CLIMATE TECH A coalition of five New England states has won $450 million in federal funds to speed up the adoption of electric heat pumps throughout the region. An estimated $100 million from that amount will go to Massachusetts directly, according to Governor Maura Healey’s administration. This award to create what’s to be called the “New England Heat Pump Accelerator,” announced on Monday, was one of the largest of any doled out through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, funded by the federal Inflation Reduction Act.
The five states — all New England states except New Hampshire — want to ensure that heat pumps make up at least 65 percent of residential heating, cooling and water heating sales by 2030 to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the region. The Accelerator money will be split among three initiatives: a “market hub” with financial incentives and training resources for manufacturers, distributors and contractors to stock and sell heat pumps; an “innovation hub” that funds projects that support heat pump adoption in low-income communities; and a “resource hub” that will help the five states share heat pump sales and market data. — JON CHESTO FAST FOOD Advertisement The bulk of McDonald’s Corp.
US restaurants will extend the burger chain’s $5 meal deal in a bid to attract budget-strapped diners. About 93 percent of McDonald’s locations have committed to selling the bundle past the initial four-week window that started June 25, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News. The timetables will vary across the country, with some locations planning to make it available through August.
Early performance indicates the meal deal “is meeting the objective of driving guests back to our restaurants,” McDonald’s said in a message signed by Tariq Hassan, chief marketing officer, and Myra Doria, national field president. “Driving guest counts ultimately propels our business and is the key to sustained growth,” they added. McDonald’s is looking to bolster its “affordability plans through the rest of year,” according to the memo, including the potential to extend the current meal deal for an even longer period.
It is also looking at extended hours of operation to capture demand during off-peak hours. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement AUTO INDUSTRY Porsche AG is abandoning its electric vehicle sales ambitions over lower-than-expected momentum for plug-in models in Europe and China. While EVs could account for more than 80 percent of Porsche’s new-vehicle sales in 2030, it’s no longer the company’s concrete goal, the Volkswagen AG-controlled automaker said Monday.
“The transition to electric vehicles will take longer than we assumed five years ago,” Porsche said in a statement. Sales will depend on demand and how EVs develop across the world, it said. Carmakers including Mercedes-Benz, GM, and even Tesla have adjusted their EV ambitions because demand hasn’t met expectations.
Germany’s manufacturers are particularly exposed to China, where a slowing economy is weighing on buying and local drivers gravitate to cheaper, locally made EVs. Luxury electric models haven’t been selling well in the biggest auto market. — BLOOMBERG NEWS AEROSPACE Boeing Co.
dominated the first day of deal making at the Farnborough International Airshow, sealing an estimated $12.6 billion in aircraft sales at the aviation industry’s biggest event of the year. As expected, widebody jets were at the center of the action at the venue just outside of London, after airlines coming out of COVID-19 disruptions loaded up on narrowbody aircraft last year.
Korean Air Lines Co. led the slate for Boeing on Monday with an order for 20 777-9 and 20 787-10 Dreamliner jets, plus options for 10 more of the largest 787 variant. Boeing, whose outgoing chief executive Dave Calhoun isn’t in attendance, has toned down its presence at Farnborough, a marquee event that alternates with Paris each year.
The company is focused on addressing manufacturing quality issues that have kept it in crisis for months. Yet the US planemaker came away with a clutch of new business that underscored its longtime edge over Airbus SE on the biggest and most expensive aircraft. Altogether, Boeing’s Monday haul totaled 78 planes, including 56 firm orders and 22 options, while its European rival signed a deal for 20 twin-aisle A330s.
— BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement STOCK TRADING Short sellers piling into bets against CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. were rewarded Friday when a botched software update from the firm sparked a global IT outage and sent shares plunging to their worst day since November 2022. The contrarian group reaped paper profits of $461 million on the cybersecurity software company’s 11 percent drop, according to data from S3 Partners LLC.
The selloff was enough to swing CrowdStrike short sellers to gains year to date. Shares of the company fell as much as 13 percent Monday, adding even more to the cohorts’ mark-to-market profits. Total short interest in the systems software sector — or, the dollar amount of bets that the stocks will decline — has increased by nearly $12 billion so far this year, per S3 data.
More than $7 billion of that figure is made up of increased short selling, while the remainder is due to the mark-to-market increase in the value of shares shorted. CrowdStrike has seen the second-largest uptick in short selling in the sector this year, trailing only giant Microsoft Corp. Multiple analysts covering the company downgraded ratings and cut price targets over the weekend, further weighing on shares Monday.
Despite the global IT debacle, Wall Street remains largely bullish on the company, which has 41 buy ratings, eight holds, and two sells. The average analyst price target of around $390 a share represents a more than 40 percent upside from where the stock currently trades. CrowdStrike shares are still up about 7 percent this year even after the selloff.
— BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement FINANCIAL Ukraine reached a deal in principle with some of its private creditors to restructure more than $20 billion of international debt, in a move that will help the country finance its fighting against Russia. The nation’s debt traded at the highest in two years, showing investor optimism that the initial agreement will get a final go-ahead from stakeholders. The bondholders’ committee accepted nominal losses of 37 percent of their holdings across 13 notes, forgoing $8.
67 billion of claims, according to a statement with the terms of the accord. Ukraine anticipates saving $11.4 billion in the next three years by a combination of lower coupons and maturity extensions.
The agreement in principle was reached with the creditor committee that included Amundi SA, BlackRock Inc., and Amia Capital LLP, as well as other investors, who together represent around 25 percent of the bonds. At least two-thirds of all bondholders will need to approve the agreement to finalize the debt restructuring deal.
Ukraine imposed a freeze on foreign debt payments two years ago after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. That freeze expires on Aug. 1.
Both the IMF and the country’s bilateral creditors, which include the United States and the Paris Club, have signed off on Ukraine’s proposals, according to the statement. — BLOOMBERG NEWS.
