Economy

The mood on the stock market
The Big Short profile on a strong stock market: Risk of a sharp decline

Michael Burry warns that the ongoing stock market rally could end in a sharp decline – on par with the 1987 stock market crash. At the same time, the investor continues to bet on falling prices in several large American companies, despite the fact that the US stock markets have recently reached new records.

– I stand by the fact that we could be close to a bigger peak and that a decline like the one in 1987 could occur, he writes in a blog post according to CNBC.

Burry is best known for having predicted the housing bubble ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, which is depicted in the film “The Big Short”.

Today's stock market
Wall Street continues to rise – Space X is raging on high expenses

The US stock markets continue to tick slightly upwards in Wednesday's opening, followed by two days of new index records.

Elon Musk's space technology company Space X plunges more than 10 percent after its first report as a listed company. Investors are spooked by the company's escalating expenses, writes CNBC. While the company almost doubled its revenue from the same period last year, expenses have increased by more than 600 percent.

The publicly traded New York Times plunges 13 percent after the media company received fewer new subscribers than expected.

Obesity drug giant Eli Lilly's shares rise about 8 percent after reporting higher revenue than expected and raising its forecast for the year.

Trump's business
Big companies silent on Trump's "insider service"

This weekend, Donald Trump began selling advance access to his highly market-influencing posts on Truth Social for $100,000 a month. The heavily criticized arrangement is being met with "a wall of silence" from Wall Street, writes the BBC.

Several media outlets have tried in vain to get an answer about whether the biggest players in the business world have bought the service.

NPR's tech journalist Bobby Allen tells PBSNews that one of his sources describes it as "no one wants to stick their chin out and risk getting in President Trump's firing line" by criticizing the scheme. At the same time, there is a risk that the US financial regulator, the SEC, will launch an investigation into the companies that take advantage of the scheme in the event of a future change of power.

Critics see the scheme as corruption and insider trading. Just getting access to the posts a few milliseconds before the public gives data-driven investors the opportunity to make large sums of money.

The BBC has unsuccessfully sought a comment from the SEC.

- If I were the head of the SEC, I would have threatened to resign if they didn't stop this plan, says George W Bush's former general counsel Richard Painter. 

Electricity prices
Expert warning: Risk of record-high electricity prices this winter

Swedish electricity prices could rise to near record levels this winter, warns Christian Holtz at the consultancy Polite Energy. The reason is that Europe's gas stocks are at historically low levels after import disruptions due to the Middle East crisis.

- This will primarily affect household electricity prices this winter, when the market expects prices of over one kroner per kilowatt-hour, he tells TT.

Europe is now trying to replenish its gas stocks, but according to Holtz, it is uncertain whether the goal will be reached if the conflict is prolonged.