—— U.S. Housing Starts Accelerate; First Republic Considers Sale; Couche-Tard Acquires 2,000 Gas Stations; U.S. Demands TikTok Chinese Owners Divest; Stripe Raises $6.5B at Halved Valuation; Jobless Claims Fall Sharply; Baidu’s Chatbot Demo Disappoints
1. U.S. Housing Starts Accelerate
According to data released today by the U.S. government, housing starts in February rose 9.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million units—the largest increase in five months and well above all economist forecasts.
Building permits also jumped 13.8% to an annualized rate of 1.52 million units, with single-family homes rising 1.1% and multifamily units surging 24%.
Completed housing units rose more than 12% to an annualized 1.56 million units, the fastest pace since 2007, led by multifamily construction.
After falling for 12 straight months, builder confidence has now increased for three consecutive months, boosted by supply chain normalization and rising homebuying activity.
While the Fed may pause rate hikes, banks are likely to raise lending standards, offsetting lower borrowing costs.
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2. First Republic Considers Sale
On Wednesday, San Francisco-based First Republic Bank had its credit rating downgraded to “junk” by both S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. Sources say the bank is now exploring strategic options including a potential sale or ways to raise liquidity.
On Sunday, First Republic announced it had $70 billion in unused liquidity to maintain operations, partly from the Fed and JPMorgan Chase.
On Wednesday, the bank’s stock dropped another 21% to $31.16 per share—its lowest in over a decade—bringing its market value down to $5.8 billion.
First Republic focuses on private banking and wealth management. Unlike SVB, no single sector accounts for more than 9% of its client deposits.
While SVB served mainly startups and VCs, First Republic has a more diversified client base.
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3. Couche-Tard Acquires 2,000 Gas Stations
Today, Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard announced it will acquire nearly 2,200 gas stations from TotalEnergies SE in Europe for $3.3 billion. The deal includes all stations in Germany and the Netherlands and 60% of those in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Couche-Tard is also eyeing a potential acquisition of French grocer Carrefour SA, which collapsed two years ago under government pressure.
With the EU targeting a ban on internal combustion engine cars by 2035 and aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, Couche-Tard sees an opportunity to convert most gas stations into broader convenience and grocery hubs.
The transaction will help TotalEnergies accelerate its plans to reduce gasoline sales and carbon emissions.
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4. U.S. Demands TikTok Chinese Owners Divest
Two sources revealed that President Biden and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) have requested TikTok’s Chinese shareholders to divest their stakes to address national security concerns.
TikTok has grown increasingly popular in the U.S., but regulators fear the app could misuse Americans’ private data. Although parent company ByteDance denies these claims, both Democratic and Republican senators have called for a ban.
Sources indicate that international investors own 60% of ByteDance, with employees and founders each holding 20%.
TikTok said if national security is the issue, divesting Chinese shareholders won’t solve it.
Only a transparent, U.S.-based, and third-party-monitored data protection framework would work—and that’s what the company is currently building.
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5. Stripe Raises $6.5B at Halved Valuation
Payment services provider Stripe has raised $6.5 billion in a recent funding round, slashing its valuation from a 2021 peak of $95 billion to $50 billion.
New investors include existing shareholders Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as new backers from Singapore—Temasek and GIC.
The funds will help Stripe cover several hundred million dollars in employee stock-related tax obligations. Notable clients include EV maker Rivian, buy-now-pay-later firm Affirm, and software developer GitLab—all of which have seen their lofty valuations collapse.
Public payment companies like Adyen and PayPal have seen their stock prices fall 55% and 75%, respectively, since their 2021 highs.
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6. Jobless Claims Fall Sharply
The U.S. Department of Labor reported today that initial jobless claims dropped by 20,000 to 192,000 for the week ending March 11—the largest weekly decline since last July—erasing the previous week’s gain. New York led the drop.
Continuing claims also fell by 29,000 to 1.68 million. The four-week moving average of initial claims decreased to 196,500.
The figures suggest the labor market remains robust, with ample job openings. However, wage growth still trails inflation, straining household spending power. Large layoffs at companies like Meta may show up in future data.
Lower jobless claims reflect labor market strength, which could complicate the Fed’s inflation fight.
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7. Baidu’s Chatbot Demo Disappoints
On Thursday, Chinese search giant Baidu unveiled its AI chatbot, Ernie, via a livestream on WeChat. The company said Ernie will reinvigorate its business and plans to integrate it across its search engine and other services.
However, Baidu only showed pre-recorded demo videos, without any live functionality—leaving 2 million viewers unsure whether Ernie can match ChatGPT. As a result, Baidu shares fell as much as 10%.
CEO Robin Li said that select users will soon be able to test Ernie, but broader public access has no set timeline yet.
After the 45-minute online demo, including Baidu employees, many viewers expressed disappointment on WeChat.
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This content is sourced from Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Real Deal, among other financial news outlets.