Twitter shares recover back to Elon Musk’s offer price

In today’s top stories, Musk finalises his $44bn Twitter takeover and Boeing values China’s aviation market at $1.5trn by 2042. Meanwhile, analysts highlight strategies and recession-proof stocks to keep an eye on. 

Musk’s six-month Twitter bid ends

Shares in Twitter [TWTR] jumped above $53 in early trading on Thursday, just shy of the $44bn takeover offer’s purchase price of $54.20. At one point, the stock had traded 40% below the offer price but that gap was closed this week, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that banks have begun sending $13bn in funds needed to finalise the deal. The NYSE confirmed that the stock will be delisted after the deal is complete on Friday.

Strategies that strive in difficult conditions

With equities struggling, analysts at Goldman Sachs [GS] and Wells Fargo [WFC] have highlighted the so-called trend-following strategy as an approach that could pay off amid the downturn. “As equity indexes have exhibited bearish trends, trend-followers have turned short and, in our view, may likely gain from further declines,” Wells Fargo’s Arun Kumar told CNBC, adding that the trend strategy might “gain further as global central banks still have a long fight against inflation.”

All-weather stocks to watch

A growing number of warnings have continued to mount this week about the risk of a US recession from the likes of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and even Amazon [AMZN] founder Jeff Bezos. Foord Global Equity Fund’s Brian Arcese also believes that the economy is headed for a downturn, although he expects it to be milder than the financial crash of 2008. He sees UnitedHealth, Air Products and Freeport McMoRan as recession-proof stocks.

Barron’s bargain buy

The financial news publication recently highlighted the embattled Dutch semiconductor manufacturer ASML [ASML] as a stock that could be be undervalued based on its growth prospects. While it has suffered from a consumer slowdown and slump in demand, Evercore analyst CJ Muse forecasts the stock to increase 40% to €575 after the company beat expectations in its third quarter. The stock could rally again on 11 November, when it releases revenue forecasts.

Boeing backs China’s aviation market

The US manufacturing giant unveiled bullish 20-year guidance for China’s commercial jet market, forecasting 8,485 new passenger and freighter planes to be valued at $1.5trn by 2042 — the target is more than a fifth of global aircraft delivery expectations over twenty years. Boeing did not clarify why this year’s forecast was lower than the 8,700 it had previously said. The company also expects the country’s commercial fleet to grow from 3,900 to more than 9,600.

Cybersecurity bucks growth stock slump

Corporate spending on cybersecurity is accelerating as more enterprises look to protect their digital projects from an increasing number of threats. Sticky products are the key to success for companies like Cisco [CSCO], Fortinet [FTNT] and Palo Alto Network [PANW]. “If one can look at the specifics of these underlying businesses, it is clear that there is a lot of underlying strength that could be stuck behind a current fog of being presently unprofitable,” says WisdomTree’s Christopher Gannatti.

What finance publication Doomberg is watching equity markets

Just a year and a half after launching, Doomberg — with its iconic green chicken logo — has become the top paid financial publication on Substack. Doomberg, which is run by a small team of scientists with experience in “the old school classic commodity industries”, joined Opto Sessions to discuss the site’s origins and philosophies, the Nord Stream sabotage and the weakening of the Japanese yen.