Several cannabis companies will run out of funding in the next few months, Marijuana Business Daily says

“It’s going to be an extinction-level event for some companies,” said Craig Behnke, equity analyst at the trade publication commonly known as MJBiz Daily. “But it’s a healthy and necessary process for any industry to go through once it’s had a phase of absolute excess and exuberance.”

Many cannabis companies were running low on cash and struggling to raise more before the pandemic, which only made the situation more difficult as equity markets tumbled and volatility spiked. The total amount of capital raised by the industry fell 69 percent in March from a month earlier as funding sources dried up, according to Viridian Capital Advisors.

EMPLOYMENT

Covid-19’s ravaging of U.S. jobs is poised to rise, a survey released Monday by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates.

In a survey of more than 300 U.S. chief financial officers, 26 percent said they expect layoffs due to the financial impact of the novel coronavirus. That’s up from 16 percent two weeks ago when PwC asked CFOs in the United States and Mexico.

The survey showed the likelihood of layoffs depends on the business: 36 percent of industrial-products CFOs foresee job cuts, compared with 30 percent of those at consumer companies and 13 percent in financial services.

AUTO INDUSTRY

The auto industry — already fretting lengthy factory shutdowns and depressed new-vehicle demand — is starting to sound the alarm about a potential used-car price collapse that could have far-reaching consequences for manufacturers, lenders and rental companies.

Used-vehicle auctions are for now virtually paralyzed, much like the rest of the economy. The concern market watchers have is that vehicles are starting to pile up at places where buyers and sellers make and take bids on cars and trucks — and that this imbalance will last for months.

If that fear is realized and prices plummet, it will be detrimental to automakers and their in-house lending units, which likely will have to write down the value of lease contracts that had assumed vehicles would retain greater value. Rental-car firms also will get less money from selling down their fleet of vehicles, which are sitting idle amid a global pandemic that’s been catastrophic for travel.

Also in Business

AutoNation granted chief executive Cheryl Miller a leave of absence for health reasons and said its former CEO would replace her until she returns. Miller, 47, requested the leave Sunday, and her replacement by executive chairman Mike Jackson is effective Monday, AutoNation said in a regulatory filing. It didn’t disclose the nature of Miller’s health condition.

The European Commission has imposed excessive provisional anti-dumping duties on some Chinese stainless steel products, China’s steel industry association said on Monday. But the European Commission, the EU’s executive, adjusted its measures in September to “improve the functioning of the quota for some products,” including hot-rolled flat steel.