The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats, and events to help you prepare.
Part 1: New Merger Guidelines, Apex Fintech Solutions CFO, and Finance’s Relationship with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
For this week’s content, a contributed column by Mitch Berlin on preparing for new merger guidelines will be published (3/12), alongside reporter Adam Zaki’s Q&A with Chantal Wessels, CFO of Apex Fintech Solutions, and a story on how CFOs can navigate and implement DEI practices authentically, legally, and ethically. (3/14 and 3/15, respectively).
Part 2: This Week
The one-year anniversary of the takeover of Silicon Valley Bank by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation is prompting a lot of discussion about the financial health of regional U.S. banks. Expect to hear more this week. This time, it’s not the unrealized losses in fixed-income portfolios from the sharp run-up in interest rates but potential losses from commercial real estate (CRE) loans that are causing the hand-wringing. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told the Senate last week that there would be bank failures among small and medium-sized banks from CRE, but the situation is “manageable.”
Powell has bigger fish to fry: namely, inflation and interest rates. With the next Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting on March 19 and 20, investors eagerly await this week’s consumer price index (CPI) report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists are projecting little change in the February numbers, with year-over-year CPI remaining at 3.1% and core CPI dipping to 3.7% from 3.9% in January. Stronger CPI numbers than those could lessen the FOMC’s confidence that it’s in the home stretch of the war against inflation. That could change market expectations for interest rate cuts this year.
Other economic data points due to be released this week include the producer price index, business inventories, retail sales, industrial production, and capacity utilization. In addition, the University of Michigan updates its index of consumer sentiment on Friday.
The U.S. IPO market is getting ready for the first two large tech deals of the year. Chipmaker Astera Labs launched its IPO roadshow on Friday. It aims to raise $507 million at a price range of $27 to $30 per share. At the midpoint of the proposed range Astera would have a market value of $5 billion. Social media stalwart Reddit released the terms of its offering on Monday. In total, 22 million shares of Reddit will be sold (15.3 million by Reddit employees) at $31 to $34 each. The transaction would raise almost $750 million.
Earnings this week: Casey’s General Stores, Oracle, Dollar Tree, Lennar, Williams-Sonoma, Adobe, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty, Jabil, Archer-Daniels Midland, Kohl’s, International Game Technology, Petco Health and Wellness, Dollar General, Go Health, Canadian Solar, Groupon.
Part 3: 6 a.m. CFO
G-P’s CFO Simone Nardi discusses building a global team, his passion for music, and the importance of taking calculated risks.
“It's more important than ever for CFOs to find the right balance between risk and return. Those that do it well, will set their companies up for sustainable growth and success.” (3/14)