The market is set to open following the long weekend in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. As investors look ahead to a fresh trading week, hoping for an extension of the rally seen in the back end of the week ended May 27, here's a recap of a few major headlines that hit the wire over the weekend.
1. Gates' Tesla Short Position Now In Multi-Billions: Compensating for the slow news flow over the Memorial Day weekend, Tesla, Inc. TSLA chief executive officer Elon Musk got too chirpy on Twitter. Particularly interesting was his tweet on his estimate of Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates's Tesla short position.
Musk suggested that Gates may now need about $1.5 billion to $2 billion to cover his Tesla shot position, which was originally valued at $500 million.
A Twitter poll ran by "Occupy Democrats" writer David Weissman asking users whether they trust Musk more or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative serving the state of New York, also made news during the weekend.
2. Investors Profit Ahead of Luna Crash: Stablecoin TerraUSD UST/USD and it sister token Terra LUNA/USD collapsed in May, wiping away tens of billions of dollars in investments. A CNBC report suggested some institutional investors made hefty gains capitalizing on the strong run up in these two cryptos ahead of the implosion.
Venture capital firm Pantera Capital earned a more than 100-fold return on its $1.7-billion investment in Luna, while Hack VC and CMCC Global, backed by the Winklevoss twins, reportedly closed their positions in December and March, respectively.
Terra launched its new blockchain, Terra 2.0 as part of its revival plans.
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3. Giga Shanghai Back At 70% Pre-Lockdown Capacity: After commencing a second shift last week, Tesla's weekly output has reached about 70% of its pre-lockdown capacity, Reuters reported. The ramp-up should gain further ground, as local authorities in Shanghai are set to announce a broader lifting of restrictions in the city beginning on Wednesday.
4. Apple Expert Shares iOS 16 Expectations: Apple, Inc.'s AAPL newest operating system iteration, the iOS 16, is due to be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference scheduled for next week and will likely feature always-on lock screen support, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman said in his weekly Power-On newsletter. He is also bracing for updates to notifications, iPad multitasking and the Messages and Health apps.
5. North Korea Warms To Vaccines: After holding off on vaccinating its citizens, North Korea has had a change of stance. The about-face comes in the wake of a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country in recent weeks. Vaccines are now promoted as an "immortal portion of love" from the nation's leader Kim Jong-Un.
What Else: Paramount Global's PARAA "Top Gun: Maverick" ruled the roost in the weekend U.S. box office, raking in $124 million in ticket sales from 4,735 theaters.
Retail gas prices hit a record high during the Memorial Day weekend, portending increased demand and higher prices this summer driving season.
Click here to access Benzinga's weekly preview of key biopharma catalysts for the unfolding week.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Shanghai Gigafactory groundbreaking. Photo courtesy of Tesla.
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