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

Bloomberg

Apple's India-Made iPhone Exports Surpass $2.5B In 9 Months — Nearly Twice Previous Fiscal Year's Total

• Apple Inc AAPL exported more than $2.5 billion worth of iPhones from India between April and December as the company diversified production amid supply disruptions in China. 
• The total export of the Cupertino-based tech giant in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2023 was almost twice the previous fiscal year's total.

Goldman Sachs Reportedly Plans To Cut Over 3,000 Jobs In Coming Week

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS is gearing up to eliminate about 3,200 positions this week. 
• The investment bank will reportedly zero in on its core trading and banking units for most job cuts.
• A Semafor report in December said the bank was planning to lay off 4,000 workers as it struggles to meet profitability targets in a challenging economic environment.

Alibaba Wins Conviction Boost As China Eases Covid Lockdowns: Goldman Sachs

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS said Chinese stocks might rally another 15%, while the yuan could hit April 2022 levels on the nation's reopening and critical policy shifts.
• The brokerage analysts, including Kinger Lau, raised its 12-month index target for the MSCI China Index to 80 from 70, citing low valuations and multiple policy pivots in housing, internet regulation, and geopolitics.
• Separate Goldman analysts led by Kamakshya Trivedi saw the yuan rallying to 6.5 per dollar by year-end versus its previous estimate of 6.9 on reopening optimism.

Reuters

Tesla's Delivery Wait Times Go Up After Boosting Discounts On EVs

• Tesla Inc TSLA indicated longer waiting times for potential buyers of some versions of the Model Y in China.
• Tesla's stretched waiting times probably signaled that Friday's price cuts announcement stoked demand in the second-largest electric vehicle maker market.
• The waiting time for orders of the rear-wheel-drive and long-range versions of Model Y was a week longer on Monday than Friday.

Vodafone Likely To Receive $1.8B From Hungarian Business Sale

• Vodafone Group Plc VOD agreed to receive cash consideration of €1.7 billion ($1.82 billion) from the sale of its Hungarian business to local IT company 4iG and the Hungarian state.
• The disposal, first divulged in August, coincided with Vodafone hunting a new CEO after Nick Read's growth and deal strategies to consolidate a fragmented European telecoms market failed to impress the board.
• The sale proceeds will help to repay Vodafone's debt.
• Vodafone interim CEO Margherita Della Valle stated that the Hungarian disposal would increase competition and drive competition in Hungary.

China In Talks To Secure License For Generic Version Of Pfizer's COVID-19 Oral Drug

• China is reportedly in talks with Pfizer Inc PFE to secure a license allowing domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of its COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid.
• Beijing is keen to finalize licensing deal terms before the Lunar New Year.
• Prospective candidates have recently been conducting "bioequivalence tests."

Wall Street Journal

Solar Firm Enpal's Moat Helps It Raise Capital At Juicy Valuations From TPG

• Enpal GmbH neared raising new funds from PE firm TPG Inc TPG led group that valued the closely held German solar-panel company at $2.4 billion.
• The potential deal would reflect how cuts to natural-gas supplies from Russia fueled the adoption of solar power and other clean-energy sources as alternatives to fossil fuels.
• Enpal's stronger financial footing offered a fundraising advantage in the current climate versus high-risk, money-losing startups.

CNBC

More Chinese Firms Likely To Snatch iPhone Market Share From Taiwan Peers, Analyst Says

• More mainland Chinese electronics manufacturing companies will likely win market share from Taiwanese peers like Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd HNHPF, Foxconn, and Pegatron Corp PGTRF, an investment fund manager said.
• Chinese companies got competitive for Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone assemblers, Kirk Yang, Chair, and CEO of Kirkland Capital.

Financial Times

Apple's India Hirings Signal Flagship Store Debut By March

• Apple Inc AAPL started hiring retail store workers in India with room for more as it eyed its flagship location debut in the promising smartphone market by this quarter.
• Apple's career page listed openings for 12 different job functions for "various locations within India," including technical specialist, business expert, senior manager, store leader, and "genius."
• Many of the job descriptions guided directly to flagship retail operations.

Benzinga

Elon Musk Warns Of More Pain As Commercial Real Estate Prices Pull Back To 2009 Levels

• The housing market, the trigger point for the 2008 recession, is acting up again. The development is concerning, given that most economists have begun discounting a moderate to severe recession.
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued a premonitory warning over the weekend regarding more pain for the housing market.
• Tech venture capitalist David Sacks, who co-founded PayPal, took to Twitter to note that office space in San Francisco was offered at the same price as in 2009.

Elon Musk Reacts As Tweet Says Satya Nadella Plotting To Beat Google, 'Create Best Search Engine'

• ChatGPT — an AI-powered chatbot — has become the talk of Twitter town since it opened for testing last week. Now, users are having a field day by pitting Microsoft Corporation's 
• MSFT Bing against Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google. 
• A Twitter user said that Satya Nadella is planning to integrate ChatGPT with Bing to take over the best search engine crown from Google — and Elon Musk's reaction was interesting. 

Stellantis Inks Battery Materials Supply Deal With Element 25; Plans To Make Equity Investment

• Stellantis NV STLA has signed an agreement for Element 25 to supply battery-grade, high-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate for use in electric vehicle (EV) battery packs.
• Element 25 is an ASX-listed company operating a 100%-owned Butcherbird Manganese Project in Western Australia and developing manganese sulfate monohydrate (HPMSM) products for traditional and new energy markets.
• The five-year agreement calls for shipments to commence in 2026, a total volume of 45 kilotons.

Deere Announces Agreement Allowing Farmers Independent Repair Shops Repair High-Tech Tractors

• Deere & Company DE signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation, ensuring that farmers can repair their farm equipment or take it to independent repair shops.
• Under the agreement, equipment owners and independent technicians will not be allowed to "divulge trade secrets" or "override safety features or emissions controls or to adjust Agricultural Equipment power levels."

QIAGEN Acquires Verogen Strengthening Its Position In Human ID / Forensics

• QIAGEN NV QGEN has acquired Verogen, a privately held company founded in 2017 and based in San Diego, for $150 million.
• QIAGEN expects about $20 million of sales from the Verogen portfolio in 2023, building on about $5 million for QIAGEN in 2022 from the distribution agreement. 

AstraZeneca To Acquire CinCor Pharma To Strengthen Cardiorenal Pipeline

• AstraZeneca Plc AZN has agreed to acquire to CinCor Pharma Inc CINC for $26.00 per share in cash plus a contingent value right of $10.00 per share in cash payable upon a specified regulatory submission of a baxdrostat product. 
• The upfront cash portion of the consideration represents a transaction value of approximately $1.3 billion.
• The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.

Ocugen Shares Trade Higher After Encouraging Data From Late-Stage COVID-19 Vaccine Study

• Ocugen Inc OCGN announced results from the Phase 2/3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, COVAXIN.
• COVAXIN has been demonstrated in clinical trials to generate a broader immune response.
• In contrast to other inactivated vaccines, trials have demonstrated that TLR7/8 agonist adjuvant in COVAXIN generates a Th1-biased immune response that induces robust long-term memory B- and T-cell responses.