TheChek News Flow

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Macro :

- JPMorgan’s Kolanovic Says Stocks ‘Can Climb Out of This Hole’

Keep an eye on :

- AALB NA : Aalberts Organic Revenue Growth 9% in Jan.-April

- ACKB BB : Valneva: EMA Accepts Covid Vaccine Marketing Application Filing

- ALM SM : Evotec, Almirall Form Alliance in Medical Dermatology

- ALV GY : Allianz Sues Enel Wind Farm in Latest Fallout from Texas Freeze

- ANORA FH : Anora Group Oyj 1Q EPS Beats Estimates

- BBVA SM : BBVA Holds 86% of Turkish Lender Garanti After Offer

- BNP FP BNP Seen as Main Suitor for BBVA’s Depositary Unit: Cinco Dias

- BDT GY : Bertrandt 1H Ebit EU20.8M Vs. EU11.1M Y/y

- BWLPG NO : BW LPG 1Q Ebitda Meets Estimates

- LCAA US : Carousell, L Catterton SPAC Merger Talks Said to Have Ended

- CFEB BB : CFE 1Q Revenue EU889.5M Vs. EU742.1M Y/y

- CLN SW : Clariant 4Q Adjusted Ebitda CHF230M Vs. CHF179M Y/y

- CSCO US : *CISCO SEES 4Q REV -1% TO -5.5% Y/Y; EST. +5.7% --> -12% in after Hours

- DUFN SW : Dufry 1Q Revenue Beats Estimates

- EDF FP : EDF Cuts 2022 French Nuclear Output Estimate; 2023 Unchanged

- ENEL IM : Allianz Sues Enel Wind Farm in Latest Fallout from Texas Freeze

- ENGI FP : Engie Brasil Signs Partnership With Copel to Join Auction

- RF FP : Eurazeo SE Assets Under Management EU32.2B Vs. EU30.9B Q/Q

- EUCAR FP : Volkswagen to Get Unconditional EU Nod for Europcar Deal: Rtrs

- G IM : Generali 1Q Operating Profit Beats Estimates

- GIMB BB : Gimv FY Net Income EU174.3M Vs. EU205.7M Y/y

- HSV LN : Brookfield Agrees to Buy Homeserve for 1,200P Per Share in Cash

- IBAB BB : IBA Sees Modest Impact From Global Effects of Ukraine War

- BAER SW : Julius Baer Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio 15.7% Vs. 16.4% At Yr End

- BAER SW : Aalberts Organic Revenue Growth 9% in Jan.-April (1)

- PRS SM : *TELEFONICA READIES SALE OF 9% STAKE IN PRISA: EL CONFIDENCIAL

- SIM DC : Simcorp 1Q Ebit Misses Estimates

- SWON SW : SoftwareONE 1Q Gross Profit CHF212.9M

- GLE FP : SocGen's Russian Exit Shows the Way for ING, French Peers: React

- SON PL : Sonae 1Q Net Income EU42M Vs. EU1M Y/y

- SUN SW :Sulzer to Wind Down Polish Units After Sanctions Removal Denied

- UAA US : Under Armour CEO to Exit After 2 Years With Stock in Free Fall

- VK FP : Vallourec 1Q Ebitda Misses Estimates

- VK FP : Vallourec to Cut 2,950 Jobs in Streamlining Effort

- VLA FP : Valneva: EMA Accepts Covid Vaccine Marketing Application Filing

- VIE FP : *CMA: VEOLIA-SUEZ PROVISIONAL REVIEW FINDS COMPETITION CONCERNS

- VOW GY : Volkswagen to Get Unconditional EU Nod for Europcar Deal: Rtrs

- VOW GY : Mahindra, Volkswagen to Partner for Electric Components

* Barclays Raised to Outperform at KBW; PT 230 pence

As part of broader scrutiny on the People’s Bank of China, monetary-policy chief Sun Guofeng is said to face suspicions of leaking economic data

China’s top anticorruption agency is investigating a senior Chinese central banker for suspected leaking of official economic statistics, say people with knowledge of the matter, after Beijing criticized the central bank for not adequately aligning itself with the party-state.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Wednesday that Sun Guofeng, who was until earlier this month head of the monetary-policy department of the People’s Bank of China, is being investigated for “suspected serious violation of laws and discipline.” It didn’t disclose any specifics.

The people with knowledge of the matter said the probe is centered on whether Mr. Sun, who had worked at the central bank since the late 1990s, shared macroeconomic indicators, such as those measuring inflation, with individual bond traders at select financial institutions in exchange for personal gains.

The central bank and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection didn’t respond to inquiries. Mr. Sun, who was taken away by investigators from his office earlier Wednesday, couldn’t be reached for comment.

The investigation is one result of a sweeping round of inspections of some 25 financial regulators, state banks, insurers and investment funds that President Xi Jinping launched late last year to reassert the Communist Party’s authority over these financial stalwarts.

Focused on the relations between these state institutions and private-sector players including individual investors and businesses, the inspections have targeted a large number of individuals, including the former chief executive of China Merchants Bank Co.

The PBOC, which oversees one of the world’s largest financial systems, is arguably the most consequential of all the financial institutions scrutinized by Mr. Xi’s discipline inspectors.

The Chinese central bank, which has never been politically independent like some of its Western peers, needs approval from the top bodies of government before it moves interest rates. But for years the PBOC has worked to establish credibility among investors by trying to communicate with the public more, as China’s markets became more sophisticated and their influence extended across the globe.

During the monthslong disciplinary inspections, however, investigators sternly warned the central bank against any talk of Western-style central-bank independence. In February, after the inspections wrapped up, the anticorruption agency sharply criticized the PBOC, along with other financial regulators, for having “gaps” in implementing major policies of the party leadership.

The agency also noted that there were prominent corruption problems around “key positions” at some financial institutions, without specifying, according to a statement on its website.

Mr. Sun, 49 years old, who has been removed from his post, had spent most of his more than two decades at the central bank with its monetary-policy department, also known as the heart and mind of the PBOC.

With a doctorate in economics from a Chinese university, Mr. Sun conducted research at Stanford University in the early 2000s and published hundreds of academic papers and a well-received English-language book on China’s financial reforms.

A protégé of the current PBOC governor, Yi Gang, Mr. Sun over the years has been heavily involved in remaking China’s central bank into one that keeps up with the pace of modern finance.

He helped develop China’s interbank bond market, where government bonds are traded, and has become increasingly popular with foreign investors. Mr. Sun played a leading role in adding flexibility to the trading of the tightly controlled yuan. He also introduced a cohort of trading instruments into the central bank’s open-market operations to make rates more reflective of market demands and better fulfill the PBOC’s monetary-policy objectives.

People close to Mr. Sun describe him as a mild-mannered, hardworking technocrat who appeared to have increasingly struggled with his workload. His hair turned visibly gray soon after he was promoted to lead the monetary-policy department in 2018.

More recently, Mr. Sun had struggled to maintain what he called “policy discipline,” or a hawkish stance against aggressive monetary easing, while China’s leadership urged more measures to support the faltering economy.

Mr. Sun had believed that credit easing would only exacerbate speculative bubbles and could lead to excessive capital outflows at a time of slow growth, the people close to him said.

Indeed, many economists say the Chinese central bank now faces a complicated challenge of propping up growth in the face of greater pressure on the Chinese currency and outflows. “The PBOC’s room for maneuver is becoming increasingly constrained by rising concerns about a currency depreciation-capital outflow spiral,” said Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University and former China head for the International Monetary Fund.

An initial sign of trouble for Mr. Sun emerged late last year when Beijing’s disciplinary inspectors received reports accusing him of sexual harassment, the people said. It is unclear if those allegations would be part of the continuing investigation into his work at the central bank.

Another senior PBOC official hinted at problems with some individuals and institutions inappropriately using privileged information for market trading. “Some key personnel take advantage of capital and information for personal gains,” Sun Tianqi, head of the financial-stability department of the central bank who isn’t related to Sun Guofeng, wrote in an article published in March.

In particular, Mr. Sun of the financial-stability department stressed the need to strengthen regulatory oversight and mentioned macro data such as the consumer-price index, a key gauge of inflation, as particularly vulnerable to leaks. The article didn’t mention any specific officials or other individuals.

Sale to bidder in Asia continues art market’s hot streak after other well-known works drew record prices

Boutique auctioneer Phillips sold a 16-foot-wide, red-and-peach painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat for $85 million in New York on Wednesday. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa put the untitled 1982 painting up for sale, and an Asian telephone bidder represented by a Phillips representative based in Taipei won it after a four-minute competition.

The sale didn’t break the $110.5 million record for a Basquiat, held by an untitled blue work from 1982 that Mr. Maezawa won in 2017. Still, the red example sold by Phillips reaped a tidy profit for Mr. Maezawa, the mogul behind the e-commerce site Zozotown, who bought the red Basquiat six years earlier for $57.3 million. That represents a 48% return for the collector.

The Phillips auction continued the art market’s hot streak over two weeks of sales that has seen record prices for works like the “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” and an iconic Man Ray photograph. Buoyed by the art market’s recent strength and Basquiat’s international appeal, Phillips headed into the sale with a measure of confidence, giving the work featuring a devilish figure a $70 million estimate.

The house hedged its bet, signing up an outside investor ahead of the sale to pledge to bid an undisclosed sum for it if no one else stepped up in the moment, guaranteeing the Basquiat would be sold.

Such financial mechanisms, called third-party guarantors, are increasingly common in the auction industry and in several cases helped larger rival Sotheby’s $409 million modern-art sale the night before. Sotheby’s sale amounted to the house’s third-largest single sale total ever. But its success hinged in part on selling several pieces by Pablo Picasso and others to guarantors who only had to place single bids to win.

Market watchers pay attention to the number of bidders who compete for works at the priciest levels because thin bidding can hint at potential cracks in collector confidence. On Wednesday, two bidders vied for the Basquiat—so that could indicate collectors still crave his work at a broad level. The work’s wall-spanning size may also have played a role in its appeal.

Increasingly, millennial collectors are starting to champion a fresh slate of artists born long after Basquiat died in 1988. These include Anna Weyant, whose 2021 “Buffet II” sold to a telephone bidder in Hong Kong for $730,800 over its $150,000 high estimate. Another auction newcomer this season, María Berrío’s 2013 “Burrow of the Yellow,” also sold for $998,000 over its estimate of $400,000 to $600,000.

On Thursday, Sotheby’s will cap the New York spring sales with its own pair of sales offering edgy, newer works that collectively are expected to exceed $222 million.

Firm lost big on meme-stock surge in early days of Covid-19 pandemic

Melvin Capital plans to close its funds and return the cash to its investors, capping a stunning reversal for a firm that lost big on the surge in meme stocks last year and on wagers on growth stocks this year.

In a letter to investors that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Gabe Plotkin, Melvin’s founder, wrote that he reached his decision after conferring with Melvin’s board of directors during a monthslong process of reassessing his business.

“The past 17 months has been an incredibly trying time for the firm and you, our investors,” he wrote. “I have given everything I could, but more recently that has not been enough to deliver the returns you should expect. I now recognize that I need to step away from managing external capital.”

Melvin had been, until last year, one of the top-performing hedge funds—its track record of about 30% a year after fees before 2021 was among the best on Wall Street. It was especially known for its prowess in shorting, or betting against, stocks. In 2015, gains from Melvin’s shorts made up two-thirds of the fund’s 67% returns before fees. Mr. Plotkin bought a minority stake in the National Basketball Association’s Charlotte Hornets, plus a $44 million oceanfront mansion in Miami Beach.

But Melvin’s short positions blew up in January 2021 when individual investors on online forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets banded together to push up prices of shares, like those of GameStop Corp. , that Melvin was betting against. At the worst point that month, Melvin, which managed $12.5 billion at the start of last year, was hemorrhaging more than $1 billion a day.

While Melvin had made up some of those losses by the end of the year, its focus on fast-growing companies dealt it further setbacks this year as investors soured on such stocks in the face of rising interest rates. Stock pickers also have blamed losses this year on macroeconomic factors like inflation and the war in Ukraine that have hit the market, instead of companies’ own fundamentals. Melvin’s losses widened.

Melvin this year through April had lost 23%, on top of a 39.3% loss in 2021—a huge hole investors expected could take years to make up if Mr. Plotkin didn’t shut down in the interim. Since its start, it has averaged an 11.9% return.

Still, several investors on Wednesday said they were surprised by the decision.

Melvin’s executives as recently as last week had been asking clients for their thoughts on what new fee arrangements seemed fair to them and to Melvin, people familiar with the firm said. Mr. Plotkin in April tried to do away with Melvin’s so-called high-water mark, a standard industry arrangement in which hedge funds don’t collect performance fees until their clients are made whole from prior investment losses. The proposal was part of a broader restructuring effort meant in part to retain and motivate his team, but it met with resistance.

Some investors were so incensed by the proposal they said they planned to redeem all their money at the first opportunity. Mr. Plotkin withdrew his plan days later and apologized to investors, saying he would consult with all of Melvin’s clients as the firm worked to figure out a new path forward.

Investors had been sharing various proposals they thought would be fair, including one by which Mr. Plotkin would keep the current terms until the end of the year and then implement a modified high-water mark that would have let Melvin collect lower performance fees, people familiar with the firm said.

Mr. Plotkin wrote in the letter, “I have worked tirelessly for 20 years to try to be the best I could be and to build and lead an exceptional team of professionals…Being a steward of your capital requires an unrelenting focus. I am proud of what our team has accomplished since 2007.”

He wrote he expected to return nearly all of his clients’ money by late July. Firmwide, Melvin managed $7.8 billion as of April.