Trump media stock doubles in value
Shares of Donald Trump's new conservative media venture nearly doubled this week, mostly fueled by Reddit-online daytraders, but some well-known hedge funds turned out to be early investors as well.
Trump Media & Technology Group merged with a shell company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: DWAC) as a way to go public. The transaction this past week valued Trump's group at an initial $875 million. By Friday, the company's public valuation had shot up to $1.64 billion.
The stock, which began trading Oct. 19 at just over $10 a share, closed Friday at $108.84, more than ten times its initial price.
Reddit day-traders embraced the former president's new social media venture, many saying they bought the stock as an extension of their political support. Trump Media promised to end "censorship" by mainstream news, and create an on-demand streaming service with "non-woke" entertainment. Trump said his company will compete with Big Tech platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, where he was banned.
Vogtle nuclear startup delayed again in Georgia
Georgia Power Co. has pushed back the planned startup on the first new nuclear power reactors to be added to America's power grid since TVA started power production at the unit 2 reactors at the Watts Bar nuclear plant in 2016.
The utility currently projects the new unit 3 at Plant Vogtle will be in service in the third quarter of 2022 and Unit 4 will be ready for power generation in the second quarter of 2023. Georgia Power said the change to the schedule is primarily due to the need for additional time to address continued construction challenges and to allow for the comprehensive testing necessary to ensure all safety standards are fully met.
"As we've said from the beginning of this project, we are going to build these units the right way, without compromising safety and quality to achieve a schedule deadline," said Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. "We have endured and overcome some extraordinary circumstances building the first new nuclear units in the U.S. in more than 30 years. Despite these challenges, progress at the site has been steady and evident."
Fed says supply woes will keep up inflation
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that the tangled supply chains and shortages that have bedeviled the U.S. economy since this summer have gotten worse and will likely keep inflation elevated well into next year.
But the Fed is not yet prepared to lift its benchmark interest rate, he said.
There is now greater risk of "longer and more persistent bottlenecks and thus to higher inflation," Powell said at a virtual conference hosted by the South African Reserve Bank.
Powell, echoing many economists, has previously said that shortages and higher prices are mostly a result of the pandemic's impact on supply lines, with factories in Asia temporarily closing amid COVID infections and dozens of cargo ships anchored offshore.
He said Friday that he still thinks those supply problems will be resolved over time, but the Fed will be vigilant and take steps to push inflation back down to its 2% goal if necessary.
"No one should doubt that we will use our tools to guide inflation back to 2%," he said.
Stellantis plans second American battery plant
The maker of Jeep SUVs and Ram pickup trucks on Friday announced plans for a second joint venture to build a second battery plant in North America - this time with Samsung SDI.
Stellantis NV and the Korean manufacturer said, after entering into a memorandum of understanding that is subject to regulatory approvals, they are planning for a launch of production starting in 2025. The lithium-ion battery plant will have an initial annual capacity of 23 gigawatt hours with the ability to increase that to 40 gigawatt hours in the future.
The site for production of hybrid and EV batteries for assembly plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico is under review. The automaker declined to address whether it could be in Michigan. The quasi-governmental Michigan Economic Development Corp. earlier this week said it's engaged in ongoing communications with automakers and battery suppliers about their future electrification strategy and opportunities in Michigan but that it would be premature to discuss any potential future plans.
The newly announced plant's maximum capacity would be in line with the lithium-ion battery plant Stellantis announced on Monday it will operate with LG Energy Solution in North America. The plans suggest the transatlantic automaker, which currently offers no full EVs in the United States, is accelerating its transformation toward electrified vehicles from its EV Day plans shared in July, when it said it would invest $35.5 billion in electrification by 2025, with its first North American battery plant opening by 2025 and its second by 2030.