Uber Has Hit A Valuation Of $70 Billion, Plus Martin Shkreli Is Still Unapologetic for 5,000% Drug Price Hike

Green to Go Around

Everything came up green for global markets on Friday. Let’s run through them all:

• U.S. stocks followed up a blowout Thursday with a strong Friday, buoyed by the Nasdaq’s 2.3 percent rally. The tech earnings trifecta of Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft added $80 billion of market value on Friday alone. All three major indices were up at least 2 percent on the week, and the S&P 500 is back in positive territory for 2015.
• European stocks jumped at least a percent across the board on the heels of the European Central Bank’s stimulus-heavy discussions on Thursday. One thing’s for sure: few things are as capable of boosting stocks as the prospect of sweet, sweet economic stimulus.
• Speaking of, Asian stocks joined the fun too, thanks to another major announcement out of China…

China Cuts Rates (Again)

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: in response to slowing economic growth and worries of deflation, China’s central bank is cutting its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time this year. The new rate of 4.35 percent is 0.25 percent lower than before, and comes with a lower reserve requirement for banks (meaning they can lend out more money to borrowers). China’s manufacturing and construction sectors have faltered, and China’s recent GDP measure of 6.9 percent marked another post-financial crisis low, so the government is hoping that such monetary policy might catalyze China’s economy. Also keep in mind that the U.S. Federal Reserve has their big policy meeting this week, so there’s more on the rate front to come.

Labor Negotiations Escalate

Crisis averted…literally in the nick of time. Things were heating up between General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union, which represents GM’s 50,000+ employees—the UAW announced that they planned to terminate their contract if no labor deal was reached by Sunday night. This would have meant a strong possibility of a strike, but don’t worry, the two sides reached a new four-year agreement late last night that reportedly includes raises across the board for GM employees. This is the first new deal since 2007, i.e. before GM went through bankruptcy in 2009. GM’s on much better financial footing these days and is coming off a strong earnings beat, which surely helped UAW in its negotiations.
Uber Hits $70 Billion
Uber has refilled its ever-expanding war chest of cash again, this time pushing its valuation to an obscene $70 billion. So why does a ride-hailing company need so much money anyways? Well, Uber is trying to put a chokehold on the market by subsidizing rides in order to undercut competitors, break into new markets that have high barriers to entry and expand into delivery programs—who knows, you might be able to Uber Indian food to your house in the near future.

Twitter Ads to Moments

Well, that only took a moment. Two weeks ago, Twitter publicly released Moments, its content and news-streaming feature. Starting today, advertisers can now create their own Moments, which will be clearly marked as promotions to differentiate ads from other partnerships with Twitter. But this isn’t the extent of Moments’ advertising; Twitter is exploring more ways to cash in by integrating brands into your stream. Get your thumbs ready to scroll.