Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Virgin Galactic Soars

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Virgin Galactic (SPCE) targets late June for official launch of commercial service (00:32). Squarespace (SQSP) takes off on deal to buy assets of Google’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) domains business (02:15). Intel (INTC) said to be close to deal worth $10.8B in subsidies for German chip plant (01:29).

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

Virgin Galactic is soaring following the announcement that spaceflight commercial operations will begin at the end of the month. Intel is close to a deal that will bring in more than $10B in subsidies and Squarespace is buying the assets of Google Domains.

Premarket Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) is up nearly 40%.

This after the company announced that it is beginning its spaceflight commercial operations.

The first flight is scheduled for the June 27 to June 30 window.

Galactic 1 will be a scientific research mission with three crew members.

The crew is from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council of Italy. Their mission is to conduct microgravity research.

Virgin Galactic (SPCE) said monthly flights with private astronauts should begin in early August.

Seeking Alpha analyst Ivan Lee recently issued a cautious appraisal of Virgin Galactic (SPCE). Lee kept an Underweight rating on the stock after considering the company’s revenue projection and technology development. He says, “The numbers don’t seem to add up for at least the next 3 to 4 years.”

And earlier this year in March there was a warning placed on Virgin Galactic that says it is at high risk of performing badly.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is reportedly close to a deal with the German government to receive up to $10.8B in subsidies for a new manufacturing plant in the country.

That number was initially $3B lower.

A German news outlet (Handelsblatt) , citing government sources, reported that Intel (INTC) and the German government have “largely agreed” upon an increase in state funds for a planned factory.

The news outlet added that final negotiations are slated to take place this weekend with Intel’s (INTC) CEO and German government officials set to sign a deal early next week.

In February, it was reported that Intel (INTC) believed the added subsidies were “necessary” for the plant due to higher energy costs and the use of more advanced technology inside the plant.

Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP) will buy the assets of Google Domains which will be shutting down after a transition period.

Premarket Squarespace is up more than 4%.

As per the deal terms, Squarespace will become the exclusive provider of domains for any customer purchasing it with their Workspace subscription from Google directly for a minimum of three years.

About 10 million domains hosted on Google’s platform will be bought by the company as part of the deal.

Squarespace said it will honor all existing Google Domains customers’ renewal prices for at least 12 months following the closing of the deal.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023 and a majority of the benefits from it will be realized in 2024 and beyond.

Other headlines to look out for on Seeking Alpha:

Adobe rises as it boosts fiscal earnings, revenue outlook after strong Q2

BlackRock files for bitcoin ETF; Coinbase as custodian

GameStop’s Ryan Cohen blasts management that only ‘rest and vest’

Enovix hits Q2 milestone early, producing 18K battery cells

VMware/Broadcom deal spread narrows amid report on China antitrust review

Cava trades with a higher market cap than Wendy’s, Shake Shack and Papa John’s after strong IPO debut

Uber ends taxi service in Israel, cuts food delivery in Italy

On our catalyst watch for the day, the stock market could see extra volatility with triple witching day featuring the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts. And the Teamsters union will announce the results of a strike authorization vote for UPS (UPS) workers. The current five-year contract expires on July 31.

U.S. stocks closed with solid gains on Thursday.

The Nasdaq (COMP.IND) finished 1.15% higher. The Dow (DJI) rose 1.3% and the S&P 500 (SP500) added 1.2%.

All 11 S&P sectors advanced, with Health Care and Communication Services topping the leaderboard.

Treasury yields were lower. The 10-year yield (US10Y) was down 8 basis points to 3.72% while the 2-year yield (US2Y) – was down 7 basis points to 4.64%.

Turning to the economic calendar, the number of Americans filing for weekly jobless claims came in at 262K, above the expected figure of 250K.

Elsewhere, May retail sales figures came in on solid ground, rising +0.3% M/M compared to the forecasted -0.1% level. Retail stocks saw modest gains on the report.

Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6:20 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. The Dow is up 0.2%, the S&P 500 is up 0.2% and the Nasdaq is up 0.1%. Crude oil is down 1% at less than $70 a barrel. Bitcoin is up 2.7% at more than 25,000.

In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.3% and the DAX is up 0.1%.

On today’s economic calendar, at 10am consumer sentiment.

And finally Monday is a market holiday so that means after you check out Saturday’s catalyst watch episode of the podcast, we’ll see you back here on Tuesday.