 Police control access to a tunnel leading to the locked-down Pudong district of Shanghai, March 28, 2022 | Image: HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty On Monday, oil prices fell over 8% on news of China locking down its largest city, Shanghai, to contain a COVID-19 outbreak. Shanghai has 26 million residents and is China’s business and finance hub. The city is also home to the world’s largest container-shipping port. The citywide lockdown includes the suspension of public transit and a work-from-home order. The eastern half of the city will undergo mass virus testing starting Monday to Friday morning, with the western half following suit from Friday through the following Tuesday, April 5. More: - West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell as much as 8.25% to trade at $104.50 a barrel but recovered to $108.19 per barrel, down ~5%.
- Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down 7.4%, trading at $111.61 per barrel, but recovered to $114.59 a barrel, down 5%.
- China is the world’s largest oil importer; it uses about 15 million barrels a day.
- According to Lipow Oil Associates, China imported about 10.3 million barrels per day in 2021.
- The Shanghai Stock Exchange will remain open, and announced stock issuance applications and other paperwork can be done online.
- Shanghai International Port Group, which manages the city’s ports, said its production units would continue operating 24 hours a day unless impacted by extreme weather.
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Tesla is planning to request approval from its shareholders to increase the number of its shares. The electric carmaker wants to split its common stock to pay a stock dividend to shareholders. Tesla is currently authorized to issue 2 billion shares, of which 1.03 billion are outstanding as of Jan. 31. The company’s annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for the fall. More: - On Monday, Tesla shares were up 8% by mid-day trading to $1,092.90 per share.
- The company last split its stock in Aug. 2020 with a 5-for-1 split. The company’s shares were trading at about $1,400 a share.
- On Monday, Tesla announced it is suspending production at its Shanghai factory as the city goes into lockdown to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk, via a tweet on Monday, alluded he has COVID but does not have any symptoms.
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 Walmart self-checkout registers | Image: Walmart Walmart is ending the sale of cigarettes in some of its U.S. stores in Arkansas, California, Florida, and New Mexico. The retail giant has redesigned some of its stores, replacing locations that usually held cigarettes and other tobacco products with more self-checkout registers and grab-and-go food items like candy. More: - A Walmart spokeswoman said the company isn’t stopping all tobacco sales but is removing tobacco products from select locations to use the space more efficiently.
- The decision to end cigarette sales at some locations comes after years of internal debate among top company executives:
- Walmart CEO Doug McMillion has been challenging the company’s leaders to find a way to stop the sale of tobacco products in Walmart stores.
- Proponents of tobacco sales argued that cigarettes are legal products customers want and Walmart shouldn’t morally police shoppers.
- According to data from Euromonitor International, cigarette sales in the U.S. totaled about $95B last year, of which Walmart accounts for about 14% of the U.S. cigarette sales volume.
- According to public health officials, about 480,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are linked to tobacco products.
- Along with cigarettes, Walmart has also pulled back on firearm sales, raising the age to buy a gun to 21 following the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.
- Walmart has over 4,700 stores across the U.S.
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BlackRock will manage up to $150B of AIG’s fixed income and private placement assets. The arrangement, often called outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO), comes as AIG is preparing to spin off its life and retirement business into a separate publicly listed company. More: - Of the $150B, $90B will be part of the new company’s portfolio, and $60B will remain with AIG.
- More pension funds, endowments, and insurers are embracing these setups, allowing asset owners to get outside investing expertise and cut costs by outsourcing regulatory and operating responsibilities to more prominent fund managers like BlackRock.
- As of March 2021, about $2.5T in assets were being managed under OCIO arrangements, a 22% increase YoY.
- Last year, AIG signed a similar deal with Blackstone for the latter to manage $50B in life and retirement assets with the potential to raise the total to $92B over six years.
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 Source Global hydropanels | Image: Source Global Source Global, formally known as Zero Mass Water, has raised $150M from investors including BlackRock, Duke Energy, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The company makes hydropanels that produce water using sunlight and air, similar to solar panels, but they make water instead of electricity. Source Global was founded in 2015, a year after CEO Cody Friesen invented the panels at Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, where he’s on the faculty. More: - The panels, which cost about $2,000 each, take in water vapor from the air and pack it into a form that’s about 10,000 times more concentrated than in the atmosphere.
- The system then converts the molecules into liquid water using warmth from the sun.
- Source’s hydropanels are currently installed in 52 countries in 450 separate projects.
- According to Friesen, the hydropanels can produce clean drinking water essentially anywhere on the planet.
- Citing the World Health Organization, Friesen noted about half the world’s population would be in water-stressed areas by 2025.
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Spacecraft manufacturer Terran Orbital went public on Monday via a SPAC merger with Tailwind Two Acquisition Corp. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LLAP, a reference to the Star Trek saying, “live long and prosper.” Terran generated $225M in gross proceeds: $175.3M in debt financing through Francisco Partners, Beach Point Capital, and Lockheed Martin; $50.8M PIPE round; and $29.4M from Tailwind Two. More: - According to Terran co-founder and CEO Marc Bell, the company plans to use the new funds to expand – hire new people, and add new facilities.
- The company plans to build a new 660,000-square-foot satellite manufacturing facility near Cape Canaveral, Florida, and lease a 60,000-square-foot facility in Irvine, California.
- Terran has contracts with NASA, the Pentagon, and other customers to build dozens of satellites.
- The company booked $25M in revenue in 2020, $68M in 2021, and currently has over $200M in backlog revenue.
- Terran was founded in 2013 in Boca Raton, Florida, and had raised $43M in venture funding.
- Investors include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Beach Point Capital Management.
- Terran ended the day at $11.80 a share, down ~6% on its first day of trading.
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- Spotify is rolling out its COVID content advisory tab on podcasts and other content that mention the coronavirus. The streaming platform promised the feature after a group of musicians and creators boycotted the platform for airing "The Joe Rogan Experience," which they said spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
- FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith said he will step down from the role of CEO on June 1 and will be succeeded by the company's president and COO, Raj Subramaniam. Smith will serve as executive chairman.
- President Biden clarified his statements from last weekend when he said Russian President Vladimir Putin could not remain in power, stating he was not articulating a policy change but rather advocating for an increase in military funding for Ukraine in a new budget plan that includes a $69B increase in defense spending.
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country is ready to declare neutrality and abandon its push to join NATO or develop nuclear weapons if Russia withdraws its troops and Kyiv receives security guarantees. Russia and Ukraine are planning to have peace talks in Turkey this week.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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