Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Aramco To Bet On Lithium

Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Saudi Aramco (ARMCO) to boost lithium investments to build its own supply chain – report. (00:24) Elon Musk sued by SEC over delayed disclosures of Twitter stock purchases. (01:28) IonQ ends higher as company, Maryland unveil $1B quantum initiative. (03:10)

This is an abridged transcript.

Saudi Aramco (ARMCO) is planning to boost investments in lithium production.

The Financial Times reported, citing three people close to the company, that the world’s biggest oil company eyes developing its own supply chain for the metal that powers electric vehicle batteries.

The announcement, expected today, comes as Saudi Arabia aims to build facilities for processing lithium commercially in 3-5 years, with plans for refining and exports.

“Saudi Arabia is very well positioned in processing because of the mixture that we have, starting from energy competitiveness, great infrastructure in terms of industrial cities and ports,” Bandar Alkhorayef, the country’s industry and mineral resources minister, told FT.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program includes unlocking about $1.3T in mineral resources and a focus on EVs to diversify its economy from oil to other sectors.

The country is building an EV manufacturing hub aiming for 30% of all cars in Riyadh to be electric by 2030. Lucid Motors (LCID), majority owned by sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund, has been assembling cars in Saudi Arabia since 2023. PIF is also launching its own EV brand called Ceer.

The SEC is suing Elon Musk over allegations that he failed to disclose significant purchases of Twitter stock in 2022 in the required time period.

The agency’s lawsuit states that as a result, “Musk [was able] to continue purchasing shares at artificially low prices, allowing him to underpay by at least $150 million for shares he purchased after his beneficial ownership report was due.”

Musk began acquiring a significant number of shares in early 2022, and by March of that year, he had a beneficial ownership of more than 5%. Securities laws mandate that after surpassing the 5% threshold, investors are required to file a beneficial owner report with the SEC.

The lawsuit, filed in D.C. federal court, claims that while Musk needed to file by March 22, 2022, he did not do so until April 4, 2022. At market close on that day, Twitter’s stock price increased 27% compared to the prior day’s close.

The SEC alleges that between March 22 and April 4, Musk purchased more than $500M in additional Twitter shares.

Musk initiated his acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, on April 14, 2022. On Oct. 27, 2022, the $44B deal was complete.

In a statement provided to The New York Times, Musk attorney Alex Spiro said, “Today’s action is an admission by the SEC that they cannot bring an actual case, because Mr. Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is.”

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) ended nearly 6% higher on Tuesday after the company and the state of Maryland unveiled a $1B initiative to make the state the home of quantum computing.

As part of the announcement, IonQ said it will enlarge its headquarters into a 100,000 sq. foot facility, with a data center, laboratories and office space at the University of Maryland.

The company also plans to double the number of employees at its headquarters to at least 250 people in the Maryland region over the next five years, once the deal has been approved by the Maryland legislature.

What’s Trending on Seeking Alpha:

Mastercard reaches $26M settlement in a lawsuit alleging equal pay rules violation

Banks to kick off Q4 earnings on Wednesday — here’s what to expect

Trump to create External Revenue Service for foreign revenue collection

Catalyst watch:

• Earnings watch – Notable companies due to report include JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), BlackRock (BLK), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), Kinder Morgan (KMI) and Bank of New York Mellon (BK).

Now let’s take a look at the markets ahead of the opening bell. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is down 0.2% at $77/barrel. Bitcoin is up 0.4% at $97,000.

In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.7% and the DAX is up 0.4%.

The biggest movers for the day premarket: KULR Technology (NYSE:KULR) shares extended their gains by 5% in premarket trading, building on a 5% increase in the previous session following the announcement of a multimillion-dollar licensing agreement with a new technology partner in Japan.

On today’s economic calendar:

• 8:30 am Consumer Price Index From a month earlier, headline CPI is expected to hold steady at 0.3% in December. That translates to a 2.9% Y/Y rise in December, well above the Fed’s 2% target and accelerating from November’s 2.7% increase. Stripping out food and energy prices, core CPI is anticipated to remain unchanged at 3.3%. On a M/M basis, the core measure is seen edging down to 0.2% from 0.3%.

• 2:00 pm Fed’s Beige Book