.45%. The moves in Chinese stocks were playing catch up as the coronavirus outbreak continues to widen. (CNBC)
• On today’s U.S. economic calendar, both the ISM manufacturing Index and December construction spending are released at 10 a.m. ET. Food distributor Sysco (SYY) is one of the few companies set to release quarterly earnings this morning, while Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) grabs the spotlight in today’s after-the-bell reports. The pace of earnings reports picks up substantially over the next few days, with 86 S&P 500 companies scheduled to issue numbers. (CNBC)
• Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg all have a good chance to leave today’s first-in-the-nation Iowa presidential caucuses with the most delegates. Recent polls show a tight race, and the fluid nature of the caucuses suggest any of the leading candidates could enjoy a surprisingly strong showing in the first nominating contest. (CNBC)
• Iowa caucus: What it is, how it works and why it’s important (CNBC)
• Big Tech faces high-stakes test with Iowa caucuses (CNBC)
• ‘I will pay more’: Bloomberg unveils $5 trillion tax plan targeting wealthy and corporations (CNBC)
• John Kerry overheard discussing possible 2020 bid (NBC News)
• Senate leaders have reached a deal to postpone the final vote in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, whether to convict or acquit him, until Wednesday The arrangement delays the vote until after tonight’s Iowa caucus, and the president’s State of the Union Address, scheduled for tomorrow. (CNBC)
• Poll: US is split on Trump’s removal from office; top Dems lead him in 2020 race (CNBC)
• Key dates on the US presidential election calendar (Reuters)
• Italy’s health ministry has confirmed health ministers from the Group of Seven will discuss the coronavirus outbreak in a teleconference call at 8 a.m. ET today.The U.S. reported two more coronavirus cases Sunday, for a total of 11. China’s reported a total of 361 deaths and 17,205 confirmed cases. (CNBC)
• Apple temporarily shuts all stores and offices in mainland China (CNBC)
• Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced today the city would suspend 10 out of a possible 13 border crossings with mainland China in an effort to curb the coronavirus. Thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong went on strike, in hopes of convincing the city’s government to a complete shutdown of its borders with the mainland. (CNBC)
• Bernard Ebbers, a former telecom executive convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history, died yesterday, just over a month after his early release from prison. The Canadian-born Ebbers was convicted in New York in 2005 on securities fraud and other charges and received a 25-year sentence. (AP)
• WeWork reportedly intends to name Sandeep Mathrani, a veteran in the real estate industry, as its new CEO. Mathrani was previously CEO at Brookfield Properties’ retail group, and is on the executive board and board of trustees for the International Council of Shopping Centers and the board of directors of Host Hotels & Resorts. (CNBC)
• It took 50 years, but the wait is now over for the Kansas City Chiefs after coming back from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Chiefs, which last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1970, won their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in three Super Bowl appearances. (CNBC)
• Watch all the Super Bowl commercials right here (CNBC)
• Tom Brady’s cryptic tweet was just an ad for Hulu (CNBC)

STOCK FUTURES CURRENTLY:

(CLICK HERE FOR STOCK FUTURES CHARTS!)

LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP!)

TODAY'S MARKET MAP:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S MARKET MAP!)

LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S!)

THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($DIS $GOOGL $SNAP $TWTR $ABBV $F $QCOM $UBER $SYY $SPOT $ON $PINS $TWLO $BMY $CMG $IRBT $CHKP $MRK $CNC $SNE $SIRI $GM $GILD $PTON $BP $ABG $LITE $WYNN $ATVI $CTLT $NSSC $ACM $GOOS $SAIA $DSPG $RACE $RCL $COP $AMG $RL $PLUS $NXPI $MCK $CI)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($SYY $ON $CHKP $ABG $CTLT $SAIA $ACM $DSPG $NSSC $AMG $PINE $LUB)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS AFTERNOON'S POST-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

([CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!]())

T.B.A.

EARNINGS RELEASES BEFORE THE OPEN TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

EARNINGS RELEASES AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

NONE.

FRIDAY'S ANALYST UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #2!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #3!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #4!)

FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS!)

TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• AIMT
• LK
• GILD
• CLVS
• CHKP
• ON
• YANG
• XOM
• ROKU
• CNP

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

(source: cnbc.com)

Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) – These will be among casino stocks on watch, on news that gambling revenue in Macao fell a worse-than-expected 11.3% amid the spread of the coronavirus.

STOCK SYMBOL: LVS

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), United Airlines (UAL) – These and other airline stocks will also be in the spotlight, as new restrictions on travel to and from China are implemented.

STOCK SYMBOL: DAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: AAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

STOCK SYMBOL: UAL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Apple (AAPL) – Apple shut down all its stores and corporate offices in mainland China due to the coronavirus. The closure is scheduled to last until Feb. 9.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT) – The drugmaker received Food and Drug Administration approval for the first-ever treatment for peanut allergies.

STOCK SYMBOL: AIMT

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Check Point Software (CHKP) – Check Point reported quarterly profit of $2.02 per share, 3 cents a share above estimates. The cybersecurity company’s revenue also beat Street forecasts, boosted by an increase in subscriptions.

STOCK SYMBOL: CHKP

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Boeing (BA) – Boeing faces a new obstacle in getting the grounded 737 Max back in service, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper quotes people familiar with the matter as saying that European regulators want what they regard as potentially hazardous wiring relocated to avoid short circuits.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Verizon (VZ) – Verizon was downgraded to “neutral” from “outperform” at Credit Suisse, which said the stock lacks positive near-term catalysts. Credit Suisse feels positive influences for the stock are weighted toward the back half of the year, ahead of the mass market launch of 5G service.

STOCK SYMBOL: VZ

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Seagate Technology (STX) – Seagate was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Stifel Nicolaus, pointing to improving fundamentals for the disk drive maker.

STOCK SYMBOL: STX

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Nike (NKE) – The athletic footwear and apparel maker’s stock was added to the “Analyst Focus List” at J.P. Morgan Chase, which sees a recent pullback as a buying opportunity. J.P. Morgan points to Nike’s innovation and product pipeline.

STOCK SYMBOL: NKE

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Uber (UBER) – Uber was added to the “Best Ideas” list at Wedbush, which feels the ride-hailing service has laid the groundwork for growth, especially amid the streamlining of the Uber Eats operation.

STOCK SYMBOL: UBER

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Northrop Grumman (NOC) – The defense contractor’s stock received a double downgrade at Goldman Sachs, which pushed its rating to “sell” from “buy.” Goldman said the company’s organic revenue growth is slower than that of its peers and that profit margins are compressing.

STOCK SYMBOL: NOC

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DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at stocks?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, February 3rd, 2020! :)

I’ve seen A LOT of people online, across multiple platforms, complaining that the casinos are open on holidays like Good Friday/Easter Sunday but Small Businesses are forced to close & being threatened with fines up to 10K if they open (see: Food Fare)
Many people are even making statement such as “soon, the casinos won’t even close on Christmas Day anymore!” Which I’d go to say that yeah, one day they probably will be open on Christmas too.
If you think that it’s wrong that the government can keep the casinos open for their own profit while while forcing local businesses to close, please call or email your MLA & complain. Don’t just post about it online as that isn’t going to effectively reach the ears that need to hear it..
Here’s a link to the MB MLA contact info list
I realize not everyone celebrates these holidays & would be okay with working those days, & that a lot of people just like having that extra day off. Our society is becoming more & more multicultural & not everyone gets their religious holidays off automatically with pay, there’s a lot of arguments being made about that.
All I’m saying is that, if you are upset enough about the whole local retail businesses vs the casinos (& pot shops?) being open to rant about it on social media, then you have enough time on your hands to send a quick email with your rant.
Edit: typo

I've volunteered to build a PC for our community association office ( which only has one computer used by one administration lady). It doesn't need to be a super fast gaming PC, but they want it fast enough that it doesn't feel like it's crawling in 6 years (they don't have a lot of money and won't be able to replace this one for quite a while). The system they have now is absolutely ancient and will be heading for the recycle centre when I get the new system, so the user (who is an elderly lady) will probably be super impressed with whatever I give her, but I want to build something that will outlast her. :-) The problem is that I haven't built my own PC in about 6 years and really haven't kept up with the changes that have been happening with CPU/MB/etc, so when I was trying to piece together a system, I kind of felt like I've been out of the loop too long, so I thought I would pass my selections by you guys first for some feedback. Here is the list I've put together so far: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JPkzyk I've essentially just picked the cheapest parts from each category that has the best reviews.

1. ⁠What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using. Basically, this will just be a system for spreadsheets, burning DVDs for archiving, and browsing websites, so don't need a lot of horsepower, but I need it to be quite versatile when it comes to upgrading it in the future if it feels like it's running slow, rather than replacing it. Maybe some graphics or video editing, but that would probably be the most demanding.
2. What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes? Like I mentioned, this is a non-profit with not a lot of money, but we ran a casino night a while ago which garnered us some funds and would like to replace the office PC as it's getting so slow that nobody can use it (I'm talking "click to open a program and get a coffee" slow). They've told me to try to keep it around $800 (that's Canadian BTW, so that works out to about $600 US) with a monitor. I might be able to find a used, cheaper monitor on Kijiji, but the rest I'd like to buy new.
3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy. There's really no rush, but they'd like to get it within a month or two. They'd like to see an estimate sooner so the bookkeeper knows what to expect.
4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc) I can probably find new peripherals on my own for a good price, but for now we basically just need everything in the tower. Maybe a mouse/keyboard combo if anyone knows of a smoking deal?
5. Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location? Alberta, Canada.
6. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated. Nothing really can be reused. The monitor is so bad that (and VGA) we're going to toss it, and the mouse, keyboard are probably still PS/2.
7. Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU? Nope, don't need it for what she'll be doing. Maybe down the line if the system gets really old and slow.
8. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc) Just an SSD for performance, she doesn't need a lot of storage or RAID or anything excessive. I'm going to try to set up some cloud storage so all of our files are safe and easier to share.
9. Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components? Full tower for options to upgrade.
10. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference? Yeah, we will need Windows 10 64 bit.
11. Extra info or particulars: If I could get a MB with onboard video, that would help us reduce the cost so we don't need to buy a video card, but when I was pricing out the parts, a lot of the motherboards say "Depends on the CPU" so I'm not really sure if the MB I chose has onboard video even though it has an HDMI port.

Good morning traders and investors of the smallstreetbets sub! Welcome to the new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, February 3rd, 2020

• U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open, but not close to erasing a significant portion of Friday’s coronavirus-driven sell-off. The Dow had its worst day since August on Friday. The S&P 500 since October. Both were pushed into negative territory for January. The Dow is now at its lowest since Dec. 18, with the S&P 500 finishing at its lowest since Dec. 30. The Nasdaq, however, did manage to finish January with a 2% gain. (CNBC)
• Chinese markets plunged on their return from the extended Lunar New Year holiday, and maintained steep declines by the close. The Shanghai composite fell 7.72% while the Shenzhen component dropped 8.45%. The moves in Chinese stocks were playing catch up as the coronavirus outbreak continues to widen. (CNBC)
• On today’s U.S. economic calendar, both the ISM manufacturing Index and December construction spending are released at 10 a.m. ET. Food distributor Sysco (SYY) is one of the few companies set to release quarterly earnings this morning, while Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) grabs the spotlight in today’s after-the-bell reports. The pace of earnings reports picks up substantially over the next few days, with 86 S&P 500 companies scheduled to issue numbers. (CNBC)
• Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg all have a good chance to leave today’s first-in-the-nation Iowa presidential caucuses with the most delegates. Recent polls show a tight race, and the fluid nature of the caucuses suggest any of the leading candidates could enjoy a surprisingly strong showing in the first nominating contest. (CNBC)
• Iowa caucus: What it is, how it works and why it’s important (CNBC)
• Big Tech faces high-stakes test with Iowa caucuses (CNBC)
• ‘I will pay more’: Bloomberg unveils $5 trillion tax plan targeting wealthy and corporations (CNBC)
• John Kerry overheard discussing possible 2020 bid (NBC News)
• Senate leaders have reached a deal to postpone the final vote in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, whether to convict or acquit him, until Wednesday The arrangement delays the vote until after tonight’s Iowa caucus, and the president’s State of the Union Address, scheduled for tomorrow. (CNBC)
• Poll: US is split on Trump’s removal from office; top Dems lead him in 2020 race (CNBC)
• Key dates on the US presidential election calendar (Reuters)
• Italy’s health ministry has confirmed health ministers from the Group of Seven will discuss the coronavirus outbreak in a teleconference call at 8 a.m. ET today.The U.S. reported two more coronavirus cases Sunday, for a total of 11. China’s reported a total of 361 deaths and 17,205 confirmed cases. (CNBC)
• Apple temporarily shuts all stores and offices in mainland China (CNBC)
• Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced today the city would suspend 10 out of a possible 13 border crossings with mainland China in an effort to curb the coronavirus. Thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong went on strike, in hopes of convincing the city’s government to a complete shutdown of its borders with the mainland. (CNBC)
• Bernard Ebbers, a former telecom executive convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history, died yesterday, just over a month after his early release from prison. The Canadian-born Ebbers was convicted in New York in 2005 on securities fraud and other charges and received a 25-year sentence. (AP)
• WeWork reportedly intends to name Sandeep Mathrani, a veteran in the real estate industry, as its new CEO. Mathrani was previously CEO at Brookfield Properties’ retail group, and is on the executive board and board of trustees for the International Council of Shopping Centers and the board of directors of Host Hotels & Resorts. (CNBC)
• It took 50 years, but the wait is now over for the Kansas City Chiefs after coming back from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Chiefs, which last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1970, won their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in three Super Bowl appearances. (CNBC)
• Watch all the Super Bowl commercials right here (CNBC)
• Tom Brady’s cryptic tweet was just an ad for Hulu (CNBC)

STOCK FUTURES CURRENTLY:

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LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP:

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TODAY'S MARKET MAP:

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LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS:

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TODAY'S S&P SECTORS:

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TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

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THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

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THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S:

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THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($DIS $GOOGL $SNAP $TWTR $ABBV $F $QCOM $UBER $SYY $SPOT $ON $PINS $TWLO $BMY $CMG $IRBT $CHKP $MRK $CNC $SNE $SIRI $GM $GILD $PTON $BP $ABG $LITE $WYNN $ATVI $CTLT $NSSC $ACM $GOOS $SAIA $DSPG $RACE $RCL $COP $AMG $RL $PLUS $NXPI $MCK $CI)

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THIS MORNING'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

($SYY $ON $CHKP $ABG $CTLT $SAIA $ACM $DSPG $NSSC $AMG $PINE $LUB)

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THIS AFTERNOON'S POST-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

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T.B.A.

EARNINGS RELEASES BEFORE THE OPEN TODAY:

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EARNINGS RELEASES AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

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NONE.

FRIDAY'S ANALYST UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES:

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FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS:

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TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR:

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THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• AIMT
• LK
• GILD
• CLVS
• CHKP
• ON
• YANG
• XOM
• ROKU
• CNP

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

(source: cnbc.com)

Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) – These will be among casino stocks on watch, on news that gambling revenue in Macao fell a worse-than-expected 11.3% amid the spread of the coronavirus.

STOCK SYMBOL: LVS

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STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

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Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), United Airlines (UAL) – These and other airline stocks will also be in the spotlight, as new restrictions on travel to and from China are implemented.

STOCK SYMBOL: DAL

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STOCK SYMBOL: AAL

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STOCK SYMBOL: UAL

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Apple (AAPL) – Apple shut down all its stores and corporate offices in mainland China due to the coronavirus. The closure is scheduled to last until Feb. 9.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

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Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT) – The drugmaker received Food and Drug Administration approval for the first-ever treatment for peanut allergies.

STOCK SYMBOL: AIMT

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Check Point Software (CHKP) – Check Point reported quarterly profit of $2.02 per share, 3 cents a share above estimates. The cybersecurity company’s revenue also beat Street forecasts, boosted by an increase in subscriptions.

STOCK SYMBOL: CHKP

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Boeing (BA) – Boeing faces a new obstacle in getting the grounded 737 Max back in service, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper quotes people familiar with the matter as saying that European regulators want what they regard as potentially hazardous wiring relocated to avoid short circuits.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

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Verizon (VZ) – Verizon was downgraded to “neutral” from “outperform” at Credit Suisse, which said the stock lacks positive near-term catalysts. Credit Suisse feels positive influences for the stock are weighted toward the back half of the year, ahead of the mass market launch of 5G service.

STOCK SYMBOL: VZ

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Seagate Technology (STX) – Seagate was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Stifel Nicolaus, pointing to improving fundamentals for the disk drive maker.

STOCK SYMBOL: STX

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Nike (NKE) – The athletic footwear and apparel maker’s stock was added to the “Analyst Focus List” at J.P. Morgan Chase, which sees a recent pullback as a buying opportunity. J.P. Morgan points to Nike’s innovation and product pipeline.

STOCK SYMBOL: NKE

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Uber (UBER) – Uber was added to the “Best Ideas” list at Wedbush, which feels the ride-hailing service has laid the groundwork for growth, especially amid the streamlining of the Uber Eats operation.

STOCK SYMBOL: UBER

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Northrop Grumman (NOC) – The defense contractor’s stock received a double downgrade at Goldman Sachs, which pushed its rating to “sell” from “buy.” Goldman said the company’s organic revenue growth is slower than that of its peers and that profit margins are compressing.

STOCK SYMBOL: NOC

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DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at smallstreetbets?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, February 3rd, 2020! :)

Here was an interesting brief exchange between Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell u/nullc and u/BitAlien about AXA:
https://np.reddit.com/Bitcoin/comments/62d2yq/why_bitcoin_is_under_attack/dfm6jt?context=3
The "non-nullc" side of the conversation has already been censored by r\bitcoin - but I had previously archived it here :)
https://archive.fo/yWnWh#selection-2613.0-2615.1
u/BitAlien says to u/nullc :

Blockstream is funded by big banks, for example, AXA.
https://blockstream.com/2016/02/02/blockstream-new-investors-55-million-series-a.html

u/nullc says to u/BitAlien :

is funded by big banks, for example, AXA

AXA is a French multinational insurance firm.
But I guess we shouldn't expect much from someone who thinks miners unilatterally control bitcoin.

Typical semantics games and hair-splitting and bullshitting from Greg.
But I guess we shouldn't expect too much honesty or even understanding from someone like Greg who thinks that miners don't control Bitcoin.
AXA-owned Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell u/nullc doesn't understand how Bitcoin mining works

Mining is how you vote for rule changes. Greg's comments on BU revealed he has no idea how Bitcoin works. He thought "honest" meant "plays by Core rules." [But] there is no "honesty" involved. There is only the assumption that the majority of miners are INTELLIGENTLY PROFIT-SEEKING. - ForkiusMaximus

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5zxl2l/mining_is_how_you_vote_for_rule_changes_gregs/
AXA-owned Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell u/nullc is economically illiterate

Adam Back & Greg Maxwell are experts in mathematics and engineering, but not in markets and economics. They should not be in charge of "central planning" for things like "max blocksize". They're desperately attempting to prevent the market from deciding on this. But it will, despite their efforts.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/46052e/adam_back_greg_maxwell_are_experts_in_mathematics/)
AXA-owned Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell u/nullc doesn't understand how fiat works

Gregory Maxwell nullc has evidently never heard of terms like "the 1%", "TPTB", "oligarchy", or "plutocracy", revealing a childlike naïveté when he says: "‘Majority sets the rules regardless of what some minority thinks’ is the governing principle behind the fiats of major democracies."

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/44qr31/gregory_maxwell_unullc_has_evidently_never_heard/
AXA-owned Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell u/nullc is toxic to Bitcoin

People are starting to realize how toxic Gregory Maxwell is to Bitcoin, saying there are plenty of other coders who could do crypto and networking, and "he drives away more talent than he can attract." Plus, he has a 10-year record of damaging open-source projects, going back to Wikipedia in 2006.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/4klqtg/people_are_starting_to_realize_how_toxic_gregory/
So here we have Greg this week, desperately engaging in his usual little "semantics" games - claiming that AXA isn't technically a bank - when the real point is that:
AXA is clearly one of the most powerful fiat finance firms in the world.
Maybe when he's talking about the hairball of C++ spaghetti code that him and his fellow devs at Core/Blockstream are slowing turning their version of Bitcoin's codebase into... in that arcane (and increasingly irrelevant :) area maybe he still can dazzle some people with his usual meaningless technically correct but essentially erroneous bullshit.
But when it comes to finance and economics, Greg is in way over his head - and in those areas, he can't bullshit anyone. In fact, pretty much everything Greg ever says about finance or economics or banks is simply wrong.
He thinks he's proved some point by claiming that AXA isn't technically a bank.
But AXA is far worse than a mere "bank" or a mere "French multinational insurance company".
AXA is one of the top-five "companies that control the world" - and now (some people think) AXA is in charge of paying for Bitcoin "development".
A recent infographic published in the German Magazine "Die Zeit" showed that AXA is indeed the second-most-connected finance company in the world - right at the rotten "core" of the "fantasy fiat" financial system that runs our world today.

Who owns the world? (1) Barclays, (2) AXA, (3) State Street Bank. (Infographic in German - but you can understand it without knowing much German: "Wem gehört die Welt?" = "Who owns the world?") AXA is the #2 company with the most economic poweconnections in the world. And AXA owns Blockstream.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5btu02/who_owns_the_world_1_barclays_2_axa_3_state/
The link to the PDF at Die Zeit in the above OP is gone now - but there's other copies online:
https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/sks/content/uploads/2014/03/Wem-geh%C3%B6rt-die-Welt.pdfother
http://www.zeit.de/2012/23/IG-Capitalist-Network
https://archive.fo/o/EzRea/https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/sks/content/uploads/2014/03/Wem-geh%C3%B6rt-die-Welt.pdf
Plus there's lots of other research and articles at sites like the financial magazine Forbes, or the scientific publishing site plos.org, with articles which say the same thing - all the tables and graphs show that:
AXA is consistently among the top five "companies that control everything"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2011/10/22/the-147-companies-that-control-everything/#56b72685105b
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025995
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/37499/64037_1.pdf;sequence=1
https://www.outsiderclub.com/report/who-really-controls-the-world/1032
AXA is right at the rotten "core" of the world financial system. Their last CEO was even the head of the friggin' Bilderberg Group.

Blockstream is now controlled by the Bilderberg Group - seriously! AXA Strategic Ventures, co-lead investor for Blockstream's $55 million financing round, is the investment arm of French insurance giant AXA Group - whose CEO Henri de Castries has been chairman of the Bilderberg Group since 2012.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/47zfzt/blockstream_is_now_controlled_by_the_bilderberg/
So, let's get a few things straight here.
"AXA" might not be a household name to many people.
And Greg was "technically right" when he denied that AXA is a "bank" (which is basically the only kind of "right" that Greg ever is these days: "technically" :-)
But AXA is one of the most powerful finance companies in the world.
AXA was started as a French insurance company.
And now it's a French multinational insurance company.
But if you study up a bit on AXA, you'll see that they're not just any old "insurance" company.
AXA has their fingers in just about everything around the world - including a certain team of toxic Bitcoin devs who are radically trying to change Bitcoin:

• Core/Blockstream devs refuse to ever hard fork - instead trying to take away our right to vote, with their sneaky soft forks. (I'm starting to think that a more descriptive terminology instead of "hard fork / soft fork" might be "overt fork / covert fork".)
  
• Now Core/Blockstream are obsessed with shoving the unwanted, basically useless, very dangerous SegWit spaghetti-code soft fork down everyone's throat - the most irresponsible and radical change proposed in Bitcoin's history, which would needlessly introduce a totally novel class of threat vector with its "anyone-can-spend" hack (only "necessary" if you do SegWit as a soft ie covert fork) - so that Core/Blockstream can permanently cement themselves as the "incumbent" and hijack Bitcoin's development.
  

And ever since AXA started throwing tens of millions of dollars in filthy fantasy fiat at a certain toxic dev named Gregory Maxwell, CTO of Blockstream, suddenly he started saying that we can't have nice things like the gradually increasing blocksizes (and gradually increasing Bitcoin prices - which fortunately tend to increase proportional to the square of the blocksize because of Metcalfe's law :-) which were some of the main reasons most of us invested in Bitcoin in the first place.
My, my, my - how some people have changed!

Greg Maxwell used to have intelligent, nuanced opinions about "max blocksize", until he started getting paid by AXA, whose CEO is head of the Bilderberg Group - the legacy financial elite which Bitcoin aims to disintermediate. Greg always refuses to address this massive conflict of interest. Why?

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/4mlo0z/greg_maxwell_used_to_have_intelligent_nuanced/

Previously, Greg Maxwell u/nullc (CTO of Blockstream), Adam Back u/adam3us (CEO of Blockstream), and u/theymos (owner of r\bitcoin) all said that bigger blocks would be fine. Now they prefer to risk splitting the community & the network, instead of upgrading to bigger blocks. What happened to them?

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5dtfld/previously_greg_maxwell_unullc_cto_of_blockstream/

"Even a year ago I said I though we could probably survive 2MB" - nullc

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/43mond/even_a_year_ago_i_said_i_though_we_could_probably/
Core/Blockstream supporters like to tiptoe around the facts a lot - hoping we won't pay attention to the fact that they're getting paid by a company like AXA, or hoping we'll get confused if Greg says that AXA isn't a bank but rather an insurance firm.
But the facts are the facts, whether AXA is an insurance giant or a bank:

• AXA would be exposed as bankrupt in a world dominated by a "counterparty-free" asset class like Bitcoin.
  
• AXA pays Greg's salary - and Greg is one of the major forces who has been actively attempting to block Bitcoin's on-chain scaling - and there's no way getting around the fact that artificially small blocksizes do lead to artificially low prices.
  

AXA kinda reminds me of AIG
If anyone here was paying attention when the cracks first started showing in the world fiat finance system around 2008, you may recall the name of another mega-insurance company, that was also one of the most connected finance companies in the world: AIG.

Falling Giant: A Case Study Of AIG
What was once the unthinkable occurred on September 16, 2008. On that date, the federal government gave the American International Group - better known as AIG (NYSE:AIG) - a bailout of $85 billion. In exchange, the U.S. government received nearly 80% of the firm's equity. For decades, AIG was the world's biggest insurer, a company known around the world for providing protection for individuals, companies and others. But in September, the company would have gone under if it were not for government assistance.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/american-investment-group-aig-bailout.asp
Why the Fed saved AIG and not Lehman

Bernanke did say he believed an AIG failure would be "catastrophic," and that the heavy use of derivatives made the AIG problem potentially more explosive.
An AIG failure, thanks to the firm's size and its vast web of trading partners, "would have triggered an intensification of the general run on international banking institutions," Bernanke said.

http://fortune.com/2010/09/02/why-the-fed-saved-aig-and-not-lehman/
Just like AIG, AXA is a "systemically important" finance company - one of the biggest insurance companies in the world.
And (like all major banks and insurance firms), AXA is drowning in worthless debt and bets (derivatives).
Most of AXA's balance sheet would go up in a puff of smoke if they actually did "mark-to-market" (ie, if they actually factored in the probability of the counterparties of their debts and bets actually coming through and paying AXA the full amount it says on the pretty little spreadsheets on everyone's computer screens).
In other words: Like most giant banks and insurers, AXA has mainly debt and bets. They rely on counterparties to pay them - maybe, someday, if the whole system doesn't go tits-up by then.
In other words: Like most giant banks and insurers, AXA does not hold the "private keys" to their so-called wealth :-)
So, like most giant multinational banks and insurers who spend all their time playing with debts and bets, AXA has been teetering on the edge of the abyss since 2008 - held together by chewing gum and paper clips and the miracle of Quantitative Easing - and also by all the clever accounting tricks that instantly become possible when money can go from being a gleam in a banker's eye to a pixel on a screen with just a few keystrokes - that wonderful world of "fantasy fiat" where central bankers ninja-mine billions of dollars in worthless paper and pixels into existence every month - and then for some reason every other month they have to hold a special "emergency central bankers meeting" to deal with the latest financial crisis du jour which "nobody could have seen coming".
AIG back in 2008 - much like AXA today - was another "systemically important" worldwide mega-insurance giant - with most of its net worth merely a pure fantasy on a spreadsheet and in a four-color annual report - glossing over the ugly reality that it's all based on toxic debts and derivatives which will never ever be paid off.
Mega-banks Mega-insurers like AXA are addicted to the never-ending "fantasy fiat" being injected into the casino of musical chairs involving bets upon bets upon bets upon bets upon bets - counterparty against counterparty against counterparty against counterparty - going 'round and 'round on the big beautiful carroussel where everyone is waiting on the next guy to pay up - and meanwhile everyone's cooking their books and sweeping their losses "under the rug", offshore or onto the taxpayers or into special-purpose vehicles - while the central banks keep printing up a trillion more here and a trillion more there in worthless debt-backed paper and pixels - while entire nations slowly sink into the toxic financial sludge of ever-increasing upayable debt and lower productivity and higher inflation, dragging down everyone's economies, enslaving everyone to increasing worktime and decreasing paychecks and unaffordable healthcare and education, corrupting our institutions and our leaders, distorting our investment and "capital allocation" decisions, inflating housing and healthcare and education beyond everyone's reach - and sending people off to die in endless wars to prop up the deadly failing Saudi-American oil-for-arms Petrodollar ninja-mined currency cartel.
In 2008, when the multinational insurance company AIG (along with their fellow gambling buddies at the multinational investment banks Bear Stearns and Lehmans) almost went down the drain due to all their toxic gambling debts, they also almost took the rest of the world with them.
And that's when the "core" dev team working for the miners central banks (the Fed, ECB, BoE, BoJ - who all report to the "central bank of central banks" BIS in Basel) - started cranking up their mining rigs printing presses and keyboards and pixels to the max, unilaterally manipulating the "issuance schedule" of their shitcoins and flooding the world with tens of trillions in their worthless phoney fiat to save their sorry asses after all their toxic debts and bad bets.
AXA is at the very rotten "core" of this system - like AIG, a "systemically important" (ie, "too big to fail") mega-gigantic multinational insurance company - a fantasy fiat finance firm quietly sitting at the rotten core of our current corrupt financial system, basically impacting everything and everybody on this planet.
The "masters of the universe" from AXA are the people who go to Davos every year wining and dining on lobster and champagne - part of that elite circle that prints up endless money which they hand out to their friends while they continue to enslave everyone else - and then of course they always turn around and tell us we can't have nice things like roads and schools and healthcare because "austerity". (But somehow we always can have plenty of wars and prisons and climate change and terrorism because for some weird reason our "leaders" seem to love creating disasters.)
The smart people at AXA are probably all having nightmares - and the smart people at all the other companies in that circle of "too-big-to-fail" "fantasy fiat finance firms" are probably also having nightmares - about the following very possible scenario:
If Bitcoin succeeds, debt-and-derivatives-dependent financial "giants" like AXA will probably be exposed as having been bankrupt this entire time.
All their debts and bets will be exposed as not being worth the paper and pixels they were printed on - and at that point, in a cryptocurrency world, the only real money in the world will be "counterparty-free" assets ie cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin - where all you need to hold is your own private keys - and you're not dependent on the next deadbeat debt-ridden fiat slave down the line coughing up to pay you.
Some of those people at AXA and the rest of that mafia are probably quietly buying - sad that they missed out when Bitcoin was only $10 or $100 - but happy they can still get it for $1000 while Blockstream continues to suppress the price - and who knows, what the hell, they might as well throw some of that juicy "banker's bonus" into Bitcoin now just in case it really does go to $1 million a coin someday - which it could easily do with just 32MB blocks, and no modifications to the code (ie, no SegWit, no BU, no nuthin', just a slowly growing blocksize supporting a price growing roughly proportional to the square of the blocksize - like Bitcoin always actually did before the economically illiterate devs at Blockstream imposed their centrally planned blocksize on our previously decentralized system).
Meanwhile, other people at AXA and other major finance firms might be taking a different tack: happy to see all the disinfo and discord being sown among the Bitcoin community like they've been doing since they were founded in late 2014 - buying out all the devs, dumbing down the community to the point where now even the CTO of Blockstream Greg Mawxell gets the whitepaper totally backwards.
Maybe Core/Blockstream's failure-to-scale is a feature not a bug - for companies like AXA.
After all, AXA - like most of the major banks in the Europe and the US - are now basically totally dependent on debt and derivatives to pretend they're not already bankrupt.
Maybe Blockstream's dead-end road-map (written up by none other than Greg Maxwell), which has been slowly strangling Bitcoin for over two years now - and which could ultimately destroy Bitcoin via the poison pill of Core/Blockstream's SegWit trojan horse - maybe all this never-ending history of obstrution and foot-dragging and lying and failure from Blockstream is actually a feature and not a bug, as far as AXA and their banking buddies are concerned.

The insurance company with the biggest exposure to the 1.2 quadrillion dollar (ie, 1200 TRILLION dollar) derivatives casino is AXA. Yeah, that AXA, the company whose CEO is head of the Bilderberg Group, and whose "venture capital" arm bought out Bitcoin development by "investing" in Blockstream.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/4k1r7v/the_insurance_company_with_the_biggest_exposure/

If Bitcoin becomes a major currency, then tens of trillions of dollars on the "legacy ledger of fantasy fiat" will evaporate, destroying AXA, whose CEO is head of the Bilderbergers. This is the real reason why AXA bought Blockstream: to artificially suppress Bitcoin volume and price with 1MB blocks.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/4r2pw5/if_bitcoin_becomes_a_major_currency_then_tens_of/
AXA has even invented some kind of "climate catastrophe" derivative - a bet where if the global warming destroys an entire region of the world, the "winner" gets paid.
Of course, derivatives would be something attractive to an insurance company - since basically most of their business is about making and taking bets.
So who knows - maybe AXA is "betting against" Bitcoin - and their little investment in the loser devs at Core/Blockstream is part of their strategy for "winning" that bet.

This trader's price & volume graph / model predicted that we should be over $10,000 USD/BTC by now. The model broke in late 2014 - when AXA-funded Blockstream was founded, and started spreading propaganda and crippleware, centrally imposing artificially tiny blocksize to suppress the volume & price.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5obe2m/this_traders_price_volume_graph_model_predicted/

"I'm angry about AXA scraping some counterfeit money out of their fraudulent empire to pay autistic lunatics millions of dollars to stall the biggest sociotechnological phenomenon since the internet and then blame me and people like me for being upset about it." ~ u/dresden_k

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5xjkof/im_angry_about_axa_scraping_some_counterfeit/

Bitcoin can go to 10,000 USD with 4 MB blocks, so it will go to 10,000 USD with 4 MB blocks. All the censorship & shilling on r\bitcoin & fantasy fiat from AXA can't stop that. BitcoinCORE might STALL at 1,000 USD and 1 MB blocks, but BITCOIN will SCALE to 10,000 USD and 4 MB blocks - and beyond

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5jgkxv/bitcoin_can_go_to_10000_usd_with_4_mb_blocks_so/

AXA/Blockstream are suppressing Bitcoin price at 1000 bits = 1 USD. If 1 bit = 1 USD, then Bitcoin's market cap would be 15 trillion USD - close to the 82 trillion USD of "money" in the world. With Bitcoin Unlimited, we can get to 1 bit = 1 USD on-chain with 32MB blocksize ("Million-Dollar Bitcoin")

https://www.reddit.com/btc/comments/5u72va/axablockstream_are_suppressing_bitcoin_price_at/
Anyways, people are noticing that it's a little... odd... the way Greg Maxwell seems to go to such lengths, in order to cover up the fact that bigger blocks have always correlated to higher price.
He seems to get very... uncomfortable... when people start pointing out that:
It sure looks like AXA is paying Greg Maxwell to suppress the Bitcoin price.

Greg Maxwell has now publicly confessed that he is engaging in deliberate market manipulation to artificially suppress Bitcoin adoption and price. He could be doing this so that he and his associates can continue to accumulate while the price is still low (1 BTC = $570, ie 1 USD can buy 1750 "bits")

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/4wgq48/greg_maxwell_has_now_publicly_confessed_that_he/

Why did Blockstream CTO u/nullc Greg Maxwell risk being exposed as a fraud, by lying about basic math? He tried to convince people that Bitcoin does not obey Metcalfe's Law (claiming that Bitcoin price & volume are not correlated, when they obviously are). Why is this lie so precious to him?

https://www.reddit.com/btc/comments/57dsgz/why_did_blockstream_cto_unullc_greg_maxwell_risk/
I don't know how a so-called Bitcoin dev can sleep at night knowing he's getting paid by fucking AXA - a company that would probably go bankrupt if Bitcoin becomes a major world currency.
Greg must have to go through some pretty complicated mental gymastics to justify in his mind what everyone else can see: he is a fucking sellout to one of the biggest fiat finance firms in the world - he's getting paid by (and defending) a company which would probably go bankrupt if Bitcoin ever achieved multi-trillion dollar market cap.
Greg is literally getting paid by the second-most-connected "systemically important" (ie, "too big to fail") finance firm in the world - which will probably go bankrupt if Bitcoin were ever to assume its rightful place as a major currency with total market cap measured in the tens of trillions of dollars, destroying most of the toxic sludge of debt and derivatives keeping a bank financial giant like AXA afloat.
And it may at first sound batshit crazy (until You Do The Math), but Bitcoin actually really could go to one-million-dollars-a-coin in the next 8 years or so - without SegWit or BU or anything else - simply by continuing with Satoshi's original 32MB built-in blocksize limit and continuing to let miners keep blocks as small as possible to satisfy demand while avoiding orphans - a power which they've had this whole friggin' time and which they've been managing very well thank you.

Bitcoin Original: Reinstate Satoshi's original 32MB max blocksize. If actual blocks grow 54% per year (and price grows 1.54² = 2.37x per year - Metcalfe's Law), then in 8 years we'd have 32MB blocks, 100 txns/sec, 1 BTC = 1 million USD - 100% on-chain P2P cash, without SegWit/Lightning or Unlimited

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5uljaf/bitcoin_original_reinstate_satoshis_original_32mb/
Meanwhile Greg continues to work for Blockstream which is getting tens of millions of dollars from a company which would go bankrupt if Bitcoin were to actually scale on-chain to 32MB blocks and 1 million dollars per coin without all of Greg's meddling.
So Greg continues to get paid by AXA, spreading his ignorance about economics and his lies about Bitcoin on these forums.
In the end, who knows what Greg's motivations are, or AXA's motivations are.
But one thing we do know is this:
Satoshi didn't put Greg Maxwell or AXA in charge of deciding the blocksize.
The tricky part to understand about "one CPU, one vote" is that it does not mean there is some "pre-existing set of rules" which the miners somehow "enforce" (despite all the times when you hear some Core idiot using words like "consensus layer" or "enforcing the rules").
The tricky part about really understanding Bitcoin is this:
Hashpower doesn't just enforce the rules - hashpower makes the rules.
And if you think about it, this makes sense.
It's the only way Bitcoin actually could be decentralized.
It's kinda subtle - and it might be hard for someone to understand if they've been a slave to centralized authorities their whole life - but when we say that Bitcoin is "decentralized" then what it means is:
We all make the rules.
Because if hashpower doesn't make the rules - then you'd be right back where you started from, with some idiot like Greg Maxwell "making the rules" - or some corrupt too-big-to-fail bank debt-and-derivative-backed "fantasy fiat financial firm" like AXA making the rules - by buying out a dev team and telling us that that dev team "makes the rules".
But fortunately, Greg's opinions and ignorance and lies don't matter anymore.
Miners are waking up to the fact that they've always controlled the blocksize - and they always will control the blocksize - and there isn't a single goddamn thing Greg Maxwell or Blockstream or AXA can do to stop them from changing it - whether the miners end up using BU or Classic or BitcoinEC or they patch the code themselves.

The debate is not "SHOULD THE BLOCKSIZE BE 1MB VERSUS 1.7MB?". The debate is: "WHO SHOULD DECIDE THE BLOCKSIZE?" (1) Should an obsolete temporary anti-spam hack freeze blocks at 1MB? (2) Should a centralized dev team soft-fork the blocksize to 1.7MB? (3) OR SHOULD THE MARKET DECIDE THE BLOCKSIZE?

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5pcpec/the_debate_is_not_should_the_blocksize_be_1mb/

Core/Blockstream are now in the Kübler-Ross "Bargaining" phase - talking about "compromise". Sorry, but markets don't do "compromise". Markets do COMPETITION. Markets do winner-takes-all. The whitepaper doesn't talk about "compromise" - it says that 51% of the hashpower determines WHAT IS BITCOIN.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/5y9qtg/coreblockstream_are_now_in_the_k%C3%BCblerross/

Clearing up Some Widespread Confusions about BU
Core deliberately provides software with a blocksize policy pre-baked in.
The ONLY thing BU-style software changes is that baking in. It refuses to bundle controversial blocksize policy in with the rest of the code it is offering. It unties the blocksize settings from the dev teams, so that you don't have to shop for both as a packaged unit.
The idea is that you can now have Core software security without having to submit to Core blocksize policy.
Running Core is like buying a Sony TV that only lets you watch Fox, because the other channels are locked away and you have to know how to solder a circuit board to see them. To change the channel, you as a layman would have to switch to a different TV made by some other manufacturer, who you may not think makes as reliable of TVs.
This is because Sony believes people should only ever watch Fox "because there are dangerous channels out there" or "because since everyone needs to watch the same channel, it is our job to decide what that channel is."
So the community is stuck with either watching Fox on their nice, reliable Sony TVs, or switching to all watching ABC on some more questionable TVs made by some new maker (like, in 2015 the XT team was the new maker and BIP101 was ABC).
BU (and now Classic and BitcoinEC) shatters that whole bizarre paradigm. BU is a TV that lets you tune to any channel you want, at your own risk.
The community is free to converge on any channel it wants to, and since everyone in this analogy wants to watch the same channel they will coordinate to find one.

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/602vsy/clearing_up_some_widespread_confusions_about_bu/

Adjustable blocksize cap (ABC) is dangerous? The blocksize cap has always been user-adjustable. Core just has a really shitty inferface for it.
What does it tell you that Core and its supporters are up in arms about a change that merely makes something more convenient for users and couldn't be prevented from happening anyway? Attacking the adjustable blocksize feature in BU and Classic as "dangerous" is a kind of trap, as it is an implicit admission that Bitcoin was being protected only by a small barrier of inconvenience, and a completely temporary one at that. If this was such a "danger" or such a vector for an "attack," how come we never heard about it before?
Even if we accept the improbable premise that inconvenience is the great bastion holding Bitcoin together and the paternalistic premise that stakeholders need to be fed consensus using a spoon of inconvenience, we still must ask, who shall do the spoonfeeding?
Core accepts these two amazing premises and further declares that Core alone shall be allowed to do the spoonfeeding. Or rather, if you really want to you can be spoonfed by other implementation clients like libbitcoin and btcd as long as they are all feeding you the same stances on controversial consensus settings as Core does.
It is high time the community see central planning and abuse of power for what it is, and reject both:

• Throw off central planning by removing petty "inconvenience walls" (such as baked-in, dev-recommended blocksize caps) that interfere with stakeholders coordinating choices amongst themselves on controversial matters ...
  
• Make such abuse of power impossible by encouraging many competing implementations to grow and blossom
  

https://np.reddit.com/btc/comments/617gf9/adjustable_blocksize_cap_abc_is_dangerous_the/
So it's time for Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell u/nullc to get over his delusions of grandeur - and to admit he's just another dev, with just another opinion.
He also needs to look in the mirror and search his soul and confront the sad reality that he's basically turned into a sellout working for a shitty startup getting paid by the 5th (or 4th or 2nd) "most connected", "systemically important", "too-big-to-fail", debt-and-derivative-dependent multinational bank mega-insurance giant in the world AXA - a major fiat firm firm which is terrified of going bankrupt just like that other mega-insurnace firm AIG already almost did before the Fed rescued them in 2008 - a fiat finance firm which is probably very conflicted about Bitcoin, at the very least.
Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell is getting paid by the most systemically important bank mega-insurance giant in the world, sitting at the rotten "core" of the our civilization's corrupt, dying fiat cartel.
Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell is getting paid by a mega-bank mega-insurance company that will probably go bankrupt if and when Bitcoin ever gets a multi-trillion dollar market cap, which it can easily do with just 32MB blocks and no code changes at all from clueless meddling devs like him.

MBS doesn’t have any live poker games. RWS only has a few tables starting at $5/$10 blinds and a ridiculous rake up to $50/hand.
The only other options are in Macau or Crown Melbourne which also have really high blinds and/or a ridiculous rake.
With casino competition growing immensely in the region, why not develop asia’s premier poker room? Something like Aria/Bellagio in Vegas or Foxwoods in Connecticut?
The usual argument is that poker tables take up space and manpower away from more profitable games. But investing in a poker room will create a clear differentiated product from other asian casinos. Plus, you’ll get a huge influx of poker players and their friends who will inevitably play other casino games.
Just a thought since there’s a big poker culture in asia but no “go-to” poker room.

Boxing is a growing sport in China. But it has a long ways to go. However promoting a huge fight in Macau is definitely the way to go.
I'm reading a lot of comments on how bad Macau is, and how it's not as good as Vegas. I also read some comments on how they should host events at MBS in Singapore instead. I believe someone even said "the big money spenders go to Singapore". Having been to both places I must say Macau blows MBS out of the water. As of Dec 2012 Marina Bay Sands is the least profitable LV Sands Casino operating
I must disagree and say all these statements are in accurate and based off of some older stereotypes. A simple google search will reveal that Macau in 2008 or so started generating as much revenue as Vegas. And fast forward to 2012 Macau now generates 5 times the revenue as Las Vegas. All the wealthiest people in China go to Macau.
If Las Vegas is Sin City. Macau is the Devil's playground for the rich and elite. You can do things there that you would never get away with in Singapore (wanna orgy in a hot tub with 100 hookers from all over the world? Go to Macau). You see many of the wealthy (who are connected to the government which also happen to be the biggest spenders) choose to go Macau because they simply can't be caught splurging their money overseas.
TL;DR
Edit: If you're not into gambling then Macau is kinda lame. I'd rather go to Vegas and enjoy the nightlife/shows. Macau is purely made for gambling/prostitutes and honestly not much else. Hong Kong is only a boat ride away though.
I'm not shocked most people don't know this. All this pretty much happened in the past decade.