Iraq hotel fire dead to be sent home

DUBAI // A Dubai-based company is working with Kurdish officials in northern Iraq to send home the bodies of eight employees killed in a hotel fire. The staff of the geophysical research firm Terraseis were among 30 people killed in the blaze at Soma Hotel in Sulaimaniyah on Thursday. The company has notified the families and is arranging clearance with the Kurdish regional government before repatriating the bodies.

"This is a great blow to each of us, as all of us knew these individuals," said Kevin Plintz, the Terraseis chairman. "The response to this tragedy has been swift and we are in close contact with the families concerned." The victims included Febrianto Kwantoso from Indonesia, Scott Brayman from Canada, Filiberto Rincon from Venezuela, Adriaan Myburgh from South Africa, Ivan Jumbo from Ecuador, Trevor Bilney from Australia, Roy Blair from the UK and Adel Cruz from Bolivia, the company said.

Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, said Brig Yadgar Mohammed Mustafa, the Sulaimaniyah fire chief. The five-storey building lacked fire escapes and witnesses said some guests jumped from the structure including, apparently, one Terraseis employee, who is in hospital in critical condition. Nine company employees who were staying at the hotel survived and have recovered. The establishment had served as temporary housing until a camp at the firm's project site was completed. It is due to be ready next week, the company said.

The Terraseis staff in Sulaimaniyah work in seismic information or logistics. None of the dead or the injured was based in Dubai. @Email:newsdesk@thenational.ae

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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

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If you go

Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

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How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.