Benzinga Before The Bell: Most Effective Covid-19 Vaccine, Google's Hiring Slowdown, Panasonic's New EV Battery And Other Top Financial Stories Wednesday, July 13

CNBC

Bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC) assets have been frozen by the New York bankruptcy court after a ruling from a federal judge on Tuesday.
Judge Martin Glenn of the Southern District of New York granted an emergency motion to freeze 3AC’s assets, according to a report from CNBC.
Only assigned bankruptcy liquidators have the authority to transfer, encumber or otherwise dispose of any assets of the Debtor located within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, the judge stated in her written decision.

Reuters

Panasonic Energy, a major supplier to Tesla Inc TSLA, is developing a new technology to increase battery energy density by a fifth by 2030, Reuters reported.
If achieved, the technology would increase the driving range of Tesla’s Model Y, for example, by over 100 KM (62 miles) with the same size battery pack.
Manufacturers can use it to produce electric vehicles with lesser weight.

Scandinavian airline SAS AB SASDF and unions representing striking pilots resumed talks over a new collective bargaining agreement on Wednesday as the walkout entered its 10th day, reported Reuters.
Even before the pandemic hit in 2020, the 75-year-old airline failed due to rising costs and increased competition from low-cost carriers.
The pilots’ strike is now costing it $10 million to $13 million a day and has forced it to cancel 1,200 flights at the peak of the summer travel season.

Airbus SE EADSY is in talks with Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL to expand the U.S. carrier’s existing order for A220 small jetliners, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The deal for a top-up order of around a dozen aircraft is expected to be signed next week at the Farnborough Airshow.

Bloomberg

TotalEnergies SE TTE is looking to import diesel and other fuels from the United Arab Emirates to stock up on alternatives to Russian supplies ahead of winter, Bloomberg reported.
“Under the initiative of the French government, we’re discussing an agreement to have access to diesel and fuel from the Emirates this winter, in case we need it,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said at a Senate hearing in Paris. “There won’t be issues” with supplies of diesel and heating fuel in the coming months, he said.

COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc AZN and Pfizer Inc PFE saved an estimated 12 million lives, Bloomberg reported citing a new analysis from Airfinity Ltd.
The AstraZeneca vaccine developed by the University of Oxford saved 6.3 million lives, Airfinity said. The estimate for the Pfizer-BioNTech SE BNTX shot was 5.9 million.
According to the report, the companies swiftly scaled up production and delivered doses before other manufacturers.

Alphabet, Inc. GOOGL GOOG is reportedly joining a slew of companies deciding to slow down hiring or letting go of employees.
Alphabet will slow the pace of hiring for the remainder of the year, CEO Sundar Pichai said in an internal memo to employees, according to Bloomberg.
Pichai attributed the decision to the progress in hiring the company has achieved thus far this year. He noted that the company added 10,000 employees in the second quarter alone. Commitment for third-quarter start dates is strong, partly due to the seasonal college recruiting calendar, according to him.

Electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive Inc RIVN reportedly aims to lay off several hundred workers to undo a recent hiring surge and reduce redundancy of roles.
According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, Rivian’s planned job cuts are focused on nonmanufacturing roles, including teams with duplicate functions, according to people familiar with the matter.

Financial Times

Snapchat Parent Mulls NFT Access For Users

Snap Inc SNAP is planning to allow users to showcase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its application.
The feature would allow NFT artists to present their designs on the social media platform as augmented reality filters.
The beta test feature will be available to a selected creator from the end of August.

Benzinga

Bitcoin Turns Higher, Surges Toward This Major Level

Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s most valued cryptocurrency, has failed to remain in the green in the past few sessions. Although Bitcoin climbed above the $22,000 level last week, it has maintained a downtrend so far this week. Falling Bitcoin prices have brought down the prices of popular altcoins.
After starting the day on a lower note, Bitcoin turned higher, moving towards the 19,800 level. Curve DAO Token (CRV), Serum (SRM) and Convex Finance (CVX) were among the biggest gainers over the last 24 hours, while Loopring (LRC) and TerraClassicUSD (USTC) were the biggest losers over the same period.

Major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN is doing away with slide decks in product and engineering reviews.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong explained that the exchange would be incorporating a number of measures to operate efficiently at scale, in a blog post on Thursday.
These measures include banning slide decks in product reviews, replacing them with a dashboard of metrics, figma products and “most importantly” the product itself.

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk was being criticized by former President Donald Trump privately since April, much before the condemnation turned public.
The feud between Trump and Musk had been brewing since earlier this year. People familiar with the matter told Rolling Stone that the former president called Musk “sloppy” and said the latter was on drugs.
After Musk endorsed a Trump rival — fellow Republican and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president — Trump said of the entrepreneur, “What an idiot!”

Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher in Hong Kong on Wednesday, snapping a two-day losing streak.
Major tech stocks like Alibaba Group Holdings BABA, Baidu Inc BIDU, and JD.com Inc JD gained around 0.46% to nearly 5%. At the same time, Tencent Holdings TCEHY traded on a muted note.
In the electric vehicle segment, Xpeng Inc XPEV, Nio Inc NIO, and Li Auto Inc LI gained as much as 3% during the early trading hours.

Twitter Inc TWTR has a “strong iron fist upper hand” in the legal fight set to play out in a Delaware court after Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said he was terminating a deal to purchase the social media platform, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
The Twitter Analyst: Ives maintained a “Neutral” rating on Twitter with a 12-month price target of $30.
The Twitter Thesis: Ives noted that Twitter sued Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery after the purported termination of the purchase deal by the latter.

Photo by Johaehn from Pixabay