The British pound sterling fell sharply after British PM Boris Johnson announced he was asking for Parliament to be suspended from mid-September until mid-October ー a highly controversial move known as "progrogue" which was given formal approval by Queen Elizabeth II Wednesday.
Critics say the move is intended to keep MPs from avoiding a no-deal Brexit and plunged the British government into crisis once again, two months before a looming deadline. The surprise move drew immediate outrage from opposition leaders, and the leader of the Liberal Democrat party had even written to the queen in hopes of her witholding consent for the suspension.
At midday in London, the GBP was down 1 percent against the U.S dollar, a sign that investors once again believe the UK is increasingly likely to "crash out" of the European Union on October 31.
Johnson's plan would extend a previously planned suspension for political party conferences and would further shorten the time Parliament has to debate Brexit after it returns from its summer recess next week.
Other members of Parliament took to Twitter to express shock at the maneuver to keep Parliament from assembling.
An online petition to demand Parliament not be prorogued had received more than 300,000 signatures in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, word of organized protests spread across social media.
The news from London helped push Treasury yields lower in the U.S., which had already been under pressure over China trade tensions. The yield on the 30-year Treasury dripped below 2 percent ー a signal that the combination of geopolitical worries from London to Beijing is increasing the odds of a global recession.
A year after the r/WallStreetBets community on Reddit drove GameStop and other meme stocks to unprecedented heights, the subreddit seems to be losing its luster among retail investors. Caitlin McCabe, markets and retail trading reporter from The Wall Street Journal, joined Cheddar to talk about the waning popularity of the group “Users are going on to find the next GameStop, and instead, they're seeing many of the new users who have joined the subreddit still talking about GameStop and AMC," McCabe noted. "And, they've become frustrated as they're ready to move on from those original meme stocks."
Tech titan Microsoft reported its second fiscal quarter of 2022 earnings on Tuesday, its first earnings report since announcing its plans to acquire gaming company Activision Blizzard in a multibillion dollar deal. Steve Larsen, co-founder of PlannerDAO, explains the role that cloud services played for Microsoft in the quarter and what the future may hold for Microsoft in the midst of the new acquisition.
Microsoft is expected to report financial results for its second fiscal quarter of 2022. It comes after the company beat on its top and bottom line in its previous four quarters. John Freeman of CFRA Research explains what investors will be keeping an eye out for as Microsoft continues to expand its domain.
Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at CFRA, tells us what to expect as the month of January comes to a close, and whether or not recent market volatility is at all indicative of how the year will likely forecast.
Plant-based meat giant Beyond Meat's reign over the fast food world continues, as McDonald's announced that it is expanding its test of Beyond's McPlant burger, to nearly 600 restaurants, an increase from the eight that it's been testing in since November. This comes less than two weeks after Beyond Fried Chicken made its nationwide debut at KFC restaurants, the first time that plant based chicken has been widely distributed in a fast food capacity. Arun Sundaram, Senior Equity Analyst at CFRA Research explains why these latest collaborations may be proof that Beyond Meat products could slowly be becoming an unlikely staple in the fast food and chain restaurant world as consumers opt for more healthy food options.
It's a big weekend for sports betting, with the NFL conference championships and Australian Open finals expected to bring the industry even more traffic. And if record viewership of the divisional playoff game between the Chiefs and Bills was any indication, sports betting will only continue to grow as football season comes to an end. Joe Raineri, sports betting analyst at SportsGrid, joined Cheddar to discuss how these sporting events could impact the industry, which is expected to get even bigger in 2022.
