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INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 70 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday as gains in the Technology Oil Gas and Industrials sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0 70 while the S P 500 index gained 0 91 and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1 02
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ MSFT which rose 1 89 or 2 57 points to trade at 138 24 at the close Meanwhile Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC added 1 52 or 0 76 points to end at 50 48 and Visa Inc Class A NYSE V was up 1 43 or 2 46 points to 174 88 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ which fell 1 99 or 2 62 points to trade at 129 22 at the close Goldman Sachs Group Inc NYSE GS declined 0 26 or 0 52 points to end at 196 85 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc NASDAQ WBA was down 0 03 or 0 01 points to 52 08
The top performers on the S P 500 were Hess Corporation NYSE HES which rose 3 59 to 64 35 Keysight Technologies Inc NYSE KEYS which was up 3 49 to settle at 94 61 and Nektar Therapeutics NASDAQ NKTR which gained 3 28 to close at 16 71
The worst performers were L Brands Inc NYSE LB which was down 2 94 to 17 18 in late trade Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ which lost 1 99 to settle at 129 22 and Cabot Oil Gas Corporation NYSE COG which was down 1 98 to 17 34 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Histogenics Corp NASDAQ OCGN which rose 34 38 to 1 720 Paringa Resources Ltd NASDAQ PNRL which was up 31 47 to settle at 2 59 and Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ RTTR which gained 29 22 to close at 0 350
The worst performers were James River Group Holdings Ltd NASDAQ JRVR which was down 22 60 to 37 88 in late trade Loop Industries Inc NASDAQ LOOP which lost 19 41 to settle at 10 3000 and Caladrius Biosciences Inc NASDAQ CLBS which was down 14 77 to 2 0200 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1825 to 999 and 103 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1558 rose and 1056 declined while 84 ended unchanged
Shares in Caladrius Biosciences Inc NASDAQ CLBS fell to 3 years lows down 14 77 or 0 3500 to 2 0200
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was down 8 09 to 18 64
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0 46 or 6 90 to 1510 80 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0 02 or 0 01 to hit 52 62 a barrel while the December Brent oil contract fell 0 02 or 0 01 to trade at 58 33 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 04 to 1 0974 while USD JPY rose 0 04 to 107 50
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 02 at 98 840 | 10/9/2019 |
INTC | Amazon launches initiative to bundle virtual assistants on single device | Reuters Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN has launched an initiative that would allow users to access its Alexa Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Corp s Cortana and multiple other voice controlled virtual assistant services from a single device
The move comes as competition has intensified among global technology companies to dominate the market for voice assistants which are commonly housed in smart speakers and mobile devices
The notable exclusions from Amazon s Voice Interoperability Initiative are Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google Assistant Apple NASDAQ AAPL Inc s Siri and Samsung Electronics KS 005930 Co s Bixby
Google was approached by Amazon but only over the weekend giving it a very small time frame to evaluate the proposal a source familiar with the matter said
We just heard about this initiative and would need to review the details but in general we re always interested in participating in efforts that have the broad support of the ecosystem and uphold strong privacy and security practices a Google spokesperson said
The initiative which has been supported by more than 30 companies also includes Salesforce com s Einstein
Chip companies including Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc MediaTek Inc and NXP Semiconductors NV NASDAQ NXPI will develop the related hardware Amazon said
Spotify NYSE SPOT Tencent Baidu NASDAQ BIDU BMW Bose Harman Orange Sonos Sony Audio Group are also supporting the partnership
Microsoft and Amazon have collaborated in the past The two companies two years ago announced that their voice assistants will be able to talk to each other a rare move in itself as most virtual assistants are known to use data from their own ecosystems and not talk to one another | 9/24/2019 |
MSFT | Israeli cybersecurity firm CyCognito raises 18 million | TEL AVIV Reuters Israeli cybersecurity firm CyCognito said on Tuesday it raised 18 million in an early stage funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Sorenson Ventures and Microsoft O MSFT Chairman John Thompson also participated in the financing which followed a 5 million seed funding round
CyCognito is using the funding to evolve its software as a service platform which is in use by dozens of customers including financial healthcare and hospitality organizations
The platform identifies and eliminates an organization s security blind spots the company said
It employs 50 workers at its office in Palo Alto and its research and development center in Israel The company expects to recruit 60 new workers in the coming year mostly in Israel | 11/19/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks lower at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0 53 | Investing com U S stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday as losses in the Oil Gas Technology and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0 53 while the S P 500 index fell 0 84 and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1 46
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co NYSE BA which rose 1 23 or 4 62 points to trade at 381 65 at the close Meanwhile Walmart Inc NYSE WMT added 0 66 or 0 78 points to end at 118 40 and Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ was up 0 50 or 0 30 points to 60 51 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Dow Inc NYSE DOW which fell 2 73 or 1 31 points to trade at 46 60 at the close Goldman Sachs Group Inc NYSE GS declined 2 67 or 5 71 points to end at 207 75 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC was down 2 12 or 1 08 points to 49 82
The top performers on the S P 500 were Intuitive Surgical Inc NASDAQ ISRG which rose 2 56 to 541 46 ConAgra Foods Inc NYSE CAG which was up 2 28 to settle at 29 56 and Hanesbrands Inc NYSE HBI which gained 2 27 to close at 14 89
The worst performers were Marathon Oil Corporation NYSE MRO which was down 6 72 to 12 22 in late trade Helmerich and Payne Inc NYSE HP which lost 5 93 to settle at 40 76 and Halliburton Company NYSE HAL which was down 5 43 to 19 49 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were NXT ID Inc NASDAQ NXTD which rose 39 31 to 0 6500 Ovid Therapeutics Inc NASDAQ OVID which was up 25 51 to settle at 3 10 and Guardion Health Sciences Inc NASDAQ GHSI which gained 22 00 to close at 0 7930
The worst performers were Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd NASDAQ PT which was down 28 51 to 1 63 in late trade Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ SNNA which lost 22 47 to settle at 0 11 and Uxin Ltd NASDAQ UXIN which was down 20 07 to 2 23 at the close
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2028 to 867 and 79 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 2123 fell and 545 advanced while 64 ended unchanged
Shares in Walmart Inc NYSE WMT rose to all time highs gaining 0 66 or 0 78 to 118 40 Shares in Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd NASDAQ PT fell to all time lows falling 28 51 or 0 65 to 1 63 Shares in Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ SNNA fell to all time lows losing 22 47 or 0 03 to 0 11
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 14 35 to 17 05
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0 51 or 7 75 to 1539 25 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in November fell 3 14 or 1 84 to hit 56 80 a barrel while the November Brent oil contract fell 0 02 or 0 01 to trade at 62 44 a barrel
EUR USD was down 0 02 to 1 1016 while USD JPY rose 0 00 to 107 06
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0 29 at 97 938 | 9/24/2019 |
INTC | U S judge overturns lobbying conviction of ex Michael Flynn business partner | By Jonathan Stempel Reuters A federal judge has overturned a jury verdict convicting a onetime business partner of former U S national security adviser Michael Flynn of illegally lobbying for Turkey U S District Judge Anthony Trenga ruled that prosecutors failed to show that Bijan Rafiekian knowingly acted as a secret agent for Turkey s government under Ankara s direction or control and concealed his role from U S authorities The verdict was against the heavy weight of the evidence the judge wrote in a 39 page decision on Tuesday A spokesman for U S Attorney G Zachary Terwilliger in Alexandria Virginia said that office was reviewing the decision Rafiekian co founder of the Flynn Intel NASDAQ INTC Group consulting firm had been convicted on July 23 after a weeklong trial Bijan and his family are relieved and looking forward to getting on with their lives his lawyer Mark MacDougall said Justice has been done Trenga s decision marked the latest setback in the U S Department of Justice s efforts to thwart unauthorized lobbying for foreign governments by enforcing such laws as the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act FARA Earlier this week federal prosecutors in Manhattan closed a FARA related probe into Tony Podesta brother of former White House adviser John Podesta and former Congressman Vin Weber without filing criminal charges representatives for both men told Reuters The investigation grew out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and was focused on lobbying work for Ukraine directed by Paul Manafort President Donald Trump s former campaign chairman I have been notified that the investigation relating to Vin Weber is over Weber s lawyer Robert Trout said in a statement At all times Mr Weber acted in good faith and in keeping with the legal advice his company received from its outside counsel On Sept 4 another jury acquitted Greg Craig who was White House counsel under former President Barack Obama of lying about his work for Ukraine That case also arose from Mueller s probe The Justice Department has ramped up FARA enforcement since 2015 after bringing just seven criminal cases under that law in the prior half century Rafiekian was accused of conspiring with Turkish Dutch businessman Ekim Alptekin to lobby on Turkey s behalf to persuade the U S government to extradite dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen Turkey has accused Gulen of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup to topple President Tayyip Erdogan Gulen who lives in self imposed exile in a fortified Pennsylvania compound has denied any involvement Alptekin remained abroad during Rafiekian s trial and has denied the allegations against him It was unclear how Trenga s decision would affect the criminal case against Flynn who lasted three weeks as Trump s first national security adviser Flynn faces a scheduled Dec 18 sentencing after having pleaded guilty to lying about his conversations in December 2016 with Russian s ambassador to the United States about sanctions that Obama had imposed on Moscow Prosecutors called off plans to have Flynn testify against Rafiekian deciding instead to portray the retired U S Army lieutenant general as Rafiekian s co conspirator A lawyer for Flynn did not immediately respond to requests for comment Trenga said if a federal appeals court found enough evidence to sustain Rafiekian s conviction he would grant a new trial citing concern about his own jury instructions
The case is U S v Rafiekian U S District Court Eastern District of Virginia No 18 cr 00457 | 9/25/2019 |
INTC | Volocopter eyes launch of its electric helicopter taxis in Singapore | By John Geddie and Aradhana Aravindan
SINGAPORE Reuters German startup Volocopter said Singapore is emerging as one of the most likely destinations for the commercial launch of its electric helicopters where it hopes to offer short hop flights for the price of a limousine ride
The co founder of the company which is working with Singapore regulators to conduct a public test flight in coming months said the city state Dubai and Germany were the markets most open to its air taxis
A number of firms are trying to bring so called air taxis to mass market but a lack of regulation and infrastructure and safety concerns have proved barriers
Volocopter which counts Daimler Intel NASDAQ INTC and Geely GEELY UL among its backers is targeting a planned commercial rollout in two to three years of its drone like taxis that resemble a small helicopter powered by 18 rotors
For the commercial routes we have two customers profiles one is a business customer so perhaps from the airport to the business centre or for tourists flying from Marina Bay to Sentosa Alexander Zosel told Reuters Marina Bay is Singapore s business district and Sentosa is its popular resort island
Zosel said the startup is looking for more financial partners in a funding round it plans to close in January 2020
The firm has raised 85 million euros 93 million to date the latest in a 50 million euro tranche led by Chinese car maker Geely earlier this year
Daimler Intel and Geely each own around 10 of the company a Daimler spokeswoman said
Volocopter says it has clocked over 1 000 test flights some piloted by humans and others flown by remote control or autonomously on pre determined routes
Zosel said the first commercial flights will be piloted leaving room for only one passenger but that in five to 10 years he hopes to transition to fully autonomous flying
Singapore is one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of its testing of autonomous vehicles and plans to deploy driverless buses in three districts of the island from 2022
Yet with strict rules for flying unmanned aircraft especially after drones caused a series of airport delays this year and a lack of helipads it remains to be seen whether Volocopter can meet its lofty ambitions for the city state | 9/30/2019 |
INTC | U S House impeachment probe intensifies as Trump rages about inquiry | By David Morgan and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON Reuters The U S House of Representatives impeachment probe into President Donald Trump intensified on Monday as Trump raged about the inquiry and news reports suggested he had used additional diplomatic channels to go after his adversaries Three House committees said a subpoena for documents had been sent to Trump s lawyer Rudy Giuliani The former New York mayor had said on television he asked the government of Ukraine to target former Vice President Joe Biden who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Trump in the 2020 election Giuliani said in a tweet the subpoena raised legal issues including attorney client privilege It will be given appropriate consideration he added The Democratic led House initiated an impeachment inquiry against Trump last week after a whistleblower report raised concerns that Trump tried to leverage nearly 400 million in U S aid in exchange for investigating Biden from Ukraine s leader in July U S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took part in the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which the matter was discussed the Wall Street Journal reported something likely to draw the attention of House investigators The New York Times reported that Trump had sought the help of another world leader Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia with a U S Justice Department probe into the origins of what became Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election In a recent telephone call Trump asked Morrison to assist Attorney General William Barr with the probe which Trump hopes will discredit Mueller s now closed investigation the Times reported The Democrats clearly don t want the truth to come out anymore as it might hurt them politically but this call relates to a DOJ inquiry publicly announced months ago to uncover exactly what happened White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in response to the Times story An Australian government spokesperson said in an email The Australian Government has always been ready to assist and cooperate with efforts that help shed further light on the matters under investigation The PM confirmed this readiness once again in conversation with the President Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials in Britain and Italy to seek their assistance as well with that investigation the Washington Post reported In the Giuliani document request the chairmen of three House committees said he had stated more recently that you are in possession of evidence in the form of text messages phone records and other communications indicating that you were not acting alone and that other Trump Administration officials may have been involved in this scheme He was given until Oct 15 to respond SUPPORT FOR IMPEACHMENT RISES POLL A Sept 26 30 Reuters Ipsos opinion poll found that 45 of American adults believed Trump should be impeached compared with 37 in a similar poll that ran last week Forty one percent said Trump should not be impeached and 15 said they don t know Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on Monday to put to rest speculation he would use his position to derail any impeachment effort by the Democratic led House by avoiding a trial at all The Republicans control the Senate and have been largely muted about the allegations and inquiries into fellow Republican Trump If the House approves bringing charges known as articles of impeachment against a president the process moves to the Senate where there would be a trial I would have no choice but to take it up McConnell told CNBC Under the Senate rules we are required to take it up if the House does go down that path The Senate impeachment rules are very clear Trump spent much of the day directing his ire at the Democrat leading the House inquiry suggesting on Twitter that U S Representative Adam Schiff chairman of the House Intelligence Committee should be arrested for treason Later speaking to reporters at the White House Trump accused Schiff of distorting his conversation with Zelenskiy at a House hearing last week Adam Schiff made up a phony call and he read it to Congress and he read it to the people of the United States and it s a disgrace Trump said In those comments Schiff said the call to Zelenskiy reads like a classic organized crime shakedown and parodied the president s remarks A spokesman for Schiff did not respond to a request for comment on Trump s remarks TRUMP SEEKS WHISTLEBLOWER S IDENTITY A U S intelligence official filed a whistleblower complaint citing the July 25 telephone call in which Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and his son Hunter who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company The whistleblower has not been publicly identified but Trump said on Monday that we re trying to find out about a whistleblower We have a whistleblower who reports things that were incorrect Trump has also accused the whistleblower and White House officials who gave the whistleblower information of being spies and suggested they may be guilty of treason The Intel NASDAQ INTC Community Whistleblower is entitled to anonymity Andrew Bakaj an attorney for the whistleblower said on Twitter shortly after the president s remarks Law and policy support this and the individual is not to be retaliated against Doing so is a violation of federal law Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday called on the committee s Republican chairman Lindsey Graham a close ally of Trump to convene hearings to investigate the administration s handling of the whistleblower s complaint and said the panel should act to protect witnesses from intimidation This Committee should not sit idly by as the President threatens potential witnesses whose testimony may be crucial to congressional investigations into credible allegations against him the Democrats wrote in a letter to Graham House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to move expeditiously on the impeachment inquiry perhaps paving the way for an impeachment vote on the House floor early next year While McConnell said on Monday that he would be forced to hold a trial he did not commit to letting it run its full course How long you re on it is a whole different matter McConnell told CNBC According to a Senate Republican leadership aide any senator could attempt to have the articles dismissed in the early stages of the trial which would trigger a vote with a majority of the Senate needing to be in favor for it to succeed Democrats accuse Trump of pressuring a vulnerable U S ally to get dirt on a rival for personal political gain The phone call with Zelenskiy came after Trump froze nearly 400 million in aid intended to help Ukraine deal with an insurgency by Russian backed separatists in the eastern part of the country The aid was later provided Schiff said on Sunday he expected the whistleblower to appear before the panel very soon MOVING AHEAD The U S Congress is on a two week recess but members of the Intelligence Committee will return to Washington this week to carry out an investigation likely to produce new subpoenas for documents and other material The committee is scheduled to hold a closed door hearing on Friday with the intelligence community s inspector general Michael Atkinson who has concluded that the whistleblower complaint was of urgent concern and appeared credible House investigators are set to take the first witness testimony from two people mentioned in the whistleblower s complaint On Wednesday three House committees Intelligence Foreign Affairs and Oversight are due to get a deposition from former U S Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch whom Trump labeled bad news during his call with Zelenskiy
On Thursday the committees are set to get a deposition from Kurt Volker who resigned last week as Trump s special representative for Ukraine after the whistleblower complaint named him as one of two U S diplomats who followed up with Ukrainian officials a day after Trump s call to Zelenskiy | 9/30/2019 |
INTC | Former Employees of JP Morgan Intel and TrustToken Launch Stablecoin | The Global Currency Organization GCO is launching a new U S dollar backed stablecoin dubbed the USD Digital USDD
In an Oct 1 press release shared with Cointelegraph the GCO announced the launch of the USDD a new stablecoin pegged to the U S dollar The organization which is a new project led by former employees of JPMorgan NYSE JPM Intel NASDAQ INTC and TrustToken said that it plans to make the stablecoin model available to a worldwide network of partners to focus on the possibility for end users to move between cryptocurrencies and fiat | 10/1/2019 |
INTC | Broadcom faces EU order to suspend some business practices source | By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS Reuters U S chipmaker Broadcom O AVGO will be told by EU antitrust regulators this month to suspend certain business practices including exclusivity clauses with TV and modem makers a person familiar with the matter said on Friday Such a decision would be the European Commission s first interim order in almost two decades The measure prohibits certain activities until the regulator completes its investigations which typically take several years and could pave the way for similar action against other tech companies The EU executive will brief national competition agencies on Oct 7 on its proposed interim measure before taking a formal decision and informing the company the person said The Commission declined to comment Broadcom did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment The company has previously said it did not expect a material impact on its set top box or broadband modem business from such a move by the Commission and that an interim measure would not preclude it from continuing to sell any products Interim measures are rare because of the high bar proving a company s practice would cause lasting harm to market competition The Commission s last order 18 years ago was thrown out by an EU court after the company then involved challenged it EU competition authorities opened the Broadcom investigation in June and detailed to the company why the interim measure might be necessary to avoid irreparable harm to the market Regulators are looking into Broadcom s practices such as exclusive purchasing obligations and tying rebates or other benefits to exclusive or minimum purchase requirements
Broadcom defended itself at a closed door hearing in August Participants included Intel O INTC MediaTek TW 2454 Quantenna which is a unit of ON Semiconductor O ON and Humax KQ 115160 | 10/5/2019 |
MSFT | StockBeat Slack Slumps as Competition From Microsoft Heats Up | Investing com Shares of messaging platform Slack Technologies NYSE WORK slumped on Tuesday on competition fears as a rival service from Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT appears to be gaining momentum following a surge in active users
Slack shares were down 9 7 at 20 86 at 2 p m ET 19 00 GMT
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT shares meanwhile rose 0 3 after the software giant said its workplace communication software platform Teams saw daily active users DAUs jump 54 to 20 million in October from 13 million in July
Slack meanwhile last month said it grew its DAU by 37 in a year
Underscoring the threat from Microsoft s Teams Wall Street has in recent weeks opted for caution
Just last week MKM Partners cut its price target on Slack to 28 from 38 citing competitive pressures from Teams
Wedbush meanwhile appears far less sanguine on the messaging platform with a price target of 14 amid worries that Teams represents a major hurdle to Slack s future growth prospects
Slack went public in June to much fanfare as it rallied 50 above its IPO price of 26 though the rally had raised valuation concerns But shares have slumped pretty much consistently since the IPO and are now 26 below their IPO price
The Wall Street Journal has also weighed in on the debate warning earlier this year that shares of Slack were running too hot as there was little evidence that companies were adopting the messaging platform exclusively
Slack in September reported second quarter results that topped estimates but its forecast for a slightly larger than expected loss for the third quarter stoked fears about its growth The workplace communications company said it expects to lose 8 cents to 9 cents a share wider than the consensus estimates for 7 cents a share from Factset | 11/19/2019 |
MSFT | Google enters gaming with cloud based streaming service Stadia | Reuters Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google on Tuesday launched Stadia a cloud based service that allows users to stream games including Assassin s Creed Odyssey and NBA 2K20 on Chrome web browser
The service will start with a slate of 22 games and stream 4K videos at 60 frames per second which can also be accessed through Google s Chromecast and Pixel devices
Google is offering the 4K version as part of its premium service Stadia Pro priced at 9 99 per month The free high definition version is expected to roll out next year
We have over 450 games in development right now that will be coming out in 2020 and beyond Google Vice President and General Manager Phil Harrison told Reuters
Stadia will need at least 10Mbps internet speed for the base 720p resolution and 35Mbps to stream games in 4K Early reviews of Stadia have complained of latency the time delay between pressing a button and getting the reaction on screen
The success of cloud gaming depends heavily on the underlying network and how much controlled latency traffic it can support during periods of peak demand said Steve Alexander chief technology officer at Ciena Corp a telecom equipment maker
Analysts are also pinning the success of Stadia on the content it offers as most of the games on the platform are already available on consoles
Stadia will live or die by its content said George Jijiashvili senior analyst at Ovum a brokerage firm adding that underwhelming number of launch titles was making it difficult to generate real excitement
Stadia will compete with Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Corp s Project xCloud which is likely to be launched next year and Nvidia s GeForce Now that is out on public beta
Sony also offers a game streaming platform PlayStation Now at 9 99 per month that includes over 800 games across its console titles
Google is billing Stadia for non gamers but it will need to work out some kinks to make it more attractive than a console or a personal computer Chaim Seigel an analyst with Elazar Advisors said
The service is currently available in 14 countries including the United Kingdom the United States Canada Norway France and Germany | 11/19/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Home Depot Kohls Energy Shares Weigh on Market | Investing com Stocks struggled to keep the big rally moving Tuesday but weakness in retail stocks pulled the Dow lower and kept the S P 500 in check
The S P 500 hit a new intraday high but just missed a new record close and sixth straight gain The NASDAQ Composite and Nasdaq 100 indexes did close at record levels and hit new intraday highs
The Dow Jones industrial fell 0 36 because of weak results and guidance from Home Depot NYSE HD
The S P 500 closed off about two points or 0 06 with the Nasdaq up 0 24 and the Nasdaq 100 up 0 12
Home Depot NYSE HD shares fell 5 4 and subtracted 88 points from the Dow by itself Discount department store chain Kohls NYSE KSS fell a whopping 19 5 after missing Street estimates for fiscal third quarter earnings
The problems of the two stocks spread across retailing generally causing declines in shares of Walmart NYSE WMT Macy s NYSE M and Lowe s Companies NYSE LOW which reports quarterly results on Wednesday
Commodity prices reacted to a threat by President Donald Trump to boost tariffs beyond levels scheduled to take effect on Dec 15 Gold moved higher but oil prices moved lower West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3 1 in New York
Oil stocks tumbled with crude and were the other big weight on stocks after retailers Chevron NYSE CVX Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM Apache NYSE APA Devon Energy NYSE DVN and Halliburton NYSE HAL were all lower
But overall stock investors seemed less alarmed by the Trump threat
Some good news hit the markets with bullish reports on housing starts and building permits which should be helped by lower interest rates
Boeing NYSE BA shares were lower however after reporting new orders for its troubled 737 MAX jetliner and 787 Dreamliner
Slack Technologies NYSE WORK shares slumped after Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT said some 20 million people now use its Teams messaging service up 50 plus since July Microsoft was higher | 11/19/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft Teams surpasses 20 million daily active users rival Slack shares slip | Reuters Microsoft Corp O MSFT said on Tuesday its workplace messaging app Teams has more than 20 million daily active users up from 13 million in July
The software maker offers the app as part of some Office365 business packages as well as a free version Teams allows users to chat share files make calls and hold web video conferences
Microsoft Teams used by companies such as General Electric N GE and SAP DE SAPG competes with Slack Technologies Inc N WORK
Slack whose customers include Electronic Arts Inc O EA and Nordstrom Inc N JWN reported more than 10 million daily active users in the second quarter ended July 31
Slack s shares fell 8 4 following the news to 21 18 They are down 45 from the close of their first day of trade in June
Microsoft Teams also competes with Workplace by Facebook Inc O FB and Cisco Systems Inc s O CSCO Webex Teams | 11/19/2019 |
MSFT | Serbia probes video purportedly showing Russian spy handing cash to Serbian agent | By Aleksandar Vasovic
BELGRADE Reuters Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ordered an investigation on Wednesday into a video clip that purportedly shows a Russian intelligence officer handing over money to a Serbian man in an incident that could strain normally warm bilateral relations
A Bulgaria based investigative reporter Christo Grozev said on his Twitter account at the weekend that the clip posted on YouTube showed the assistant military attache at Russia s embassy in Belgrade meeting a Serbian agent in a sting operation
Grozev said he used Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT face recognition software to identify the Russian man who wears a black leather jacket
The clip shows the two men warmly greeting each other in Belgrade drinking beer and exchanging plastic bags The Serb whose face is obscured later sits in a car takes an envelope from the bag and counts out the banknotes it contains
Russian officials in Moscow and Belgrade could not be immediately reached for comment
Announcing the president s decision to order an investigation Serbia s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic told the Serbian daily Blic If this turns out to be true this would be a serious matter and a problem for us
Serbia s Security and Information Agency BIA has confirmed the authenticity of the video the state Tanjug news agency said More information will be made public after Serbia s national Security Council meets on Thursday Tanjug added
The office of Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said he had traveled to Moscow on Wednesday for talks on security challenges and cooperation in combating crime with the head of Russia s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev It did not say whether the trip was connected to the video
Last month Sergey Naryshkin the head of Russia s Foreign Intelligence Service SVR said the two countries were performing complex mutual operations to protect their external interests without elaborating
Russia and Serbia both Slavic majority Orthodox Christian countries have strong political cultural and economic ties Moscow backs Belgrade in refusing to recognize the independence of Kosovo a former Serbian province
Serbia s armed forces use Russian technology jet fighters and tanks Serbia recently acquired Russia s Pantsyr anti aircraft weapon system risking sanctions from the United States
Serbia is also dependent on Russian oil and gas and the largest local oil company Naftna Industrija Srbije is majority owned by Russia s Gazprom MCX GAZP | 11/20/2019 |
MSFT | Factbox How social media services handle political ads | By Elizabeth Culliford SAN FRANCISCO Reuters Online platforms including Facebook NASDAQ FB and Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google face growing pressure to stop carrying political ads that contain false or misleading claims ahead of the U S presidential election In the United States the Communications Act prevents broadcast stations from rejecting or censoring ads from candidates for federal office once they have accepted advertising for that political race although this does not apply to cable networks like CNN or to social media sites where leading presidential candidates are spending millions to target voters in the run up to the November 2020 election The following is how social media platforms have decided to handle false or misleading claims in political ads FACEBOOK Facebook exempts politicians from its third party fact checking program allowing them to run ads with false claims The policy has been attacked by regulators and lawmakers who say it could spread misinformation and cause voter suppression Critics including Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren have also run intentionally false Facebook ads to highlight the issue Facebook s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has defended the company s stance arguing that it does not want to stifle political speech but he also said the company was considering ways to refine the policy Facebook does fact check content from political groups The company also says it fact checks politicians if they share previously debunked content and does not allow this content in ads TWITTER Twitter Inc NYSE TWTR has banned political ads In November it said this will include ads that reference a political candidate party election or legislation among other limits The company also said it will not allow ads that advocate for a specific outcome on political or social causes We believe political message reach should be earned not bought said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a statement last month Some lawmakers praised the ban but critics said Twitter s decision would benefit incumbent and hurt less well known candidates Officials from the Trump campaign which is out spending its Democratic rivals on Facebook and Google ads called the ban dumb but also said it would have little effect on the president s strategy The overall political ad spend for the 2018 U S midterm elections on Twitter was less than 3 million Twitter s Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said Twitter from an advertising perspective is not a player at all Facebook and Google are the giants in political ads said Steve Passwaiter vice president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group at Kantar Media GOOGLE Google said on Wednesday that it would limit audience targeting for election ads to age gender and general location at a postal code level The change means political advertisers can no longer target ads using data such as public voter records and general political affiliations such as right leaning left leaning or independent Advertisers can still do contextual targeting such as showing ads to users watching a certain video Google and its video streaming service YouTube prohibit certain kinds of misrepresentation in ads such as misinformation about public voting procedures political candidate eligibility based on age or birthplace or incorrect claims that a public figure has died Google does not have a wholesale ban on politicians running false or misleading ads In October when former Vice President Joe Biden s campaign asked the company to take down a Trump campaign ad that it said contained false claims a Google spokeswoman told Reuters it did not violate the site s policies SNAP Snap Inc NYSE SNAP allows political advertising unless the ads are misleading deceptive or violate the terms of service on its disappearing message app Snapchat The company which recently joined Facebook Twitter and Google in launching a public database of its political ads defines political ads as including election related advocacy and issue ads Snap does not ban attack ads in general but its policy does prohibit attacks relating to a candidate s personal life TIKTOK The Chinese owned video app popular with U S teenagers does not permit political advertising on the platform In an October blog post TikTok said that the company wants to make sure the platform continues to feel light hearted and irreverent The nature of paid political ads is not something we believe fits the TikTok platform experience wrote Blake Chandlee TikTok s vice president of global business solutions The app owned by Beijing based tech giant ByteDance has recently come under scrutiny from U S lawmakers concerned the company may be censoring politically sensitive content and raising questions about how it stores personal data REDDIT Social network Reddit allows ads related to political issues and ads from political candidates at the federal level but not for state or local elections It also does not allow ads about political issues elections or candidates outside of the United States The company says all political ads must abide by its policies that forbid deceptive untrue or misleading advertising and that prohibit content that depicts intolerant or overly contentious political or cultural topics or views LINKEDIN LinkedIn NYSE LNKD which is owned by Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT banned political ads last year It defines political ads as including ads advocating for or against a particular candidate or ballot proposition or otherwise intended to influence an election outcome Search engine Bing which is also owned by Microsoft does not allow ads with political or election related content PINTEREST Photo sharing site Pinterest NYSE PINS Inc also banned political campaign ads last year This includes advertising for political candidates political action committees PACs legislation or political issues with the intent to influence an election according to the site s ads policy We want to create a positive welcoming environment for our Pinners and political campaign ads are divisive by nature said Pinterest spokeswoman Jamie Favazza who told Reuters the decision was also part of the company s strategy to address misinformation TWITCH A spokeswoman for Twitch told Reuters the live streaming gaming network does not allow political advertising The site does not strictly ban all issue based advertising but the company considers whether an ad could be seen as political when it is reviewed the spokeswoman said
Twitch which is owned by Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN is primarily a video gaming platform but also has channels focused on sports music and politics In recent months political candidates such as U S President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders have joined the platform ahead of the 2020 election | 11/20/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft granted license to export mass market software to Huawei | By Stephen Nellis and Alexandra Alper Reuters Microsoft Corp O MSFT said on Thursday it had been granted a license from the U S government to export software to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd On November 20 the U S Department of Commerce granted Microsoft s request for a license to export mass market software to Huawei We appreciate the Department s action in response to our request a Microsoft spokesman told Reuters via email The administration of U S President Donald Trump said this week it would allow some suppliers to restart sales to the Chinese telecoms giant which was placed on a trade blacklist over national security concerns six months ago The Commerce Department confirmed it had begun issuing licenses for some companies to sell goods to Huawei expanding the company s supplier base and providing long awaited clarity to the industry that once sold it billions of dollars worth of goods On Wednesday a U S official said it had received roughly 300 license requests about half of which had been processed Roughly half of those or one quarter of the total had been approved and the rest denied It was not immediately clear which products had been approved for sale to Huawei which is the world s top telecommunications equipment maker and second largest smartphone maker A person familiar with the process said Wednesday that some licenses for sales of cellphone components and non electronic components were approved Microsoft declined to comment beyond its statement on which products had been approved and the Commerce Department declined to comment Dan Ives an analyst with Wedbush Securities said the license was most likely for the company s Windows operating system This will be a major relief for Huawei after an arduous period with large technology players like Microsoft Google and others restricted on the platform Ives said Huawei has been anxiously awaiting a license for Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google to supply its mobile services to new models Without access to Google services such as its Play Store for apps Huawei phones will become harder to sell to consumers outside of China Google declined to comment on Thursday The granting of licenses comes as the Trump administration is working to sign a phase one trade deal with China to end a tit for tat trade war that has roiled markets and hit global growth But the move immediately met with opposition A bipartisan group of 15 senators urged the Commerce Department to suspend the issuing of licenses saying it could threaten U S security
In a letter on Thursday to Trump the senators said the administration should halt issuing licenses until it provides Congress a report outlining specific criteria for determining whether or not the approval of any license poses a national security threat | 11/21/2019 |
INTC | Vodafone tests new network tech in UK in challenge to big three suppliers | By Paul Sandle
LONDON Reuters Vodafone LON VOD is testing innovative open access radio technology in Britain a first for Europe in a move that could break the grip Huawei Ericsson BS ERICAs and Nokia HE NOKIA hold on the telco equipment market
OpenRAN which has been developed by Vodafone and Intel NASDAQ INTC standardizes the design of hardware and software in the infrastructure masts and antennae that make up the radio access network that carries mobile calls and data
Vodafone the world s second largest mobile operator has trialled the technology in laboratories in South Africa and deployed it in Turkey to deliver 2G and 4G services to customers in both urban and rural areas It could enable customers to make calls and access data at lower cost
Chief Executive Nick Read said it was ready to fast track OpenRAN into Europe as it sought to expand its list of vendors
OpenRAN improves the network economics enabling us to reach more people in rural communities and that supports our goal to build digital societies in which no one is left behind he said on Sunday
The mobile network equipment sector is dominated by three companies China s Huawei Sweden Ericsson and Finland s Nokia Operators generally deploy kit from at least two of them to reduce reliance on a single supplier
Huawei however has been blacklisted by the United States over concerns denied by the company that its equipment could be used for spying
U S mobile networks are therefore barred from using some Huawei equipment and Washington is urging European countries to follow suit
Industry lobby group GSMA which represents 750 mobile operators has said a ban on Chinese suppliers would add 62 billion to the costs of 5G networks in Europe although other analysis has put the figure lower
Vodafone said it was working with companies including U S based Parallel Wireless and Mavenir and UK based Lime Microsystems on OpenRAN technology
It said it would launch OpenRAN in 120 rural areas in Britain on Monday and would start trials in Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo | 10/6/2019 |
MSFT | Why Now Is a Good Time to Start Worrying About a U S China Trade Deal | Bloomberg Now is a good time to start worrying about that trade deal
No nothing bad has happened yet There has in fact been many signs of progress White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow described negotiations as coming down to the short strokes China s chief trade negotiator says he s cautiously optimistic both sides have lowered barriers on poultry imports and the U S extended exemptions for American companies doing business with Huawei But that s the problem The outlines of a phase one trade deal are appearing more solid by the day and if recent history is a guide this is when things go wrong
The first example was back in May 2018 when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He traveled to Washington and seemed to strike a deal to avoid tariffs That didn t stick of course President Donald Trump decided to go ahead with levies leaving Beijing to fume about American flip flops
A replay occurred in May this year Trump again raised tariffs on Chinese goods as the two sides appeared to near a deal but this time it was Washington that accused Beijing of going back on previously agreed to terms
Here we are again Negotiators appear to be making progress on a deal with it emerging this week that the sides are talking about how to determine the magnitude of tariff roll back that a phase one deal might include But there are now fresh obstacles
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has sent Trump legislation supporting Hong Kong protesters and the president is expected to sign the bill into law Beijing which has publicly pledged retaliation will find it difficult not to follow through Whether that combination is enough to derail a trade deal is an open question
Hong Kong
Hong Kong in the past week has seen some of its most dramatic scenes yet as police confronted protesters who d fortified themselves inside a university campus They included burning barricades flaming Molotov cocktails and violent clashes between police and protesters The scenes also renewed worries that further escalation could prompted the mobilization of Chinese soldiers concern that was further fanned when members of the People s Liberation Army garrison in the city emerged to help clean up local streets
Share Sale
The turmoil that s gripped Hong Kong for almost half a year didn t stop Alibaba NYSE BABA from moving forward with an enormous share sale this week The Chinese e commerce giant raised about 11 billion in Hong Kong s largest listing since 2010 It could swell Alibaba s cash pile to 44 billion about twice as much as fellow Chinese tech titan Tencent has Some of the places that money could go include investing to grow the company s business in Southeast Asia or to bolster its efforts in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence
Foothills of a Cold War
Trade tensions a shaky outlook for the world economy and the risk of a catastrophic conflict dominated discussions on the first day of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing Former U S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said the U S and China were in the foothills of a Cold War and warned that the conflict could be worse than World War I if left to run unconstrained Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT founder Bill Gates said he was more passionate about the value of engagement than ever and worried about those promoting a U S China decoupling He didn t see how such bifurcation would be feasible in the technology sphere where research is published across geographical boundaries AI is very hard to put back in the bottle Gates said The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group a division of Bloomberg LP the parent company of Bloomberg News
Lending Costs
China s central bank this week continued its efforts to lower the cost of lending In addition to cutting its loan prime rate the People s Bank of China offered money to financial institutions at a lower cost through its medium lending facility and also its short term open market operations And why not A slew of data released this month have pointed to continued weakness in the economy But it s not as simple as that The PBOC must balance its desire to stabilize the economy with the need to manage the country s substantial pile of debt Getting that balance wrong could portend dire consequences
What We re Reading
And finally a few other things that caught our eye
How Apple NASDAQ AAPL Trump and the trade war collide Chinese parents are testing their children s DNA Hong Kong protests spur some to shun public schools How well has Apple s new iPhone been selling in China The deadly swine fever closes in on a top supplier of pork To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story John Liu in Beijing at jliu42 bloomberg net
To contact the editor responsible for this story Malcolm Scott at mscott23 bloomberg net
2019 Bloomberg L P | 11/21/2019 |
MSFT | U S watchdog backs Bezos protest over key Pentagon launch program | WASHINGTON Reuters A U S watchdog on Monday backed a protest from Jeff Bezos space company that challenged the Pentagon s military space launch procurement strategy showing support for one of the Amazon billionaire s disputes with major agency procurement programs The Government Accountability Office GAO sustained part of a bid protest from Blue Origin that argued the Air Force s decision to pick just two of four competing rocket companies to launch the country s next lineup of defense satellites for the next five years is flawed Bezos Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN also challenged the Pentagon s recent decision to award a 10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT claiming politics spoiled a fair contracting process Blue Origin founded by Bezos in 2000 filed its protest in August claiming the Air Force program contains a number of flaws preventing offerers from intelligently preparing their proposals and squashes nascent competition by locking out non selected providers for over 5 years The total contract value for the program called Launch Services Procurement LSP Phase 2 is unknown but is expected to be worth billions of dollars assigning the Pentagon s next 34 launches of defense satellites from 2022 to 2027 to two companies The GAO said Monday the Air Force program s basis for award is inconsistent with applicable procurement law and regulation and recommended the agency change the rules of its solicitation If the Air Force disagrees with the GAO s recommendation it would be the first time an agency did so since 2015 setting the stage for the U S Congress to intervene Of the nearly 2 000 protest affirmations from the GAO since 2015 only one agency formally declined to implement GAO s recommendations The Air Force has said it does not plan to revise the terms of the LSP solicitation due to this protest believing its current approach is best for national security and open competition Congress in 2014 moved to wean the U S off its dependency on rockets using Russia s RD 180 engine for military launches before 2022 by initiating the Air Force LSP which expects to pick the two award winners by the end of 2020 United Launch Alliance ULA a joint venture between Boeing NYSE BA Co and Lockheed Martin Corp NYSE LMT whose Atlas 5 rocket uses the RD 180 has long dominated the military launch market lofting the bulk of U S defense satellites to space since its formation in 2006 Elon Musk s SpaceX sued the government in 2014 over a multi billion dollar ULA deal with the Air Force for 36 launches SpaceX dropped the lawsuit after the Air Force agreed to open up competition
Northrop Grumman Corp NYSE NOC SpaceX and ULA have also submitted rocket proposals to the Air Force which is expected to make a final decision by the end of 2020 | 11/18/2019 |
INTC | U S trade regulators approve some Apple tariff exemptions amid broader reprieve | By Stephen Nellis Reuters U S trade regulators on Friday approved 10 out of 15 requests for tariff exemptions filed by Apple Inc O AAPL amid a broader reprieve on levies on computer parts according to a public docket published by the U S Trade Representative and a Federal Register notice The move by U S officials could make it easier for both Apple and small makers of gaming computers to assemble devices in the United States by lowering the costs of importing parts Apple did not say why it requested the exemptions but the requests were for components such as partially completed circuit boards Apple manufactures its Mac Pro computers in Texas making the machine immune from tariffs but such intermediate parts were subject to the levies Apple did not immediately return a request for comment The Mac Pro computer starts at 6 000 and is intended for users such as music and motion picture studios Due to its specialized design the device has never sold in large numbers But it became a political flashpoint earlier this year when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was moving production to China Apple never publicly commented on its exact production plans but U S tariffs on Chinese goods complicated the assembly of PCs in the United States The third list of U S tariffs that went into effect last year placed levies on both some fully assembled PCs as well as the major components to make them meaning manufacturers faced cost increases even if they made machines in the United States The tariffs also hit the PC gaming industry where enthusiasts often assemble their own custom machines from parts many from China Apple applied for the exemptions for some components but President Donald Trump said U S regulators would not grant them Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook later said during the company s July 30 earnings call that Apple wanted to keep making Mac Pros in the United States We want to continue to be here he told analysts on the call adding that Apple was investing in capacity to do so
On Friday trade officials lifted tariffs on a range of computer components for Apple and all other manufacturers including partially assembled main circuit boards and graphics cards Those are critical to computer assemblers because they contain chips from Intel Corp O INTC Nvidia Corp O NVDA and Advanced Micro Devices Inc O AMD Those chips are typically some of the most expensive parts in the machines | 9/20/2019 |
MSFT | U S defense chief rejects Amazon s accusations of bias in cloud contract | By Phil Stewart SEOUL Reuters U S Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday rejected any suggestion of bias in a Pentagon decision to award Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT an up to 10 billion cloud computing contract after Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN announced plans to challenge it I am confident it was conducted freely and fairly without any type of outside influence Esper told a news conference in Seoul even as he noted that he had recused himself from the cloud competition Amazon says that politics got in the way of a fair contracting process President Donald Trump has long criticized Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos In a company wide meeting on Thursday Amazon Web Services chief executive Andy Jassy said it would be challenging for a U S agency to award a contract objectively when the president is disparaging one of the contestants according to an Amazon spokesman Amazon was considered a favorite for the contract part of a broader digital modernization process of the Pentagon before Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner In October Esper removed himself from reviewing the deal due to his son s employment with one of the original contract applicants IBM NYSE IBM Corp IBM had previously bid for the contract but had already been eliminated from the competition Esper said he was unaware of Amazon s specific accusations His remarks followed a question about whether Trump asked the Pentagon to bypass Amazon for the contract A challenge to the Defense Department s award announced last month was widely expected by legal experts analysts and consultants especially after Trump publicly derided Amazon s bid for the high stakes contract Trump had said in August that Amazon s bid for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud known as JEDI contract was under review by his administration after complaints from other companies In a new book retired Navy commander Guy Snodgrass who served as a speech writer to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump called Mattis and directed him to screw Amazon by preventing it from bidding on the JEDI contract We re not going to do that Mattis later told other Pentagon officials according to the book
This will be done by the book both legally and ethically | 11/15/2019 |
MSFT | U S Supreme Court to hear Google bid to end Oracle copyright suit | By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON Reuters The U S Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Google s bid to escape Oracle NYSE ORCL Corp s multi billion dollar lawsuit accusing Google of infringing software copyrights to build the Android operating system that runs most of the world s smartphones Google has appealed a lower court ruling reviving the suit in which Oracle has sought at least 8 billion in damages A jury cleared Google in 2016 but the U S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington overturned that decision in 2018 finding that Google s inclusion of Oracle s software code in Android did not constitute a fair use under U S copyright law The justices will hear arguments in the case during their current term with a ruling due by the end of June Oracle and Google two California based technology giants with combined annual revenues of more than 175 billion have been feuding since Oracle sued for copyright infringement in 2010 in San Francisco federal court The Supreme Court in 2015 rebuffed a previous Google appeal in the case The outcome of the suit could help shape the level of copyright protection for software Google part of Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc said an Oracle victory would chill software innovation The company welcomed the court s decision to hear the appeal Developers should be able to create applications across platforms and not be locked into one company s software Senior Vice President Kent Walker said in a statement Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said the company is confident the Supreme Court will preserve software copyrights and reject Google s continuing efforts to avoid responsibility for copying Oracle s innovations Google was backed by Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and groups that defend the rights of internet users President Donald Trump s administration backed Oracle in the case urging the justices in a written brief to turn away Google s appeal Oracle accused Google of copying thousands of lines of computer code from its popular Java programming language without a license in order to make Android a competing platform that has harmed Oracle s business The case has whipsawed since the start with Google twice losing at the Federal Circuit In 2014 the appeals court reversed a federal judge s ruling that Oracle s interfaces could not be copyrighted Google appealed that finding to the Supreme Court but after the Justice Department under former President Barack Obama recommended against hearing the case the justices declined The Federal Circuit in 2018 said Google s incorporation of Oracle s application programming interfaces was not permitted under the so called fair use doctrine of the 1976 Copyright Act rejecting Google s argument that by adapting them to a mobile platform it transformed them into something new The stakes are now too high for the justices to ignore Google said in its latest appeal calling the Federal Circuit s rulings a devastating one two punch at the software industry The shortcut commands that Google copied into Android do not warrant copyright protection because they help developers write programs to work across platforms a key to software innovation and the information age Google said in a legal filings adding that its use was fair Google said its actions prevented Oracle from locking in developers familiar with the Java language into building applications only for Oracle s platform Oracle said the concerns raised about innovation were overblown and that if a commercial platform developer does not want to license Java it can make its own platform without copying
Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Microsoft did it Oracle said | 11/15/2019 |
INTC | StockBeat Intel Climbs but Citi Warns of Risks Ahead | Investing com Intel NASDAQ INTC shares were rising strongly Wednesday along with chip stocks generally but a report from Citigroup has warned that the chipmaker faces a bumpy road in the second half of the end of the year with rival Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD hot on its tail
Citigroup NYSE C raised concerns about the downside to consensus estimates and the risk to Intel s second half guidance given the potential for a slowdown in PC shipments as tariff driven pull ins fade
Intel NASDAQ INTC climbed more than 1 5 in tandem with the lift in the broader sector with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 1 1
Notebook units increased 5 month over month in August which was below Intel s expectations by roughly 6 according to a report by Citigroup NYSE C Christopher Danely The sales shortfall was blamed on the weaker shipments in the second quarter following a tough comparative from a year earlier when vendors ramped up orders ahead of US imposed tariffs on China
As well as the inventory correction for microprocessors competition from Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD is also expected to muddy the outlook on fourth quarter growth for Intel NASDAQ INTC according to Citi
The update comes as expectations have dimmed that Intel NASDAQ INTC CPU shortages would normalize sooner rather than later with a Taiwanese ODM last month reportedly saying the shortage could remain around until the beginning of 2020
The shortage of chips has proved a drag on the market over the last several months impacting small and midsize vendors that struggled to secure CPUs That however opened up the door for rival AMD to scoop up new business at the lower end of market
Citi maintained its neutral rating and 53 price target on shares of Intel NASDAQ INTC which are up nearly 11 for the year so far The investing com consensus target is 52 67 | 9/11/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Near All Time Highs as China Offers Trade Hopes | Investing com The Dow is set to pass its intraday record high on Friday and other indexes were also near record highs after upbeat trade news from China while an upside surprise on core inflation wasn t seen as enough to stop the Federal Reserve cutting rates next week
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 25 points or 0 3 by 6 45 AM ET 10 45 GMT while Dow futures gained 101 points or 0 4 and S P 500 futures were up 9 points or 0 3
China will exempt some agricultural products from more tariffs on U S goods China s official Xinhua News Agency said on Friday the first substantial move by the Chinese side in some time Both sides have made conciliatory gestures ahead of planned trade talks in the coming weeks U S President Donald Trump delayed a tariff increase on some Chinese goods earlier this week
Bellwether stock Caterpillar NYSE CAT was up 0 4 while Intel NASDAQ INTC gained 0 3 and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT rose 0 4 Tesla NASDAQ TSLA inched up 0 3 while Netflix NASDAQ NFLX was up 0 4
Elsewhere Apple NASDAQ AAPL fell 0 8 while British American Tobacco NYSE BTI slipped 2 1
In commodities crude oil fell 0 1 to 55 05 a barrel Gold futures were up 0 3 to 1 512 15 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies slipped 0 3 to 98 045 | 9/13/2019 |
MSFT | Proof of Authority Algorithm Use Cases Grow From Pharma to Games | While the proof of authority consensus algorithm is turning into perhaps one of the most mature versions of blockchain technology It is faster than other algorithms more scalable and does not depend on mining Market leaders Walmart NYSE WMT and GE Aviation are using PoA to track supply chains and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT has created a whole line of PoA based enterprise products
Nevertheless there is something in this innovative mechanism that contradicts the basic principles of cryptocurrencies decentralization and anonymity Cointelegraph talked to technology companies to find out how PoA products work and what benefits the use of this algorithm brings them | 11/16/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft updates terms on data privacy amid EU probe | BRUSSELS Reuters Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT said on Monday it was updating the privacy provisions of its commercial cloud contracts after European regulators found its deals with European Union institutions failed to protect data in line with EU law
The EDPS the EU s data watchdog opened an investigation in April to assess whether Microsoft s contracts with the European Commission and other EU institutions met data protection rules It raised concerns about compliance in October
In a statement on its website addressing the issue Microsoft said We will increase our data protection responsibilities for a subset of processing that Microsoft engages in when we provide enterprise services
The company the only major cloud provider to offer such terms in the European Economic Area and beyond expects to offer the new provisions to public sector and enterprise customers in early 2020 | 11/18/2019 |
MSFT | NewsBreak Stocks Flat as Investors Seek Trade News | Investing com Stocks were modestly higher Monday afternoon and the major indexes hit new intraday highs on the hope of some sort of U S China trade deal
The S P 500 Dow Jones industrials the NASDAQ Composite and Nasdaq 100 indexes hit new intraday highs The S P 500 was up nearly 0 1 or 3 points at 2 50 p m ET 19 50 GMT The Dow had added 0 1 or 28 points The NASDAQ Composite and Nasdaq 100 indexes were up 0 2 and 0 3 The gains came after a strong rally Friday that pushed stocks to record highs
The U S China negotiations appeared to be stalled despite Trump Administration assurances last week that negotiations were progressing But reports from Bloomberg News and CNBC painted more complicated pictures of the status of the talks with intense disputes inside the Trump Administration and Chinese pessimism a deal can be done Still Wall Street is assuming a deal even a modest one will get done
The Administration did agree to a new 90 day extension that lets U S companies continue doing business with China s Huawei Technologies Co as U S regulators continue crafting rules on telecommunications firms that pose national security risks Semiconductor stocks moved higher
Apple NASDAQ AAPL Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Applied Materials NASDAQ AMAT Lululemon Athletica Inc NASDAQ LULU and O Reilly Automotive NASDAQ ORLY were among stocks hitting new highs Monday | 11/18/2019 |
INTC | Malaysia fast tracks investments to win trade war business | By Krishna N Das
KUALA LUMPUR Reuters Malaysia has set up a panel to fast track investments as it seeks to woo businesses affected by the U S China trade dispute and it approved more than 500 million in new proposals this month a government minister said
An increasing number of U S and Chinese businesses have been moving manufacturing out of China to escape tit for tat tariffs imposed on each other s products
Malaysia s new National Committee on Investment I NCII aims to encourage investment in Southeast Asia s third biggest economy and it approved investments worth 2 2 billion ringgit 526 million in its first meeting the minister said
If approvals took three months earlier now it would take a month from when the documentation is complete to when the committee will approve it Ong Kian Ming deputy minister in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry told Reuters
It would try to expedite investments that are relocating because of the U S China trade conflict he said in a recent interview
Vietnam has been widely seen as the biggest beneficiary of businesses relocating to escape the higher U S tariffs on goods produced in China but Thailand has also introduced a package of incentives to attract relocations
Foreign direct investment FDI to Malaysia nearly doubled to 50 billion ringgit 12 billion in the first half of this year of which over half went to manufacturing Ong said he was hopeful of an even bigger rise in the second half of the year
The new committee is headed by the ministers of finance and international trade and industry and they have the authority approve incentives immediately Ong declined to give details of the specific deals it had approved
U S investment topped 5 62 billion in the first half of 2019 and Ong said he expected that to pick up further
Intel Corp O INTC Dell Technologies Inc N DELL and On Semiconductor Corp O ON are the lead players in Malaysia s well established electrical electronics E E industry
We do see re investments coming from existing U S companies and new E E players coming to Malaysia I know of at least one company that has expressed its very serious interest to come to Malaysia This is a new factory that will be built he said without identifying the company
Ong said the number of investment applications from China had risen in recent months and its FDI could rise in the last six months after dipping to 5 1 billion ringgit in the first half from 5 69 billion ringgit a year earlier | 9/17/2019 |
INTC | Apple Is Suffering an Identity Crisis With Consumers in China | Bloomberg The trade war is taking its toll on Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL a new survey of Chinese consumer attitudes shows
The company tumbled to No 24 in an annual report on China s top brands falling from No 11 a year ago In 2017 before the trade war started Apple was fifth in this ranking Meanwhile Apple s biggest local rival Huawei Technologies Co climbed two spots and came in second behind only Chinese payment service Alipay
The shuffle in the rankings is a sign of the growing challenge American brands face in the second year of Donald Trump s tariff showdown with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping The survey findings show Chinese consumers growing cooler towards some American brands especially after Huawei saw its Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou arrested in Canada last year at the behest of the U S government
Trump followed with a ban on Huawei products which helped fuel a surge of local support for the Shenzhen based brand according to Jay Milliken senior partner in Hong Kong with Prophet the San Francisco based consultancy that conducted the survey of 13 500 Chinese consumers
Nationalistic Buying
There s a lot of nationalistic buying in that category because Chinese consumers interpreted what happened to Huawei as an attack he said
Patriotism helped fuel the rise of other Chinese brands too Sportswear maker Li Ning Co cracked the top 40 for the first time ranked No 34 just two spots behind market leader Nike Inc NYSE NKE
Named after its founder the famous gymnast Li Ning capitalized on nationalistic sentiments of many Chinese consumers with the launch last year of a China Li Ning collection at New York Fashion Week that heavily used red and yellow China s national colors
There were only two American names in the top ten this year Android at No 3 and Intel NASDAQ INTC at No 9 compared to five in the 2017 survey
Switching Allegiances
Unlike Apple Android and Intel don t have to worry about consumers switching allegiances to local competitors Milliken said and that explains why they manage to remain highly ranked
Some Western brands are so integral in the lives of Chinese consumers they re almost predisposed to not losing relevance he said There are no Chinese alternatives so those remain super relevant
Geopolitical tensions aren t the only problem Apple faces in China its biggest market after the U S
While Beijing is pushing to make the country a leader in the introduction of high speed 5G networks Apple s phones even the newly announced iPhone 11 don t support that latest wireless standard
Prophet s survey conducted annually asks Chinese consumers in large cities to rank 258 brands across 27 categories | 9/18/2019 |
INTC | Apple s Brand in China Takes a Hit From Backlash Against Trump | Bloomberg The trade war is taking its toll on Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL a new survey of Chinese consumer attitudes shows
The company tumbled to No 24 in an annual report on China s top brands falling from No 11 a year ago In 2017 before the trade war started Apple was fifth in this ranking Meanwhile Apple s biggest local rival Huawei Technologies Co climbed two spots and came in second behind only Chinese payment service Alipay
The shuffle in the rankings is a sign of the growing challenge American brands face in the second year of Donald Trump s tariff showdown with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping The survey findings show Chinese consumers growing cooler towards some American brands especially after smartphone giant Huawei saw its Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou arrested in Canada last year at the behest of the U S government
Trump followed with a ban on Huawei products which helped fuel a surge of local support for the Shenzhen based brand according to Jay Milliken senior partner in Hong Kong with Prophet the San Francisco based consultancy that conducted the survey of 13 500 Chinese consumers
Prophet s survey conducted annually this year asked Chinese consumers in large cities for their views on more than 250 brands across 27 categories Respondents evaluated brands they used or were considering using rating rated their relevance to the lives of consumers based on qualities such as innovation usefulness and dependability
Nationalistic Buying
There s a lot of nationalistic buying in that category because Chinese consumers interpreted what happened to Huawei as an attack he said
Patriotism helped fuel the rise of other Chinese brands too Sportswear maker Li Ning Co cracked the top 40 for the first time ranked No 34 just two spots behind market leader Nike Inc NYSE NKE
Named after its founder the famous gymnast Li Ning capitalized on the nationalistic sentiments of many Chinese consumers with the launch last year of a China Li Ning collection at New York Fashion Week that heavily used red and yellow China s national colors
There were only two American names in the top ten this year Android at No 3 and Intel NASDAQ INTC at No 9 compared to five in the 2017 survey
Switching Allegiances
Unlike Apple Android and Intel don t have to worry about consumers switching allegiances to local competitors Milliken said and that explains why they manage to remain highly ranked
Some Western brands are so integral in the lives of Chinese consumers they re almost predisposed to not losing relevance he said There are no Chinese alternatives so those remain super relevant
Geopolitical tensions aren t the only problem Apple faces in China its biggest market after the U S
While Beijing is pushing to make the country a leader in the introduction of high speed 5G networks Apple s phones even the newly announced iPhone 11 don t support that latest wireless standard | 9/19/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Rises on Microsoft s Infectious Optimism | Investing com Wall Street opened higher on Thursday as signs of confidence from Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and gains in chip stocks offset mixed signals from the Federal Reserve
The Dow rose 57 points or 0 2 by 9 44 AM ET 13 44 GMT while the S P 500 gained 7 points or 0 3 and the Nasdaq composite was up 38 points or 0 5
The Fed cut rates by 25 basis points at its policy meeting on Wednesday largely in line with expectations But the market sold off after guidance from Fed chair Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank didn t expect a slowdown in the economy anytime soon
Powell noted only that if the economy does turn down then a more extensive sequence of rate cuts could be appropriate
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT helped markets rise jumping 2 after it increased its quarterly dividend by 5 cents bringing it to 0 51 per share and announced a new stock buyback worth up to 40 billion The measures were taken as a welcome sign of corporate confidence suggesting that corporate spending may not be as weak as dismal figures from FedEx NYSE FDX had suggested on Tuesday
Semiconductor companies were higher with Advanced Micro Devices Inc NASDAQ AMD rising 0 9 NVIDIA Corporation NASDAQ NVDA up 0 1 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC gaining 0 3
AT T NYSE T was 0 9 higher after a report in the Wall Street Journal suggested it s planning to spin off its DirecTV arm one of the acquisitions criticized as wasteful by activist investor Elliott Management when it unveiled its stake in the company last week
Beyond Meat NASDAQ BYND jumped 1 1 after the company was rated overweight in new coverage at Barclays LON BARC The analysts said the plant based burger company was in a position to capture a significant share of the market
Meanwhile Darden Restaurants NYSE DRI stock slipped 3 2 after the parent company of chain Olive Garden reported mixed earnings with revenue coming in below forecasts as comparable restaurant sales rose less than expected
In commodities the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was down 0 3 to 97 845 and gold futures slipped 0 4 to 1 509 45 a troy ounce Crude oil futures rose 1 3 to 58 81 a barrel | 9/19/2019 |
INTC | Stocks S P Falls on Trade Jitters Tech Weakness | Investing com Stocks fell back Friday as Wall Street worried that U S China trade talks had hit a snag
The pullback pushed the major indexes into a small weekly loss the first after three weeks of gains
The S P 500 was off 0 5 and ended below 3 000 a level that may be emerging as a pivot point for the market going forward
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0 6 or nearly 160 points and close to its low on the day The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0 8 and the Nasdaq 100 index was off nearly 1
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN Apple NASDAQ AAPL Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Netflix NASDAQ NFLX combined to contribute 42 points to the Nasdaq 100 s decline
In addition the market was seeing volatility from a quadruple witching hour a rare simultaneous settlement of futures and options of single stocks and stock indexes
The trade jitters were the big reason for the market s fall and started on a reports that a Chinese agricultural delegation decided not to visit farms in Nebraska and Montana and instead headed home The worry was that cancellations were a signal the trade talks between the U S and China weren t going well
President Donald Trump said during the day that it would take more than agriculture purchases to settle the trade dispute but there was no official explanation for the departures
The jitters hit tech stocks hard
Chip stocks were also lower including Xilinx NASDAQ XLNX Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO and Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Intel NASDAQ INTC was the weakest of the Dow stocks
In addition shares of streaming company Roku NASDAQ ROKU fell 19 after an analyst issued a sell rating and price target of 60 on the stock
Health care stocks were higher after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pronounced a drug pricing proposal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dead on arrival
Merck NYSE MRK was the top Dow stock on the day Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ was third
Interest rates moved lower even as two Federal Reserve officials argued over whether interest rates should be cut more Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren is worried about inflating hard assets like real estate James Bullard of the St Louis Fed is more worried about economic slowdown The 10 Year Treasury yield fell to 1 722 from Thursday s 1 774
Crude oil had been higher for much of the day but fell back at the close although it ended the week up more than 6 Gold futures and the dollar moved higher | 9/20/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks lower at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0 59 | Investing com U S stocks were lower after the close on Friday as losses in the Consumer Services Technology and Industrials sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0 59 while the S P 500 index declined 0 49 and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0 80
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck Company Inc NYSE MRK which rose 1 42 or 1 19 points to trade at 85 16 at the close Meanwhile Dow Inc NYSE DOW added 1 20 or 0 57 points to end at 48 21 and Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ was up 1 18 or 1 54 points to 131 65 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC which fell 1 65 or 0 85 points to trade at 50 72 at the close Home Depot Inc NYSE HD declined 1 51 or 3 45 points to end at 224 67 and Caterpillar Inc NYSE CAT was down 1 51 or 1 96 points to 128 16
The top performers on the S P 500 were Incyte Corporation NASDAQ INCY which rose 3 96 to 81 21 Align Technology Inc NASDAQ ALGN which was up 3 43 to settle at 186 54 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ REGN which gained 3 40 to close at 295 87
The worst performers were Xilinx Inc NASDAQ XLNX which was down 6 82 to 96 55 in late trade Netflix Inc NASDAQ NFLX which lost 5 53 to settle at 270 75 and MSCI Inc NYSE MSCI which was down 4 10 to 225 73 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Reebonz Holding Ltd NASDAQ RBZ which rose 32 99 to 2 58 Benitec Biopharma Ltd ADR NASDAQ BNTC which was up 18 86 to settle at 0 8201 and Replimune Group Inc NASDAQ REPL which gained 16 75 to close at 16 87
The worst performers were USA Technologies Inc NASDAQ USAT which was down 34 77 to 4 990 in late trade Francescas Holdings NASDAQ FRAN which lost 24 80 to settle at 11 16 and AEterna Zentaris Inc NASDAQ AEZS which was down 22 42 to 1 280 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1454 to 1401 and 101 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1346 rose and 1328 declined while 70 ended unchanged
Shares in AEterna Zentaris Inc NASDAQ AEZS fell to 52 week lows losing 22 42 or 0 370 to 1 280
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 9 04 to 15 32
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1 19 or 17 85 to 1524 05 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0 38 or 0 22 to hit 58 41 a barrel while the November Brent oil contract rose 0 36 or 0 23 to trade at 64 63 a barrel
EUR USD was down 0 21 to 1 1017 while USD JPY fell 0 40 to 107 56
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 24 at 98 085 | 9/20/2019 |
MSFT | Amazon challenges Pentagon s 10 billion cloud award to Microsoft | By Jeffrey Dastin and David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters Amazon com Inc O AMZN on Thursday said it is contesting the Pentagon s award of an up to 10 billion cloud computing deal to Microsoft Corp O MSFT expressing concern that politics got in the way of a fair contracting process The company filed notice last Friday that it will formally protest the decision on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud known as JEDI In a company wide meeting on Thursday Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy said it would be challenging for a U S agency to award a contract objectively when the president is disparaging one of the contestants according to an Amazon spokesman President Donald Trump has long criticized Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos The company confirmed Jassy s comments and said Numerous aspects of the JEDI evaluation process contained clear deficiencies errors and unmistakable bias and it s important that these matters be examined and rectified The Federal Times earlier reported the news A challenge to the Defense Department s award announced last month was widely expected by legal experts analysts and consultants especially after Trump publicly derided Amazon s bid for the high stakes contract Trump had said in August that Amazon s bid for the JEDI contract was under review by his administration after complaints from other companies Amazon was considered a favorite for the contract part of a broader digital modernization process of the Pentagon before Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner | 11/14/2019 |
MSFT | Saudi Aramco prospectus flags risks gives few details on IPO size | By Saeed Azhar Hadeel Al Sayegh Aziz El Yaakoubi and Maher Chmaytelli
DUBAI Reuters Saudi state oil giant Aramco will sell up to 0 5 of its shares to individual retail investors and will be restricted from issuing additional shares for a year after the initial public offering IPO its prospectus said on Saturday
Aramco fired the starting gun on what is likely be the world s largest listing on Nov 3 after a series of delays The offering set to rank it as the world s most valuable company will begin on Nov 17 the prospectus said
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to sell the shares to raise billions of dollars to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in non energy industries
Bankers think the long awaited IPO will value Aramco around 1 5 trillion
The more than 600 page prospectus published on Saturday did not include details of how much of the company would be floated in total or of any commitments from cornerstone investors
Sources have said the company could sell 1 2 on the Saudi stock market If the government sells 2 of Aramco shares the retail offering could account for 25 or 10 billion of the deal size at the top valuation of 2 trillion
The prospectus which revealed few details did not say how the government will use the proceeds from the sale
The prospectus said that among the risks for investors were the potential for terrorist attacks and the potential for encountering antitrust legislation as well as the right of the Saudi government to decide maximum crude output and direct Aramco to undertake projects outside its core business
Aramco may also change its dividend policy without prior notice to its minority shareholders it said
Apart from the oil price of course the main risks are the degree to which Aramco needs to shoulder the burden of OPEC Plus output restraint allocation of capital into projects which maximise value for Saudi overall as opposed to Aramco minority shareholders physical security risks and the dividend payout ratio in the long term said Hasnain Malik head of equity strategy at Tellimer
Valuation at the time of the IPO will depend on how much of demand is made up by subscribers who are prepared to overlook these factors in favour of Aramco s low depletion rate and its very low cost of extraction versus peers
Aramco s oil facilities were targeted on Sept 14 in unprecedented attacks that temporarily shut 5 7 million barrels per day bpd of output more than 5 of global oil supply
LOCKUP PERIOD
The prospectus said the government will have a statutory lockup period for disposing of any shares after the listing for six months and a contractual lockup period for 12 months
Aramco cannot list additional shares for a period of six months after trading starts and will also be restricted from issuing additional shares for 12 months
The offering for institutional investors will begin on Nov 17 and end on Dec 4 while retail investors will be able to bid for the shares from Nov 17 to Nov 28 the prospectus said
Aramco IPO is an opportunity that shouldn t be missed the largest company in the world holding Aramco shares is an absolute gain a Saudi with a twitter handle named Abdulrahman wrote
Potential investors had told Reuters they had been preparing for months saving money selling land plots and exiting other stocks Saudis flooded banks with phone calls asking how to participate after Aramco announced bank mandates Online adverts promoting the IPO to locals have gone viral
Aramco has been in talks with Gulf and Asian sovereign wealth funds and wealthy Saudi individuals to secure top investors of the IPO but no cornerstone investor is yet to formally agree to a deal
The Russia China Investment Fund is working to attract Chinese investors for Aramco s planned IPO the head of Russia s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said on Thursday
Bankers have told the Saudi government that investors will likely value the company at around 1 5 trillion below the 2 trillion valuation touted by Prince Mohammed when he first floated the idea of an IPO nearly four years ago
Initial hopes for a 5 IPO on domestic and international bourses were dashed last year when the process was halted amid debate over where to list Aramco overseas
Aramco said the timetable was delayed because it began a process to acquire a 70 stake in petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp
The prospectus said Goldman Sachs NYSE GS was named as stabilizing agent for the deal
Analysts from banks working on the Riyadh listing have projected a wide valuation range between 1 2 trillion to 2 3 trillion
At the top valuation of 2 billion Aramco could potentially raise 40 billion topping the record breaking 25 billion raised by Chinese e commerce giant Alibaba NYSE BABA in 2014
The valuation would be almost twice that of Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT currently the world s most valuable listed company and seven times that of Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM the biggest listed oil major by market capitalisation | 11/10/2019 |
MSFT | Twitter wants your feedback on its deepfake policy plans | By Elizabeth Culliford Reuters Social media platform Twitter N TWTR on Monday unveiled its plan for handling deepfake videos and other manipulated media and called for feedback from the public In the run up to the U S presidential election in November 2020 social platforms have been under pressure to tackle the threat of manipulated media including deepfakes which use artificial intelligence to create realistic videos in which a person appears to say or do something they did not Twitter s new proposal laid out in a blog post said it might place a notice next to tweets sharing synthetic or manipulated media warn people before they like or share such tweets or add a link to a news story showing why various sources think the media is synthetic or manipulated The company also said it might remove tweets with such media if they were misleading and could threaten physical safety or lead to other serious harm It proposed defining synthetic and manipulated media as any photo audio or video that has been significantly altered or fabricated in a way that intends to mislead people or changes its original meaning This would include either deepfakes or more manually doctored shallowfakes Twitter last year banned deepfakes in the context of intimate media its policy prohibits images or videos that digitally manipulate an individual s face onto another person s nude body While there has not been a well crafted deepfake video with major political consequences in the United States the potential for manipulated video to cause turmoil was demonstrated in May by a clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi manually slowed down to make her speech seem slurred After the Pelosi video Facebook Inc O FB Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed in a spoof video on Instagram in which he appears to say whoever controls the data controls the future Facebook which owns Instagram did not to take down the video In July U S House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff wrote to the CEOs of Facebook Twitter and Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google asking for the companies plans to handle the threat of deepfake images and videos ahead of the 2020 elections Twitter has opened its new proposal up for public input through a survey and tweets with the hashtag TwitterPolicyFeedback until Nov 27
Last month Amazon Inc s O AMZN Amazon Web Services AWS said it would join Facebook and Microsoft Corp O MSFT in their Deepfake Detection Challenge a contest to spur research into the area | 11/11/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft says it will follow California s digital privacy law in U S | By Diane Bartz and Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT said in a blog post on Monday that it would honor California s privacy law throughout the United States expanding the impact of a strict set of rules meant to protect consumers and their data Microsoft said in the post it was a strong supporter of the California Consumer Privacy Act known as CCPA which will go into effect on Jan 1 The California law is widely expected to harm profits over the long term for technology companies retailers advertising firms and other businesses dependent on collecting consumer data to track users and increase sales The law raised fears among companies of a rise in a patchwork of state laws and prompted efforts in Washington to write federal legislation that would pre empt state efforts In September Reuters was first to report that the federal privacy bill is not likely to come before Congress this year as lawmakers disagreed over several issues Under CCPA companies must be transparent about data collection and use and provide people with the option to prevent their personal information from being sold Exactly what will be required under CCPA to accomplish these goals is still developing Julie Brill Microsoft s chief privacy officer wrote in the post Microsoft will continue to monitor those changes and make the adjustments needed to provide effective transparency and control under CCPA to all people in the U S Brill wrote Microsoft products that collect data include its Cortana and Microsoft Edge browsers Bing web search engine Windows 10 system Xbox and Skype A source familiar with the matter said it may be easier for Microsoft than other tech platforms to comply with California s privacy laws because much of Microsoft s business can qualify as a service provider CCPA offers special treatment to companies that can classify themselves as service providers A service provider is defined as having a written agreement with a business stating that it will not retain use or disclose the personal information of consumers for any purpose other than for a specific purpose set forth in the contract Service providers are one of three types of entities generally affected by the CCPA The others are businesses and third parties There are certain advantages to being considered a service provider as opposed to a third party For instance if a business shares personal information with a third party that can trigger certain disclosures that must be made to the consumer Such third parties also must provide notice to consumers before selling personal information they receive which in turn could allow consumers to opt out
Transferring personal information to a service provider by contrast does not necessarily trigger those additional obligations making it easier to comply with the law | 11/11/2019 |
MSFT | Wall Street Fights to Keep Early Gains | Investing com Stocks were struggling to hold onto morning gains Tuesday even as President Donald Trump touted his administration s economy policy and hopes for a phase one trade deal
The S P 500 Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 indexes all hit new intraday highs but pulled back after the president offered no timetable on when to expect a trade deal with China
The S P 500 was up less than a point at 3 PM ET 20 00 GMT The Dow Jones industrials were off 0 1 The Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 were 0 1 higher
Boeing NYSE BA and Caterpillar NYSE CAT were the biggest drags on the Dow Boeing was off nearly 1 after The Wall Street Journal said the company has lost more than 200 orders for 737 MAX jets The company blamed airline bankruptcies and customers swapping out for other models Caterpillar s business is influenced by sales in China
Walt Disney NYSE DIS Merck NYSE MRK and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT were among the Dow leaders Facebook NASDAQ FB Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD were among the Nasdaq 100 leaders
Trump s speech was a rousing defense of his presidency along with a full throated round of bashing the Federal Reserve But all he would say about the U S China trade talks was that a deal was near
Healthcare communication services and technology were the strongest sectors with real estate and energy the weakest Crude oil was higher Interest rates were off slightly | 11/12/2019 |
MSFT | Blockchain Technology Faces a Tug of War Between Scalability and Decentralization | BlockShow Asia 2019 hosted some big names today for a panel on blockchain scalability All the speakers agreed people have to choose between scalability and decentralization
The panel included Max Kordek CEO at Lisk Matthew Tan founder of Etherscan Saranya Sriram technical lead at Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Azure and Xinxi Wang co founder of Litecoin Foundation It attracted a large audience for such a super technical discussion | 11/14/2019 |
MSFT | Pope tells tech companies they are responsible for child safety | By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY Reuters Pope Francis said on Thursday that technology company executives and investors must be held accountable if they put profit before the protection of children including from easy access to pornography on the web Francis spoke at the start of a Vatican conference on Promoting Digital Child Dignity that brought companies like Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Facebook NASDAQ FB together with child protection groups and law enforcement and judicial officials Companies that provide internet services have long considered themselves mere suppliers of technological platforms neither legally nor morally responsible for the way they are used Francis said There is a need to ensure that investors and managers remain accountable so that the good of minors and society is not sacrificed to profit Francis said the Church s painful and tragic experience with its own sexual abuse crisis gave it a duty to approach these issues with a long term vision Last month the United States Britain and Australia called on Facebook to suspend plans to encrypt its messaging service saying it would hinder the fight against child abuse and terrorism Child predators have increasingly used messaging applications to groom their victims and exchange explicit images and videos The number of known child sexual abuse images has soared from thousands to tens of millions in just a few years Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he was optimistic Facebook would be able to identify predators with the same tools it uses to combat election interference One prominent attendee at the conference is Queen Silvia of Sweden a long time activist for children s rights Citing studies that show the average age of first access to digital pornography is 11 Francis said companies must make greater efforts to identify the age of users and intensify cooperation with law enforcement to combat child pornography I make an urgent appeal to them to assume their responsibility towards minors their integrity and their future Francis said It will not be possible to guarantee the safety of minors in the digital world without the full involvement of companies in this sector and without a full awareness of the moral and social repercussions of their management and functioning This year Britain s National Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children proposed that technology company directors be made legally responsible for child safety The conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is the Vatican s latest foray into moral issues related to technology In September another Vatican department brought together Silicon Valley heavyweights Nobel laureates and cyber experts on to discuss the ethical use of artificial intelligence AI
On Thursday Francis urged computer engineers to strengthen ways of using AI and algorithms to protect children on the internet He said they should feel personally responsible for building the future | 11/14/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Jumps as U S China Agree to Trade Talks | Investing com Wall Street rose in early trading on Thursday boosted by news that the U S and China have agreed to hold high level trade talks next month a development that raised hopes of a de escalation of the trade war
The talks were agreed to over the phone the Chinese Commerce Ministry said which was confirmed by a spokesman for the U S Trade Representative s office No terms of the talks were given
U S tariffs on over 100 billion worth of Chinese goods went into effect on Sept 1 and plans to increase rates to 30 from 25 on another 250 billion worth of Chinese imports are set for Oct 1
The Dow jumped 397 points or 1 5 by 9 49 AM ET 13 49 GMT while the S P 500 gained 33 points or 1 2 and the Nasdaq composite was up 103 points or 1 3
Industrial bellwether Boeing NYSE BA rose 1 8 while Caterpillar NYSE CAT gained 3 1 Chipmakers which are sensitive to tariffs surged higher after the open with Intel NASDAQ INTC and Nvidia up over 4 The sector had received an upgrade from JPMorgan NYSE JPM analysts on Wednesday who said they expect a strong rebound to global demand for chips in the second half of this year
Apple NASDAQ AAPL was up 2 while Facebook NASDAQ FB inched up 1 3 the broader macro backdrop outweighing new of yet another privacy lapse that exposed the phone numbers of 419 million users
Messaging software group Slack slumped 15 after it forecast a slightly larger than expected loss per share for the fiscal third quarter in its first earnings report since going public
Mallinckrodt NYSE MNK tumbled 42 7 after Bloomberg reported that it could file for bankruptcy as it prepares to face a wave of opioid related lawsuits
Elsewhere The Wall Street Journal reported that the parent of WeWork is considering slashing its valuation ahead of an initial public offering expected later this month The WSJ said the valuation may be as low as 20 billion less than half the 47 billion registered at its last private round of funding The WeCompany s IPO prospectus was poorly received last month with many pointing to the lack of a clear path to profitability and to governance risks arising from a share structure that leaves founder and chief executive Adam Neumann in near total control of the company even after the IPO
Elsewhere The Wall Street Journal reported that the parent of WeWork is considering slashing its valuation ahead of an initial public offering expected later this month The WSJ said the valuation may be as low as 20 billion less than half the 47 billion registered at its last private round of funding The WeCompany s IPO prospectus was poorly received last month with many pointing to the lack of a clear path to profitability and to governance risks arising from a share structure that leaves founder and chief executive Adam Neumann in near total control of the company even after the IPO
In commodities crude oil rose 0 9 to 56 78 a barrel The U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was down 0 3 to 98 088 and gold futures declined 1 5 to 1 536 45 a troy ounce | 9/5/2019 |
INTC | Huawei shows off most powerful chipset as forges ahead with 5G smartphone plan | By Douglas Busvine BERLIN Reuters Huawei Technologies showcased its chipset for a new high end smartphone on Friday pressing ahead with plans to launch its Mate 30 range despite uncertainty about whether the new phones will be able to run Google s Android operating system and apps The Chinese tech giant bills the Kirin 990 chipset as the first all in one 5G system on a chip describing it as superior to alternatives from Qualcomm O QCOM and Samsung KS 005930 that it says graft 5G modems on to 4G chips It s the world s most powerful 5G system on a chip It s the world s most powerful 5G modem Richard Yu the head of Huawei s consumer business group said in a speech in Berlin Huawei s launch at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin of the Kirin 990 made using the latest 7 nanometer production process is part of a carefully sequenced buildup to the Sept 19 international launch of the Mate 30 in Munich Yet say Huawei sources it is still not known whether the Mate 30 will be able to run services from Alphabet s Google O GOOGL following the blacklisting of the Chinese company by the U S administration in May That ban sliced 5 percentage points off Huawei s market share in Europe The world s No 2 smartphone maker is looking to reclaim ground as the spread of ultra fast 5G networks prompts an upgrade cycle among consumers who have been holding on to phones for longer Consumers will need new handsets to take advantage of the ultrafast download speeds promised by 5G NO GOOGLE NO JOY The services in doubt include pre installing the Google Play store and a suite of popular apps such as Google Maps that buyers would expect to be available from the moment they turn on their new phone and synch it with their profile Huawei s fallback option would be to run the devices on its home grown Harmony operating system although company officials and analysts say it is not yet ready for prime time The elephant in the room is Google said Peter Richardson of Counterpoint Research after attending a technical briefing on the Kirin 990 by Huawei managers that skirted the issue and focused only on the chipset s specifications The Kirin 990 packs more than 10 billion transistors and can support downlink speeds of up to 2 3 gigabits per second It has an adaptive receiver that enables it to switch between 4G and 5G where coverage of the faster technology is weak And to save energy it has a big core to handle powerful computing tasks with the support of artificial intelligence and a tiny core for less demanding operation Huawei plans only to use the Kirin 990 in its own devices meaning it lacks the marketing opportunities enjoyed by Qualcomm whose chips already power the Samsung 5G phones such as the Galaxy 10 already on the market Apple s recent settlement of a patent dispute with Qualcomm and Intel s O INTC exit from the smartphone modem business also reflect the U S chipmaker s muscle in a global market that is increasingly fragmenting due to the U S China trade tension Qualcomm has a scale advantage said Ben Wood analyst at CCS Insight Huawei s commitment to continue innovating on silicon is really impressive especially given the geopolitical headwinds they are facing
But at the end of the day it s a single vendor solution And even if they had aspirations to sell the chipset that is getting more difficult all the time | 9/6/2019 |
INTC | Apple says Uighurs targeted in iPhone attack but disputes Google findings | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL on Friday confirmed that China s Uighurs a mostly Muslim minority group considered a security threat by Beijing had been the target of attacks due to iPhone security flaws but disputed rival Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s description of the effort to track users of the smartphone in real time Google Project Zero researchers said last week that five security flaws led to a sustained effort to hack the users of iPhones in certain communities over a period of at least two years The researchers did not specify the communities but CNN TechCrunch and other news organizations reported that the attacks had been aimed at monitoring Uighurs Reuters recently reported that China hacked Asian telecommunications companies to spy on Uighur travelers Apple said on Friday the attack was narrowly focused and affected fewer than a dozen websites that focus on content related to the Uighur community rather than the en masse hack of iPhone users described by Google researchers Apple also said it fixed the issue in February within 10 days of being notified by Google Apple said evidence suggested that the website attacks lasted only two months rather than the two years that Google researchers had suggested Google s post issued six months after iOS patches were released creates the false impression of mass exploitation to monitor the private activities of entire populations in real time stoking fear among all iPhone users that their devices had been compromised Apple said in a newsroom post This was never the case In a statement Google said it stood by its findings and would continue to work with Apple and other companies to find and fix flaws Project Zero posts technical research that is designed to advance the understanding of security vulnerabilities which leads to better defensive strategies Google said in statement We stand by our in depth research which was written to focus on the technical aspects of these vulnerabilities
Google and Apple are rivals in the smartphone market where their iOS and Android operating systems vie for users But Google s Project Zero team of researchers is focused on finding serious security flaws from a wide range of software and hardware firms not solely Apple Last year the group played a key part in finding security flaws in chips made by Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC | 9/6/2019 |
INTC | NewsBreak S P 500 Sags on Rising Rates Weakness in Tech Stocks | Investing com Stocks gave up morning gains this afternoon as some major technology stocks sagged and interest rates pushed higher
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL and Facebook NASDAQ FB were lower Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Intel NASDAQ INTC were higher
At 2 10 PM ET 18 00 GMT the S P 500 was down 0 17 The Dow Jones industrials were up 0 04 the blue chip index had been up as many as 103 points The Nasdaq Composite was down 0 4 while the Nasdaq 100 Index was off 0 52
The United States 10 Year Treasury yield rose to 1 615 from 1 55 on Friday The United States 2 Year yield was at 1 567 up from 1 528 on Friday | 9/9/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Flat Energy Financial Stocks Vs Tech Softness | Investing com Energy and financial stocks were higher Monday But there were struggles among big tech stocks as well as the defensive stocks that have led the market in recent weeks
And the market pretty much stalled
The S P 500 was off slightly because of the tech weakness which was more visible in the declines seen in the Nasdaq Composite down 0 2 and the Nasdaq 100 index down 0 26 The Dow however moved up 0 14 because of gains in its financial components especially Goldman Sachs NYSE GS
The gains in financials reflected higher interest rates The 10 year Treasury yield moved up to 1 646 from Friday s 1 55
Falls in Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Cisco Systems NASDAQ CSCO Intuit NASDAQ INTU and Google NASDAQ GOOGL parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOG were among the bigger decliners among tech stocks
Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Intel NASDAQ INTC were higher And the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 0 8 helped by Intel Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN Applied Materials NASDAQ AMAT and Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO
Walgreens Boots Alliance NASDAQ WBA Caterpillar NYSE CAT and chemical maker Dow led the Dow along with Goldman Sachs NYSE GS and JPMorgan Chase NYSE JPM
Energy stocks were buoyed by higher oil prices West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1 33 to 57 85 a barrel Brent oil futures crude rose 1 05 to 62 59
The gains were prompted by Saudi Arabia s naming Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the new oil minister He s expected to push for continuing production cuts among members of OPEC Saudi Arabia has been trying to push global crude prices to 70 a barrel or higher to take of internal economic needs
Also pressuring oil prices and boosting energy stocks was Israeli Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu s claim that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons site The claim raised Middle Eastern tensions
Halliburton NYSE HAL Schlumberger NYSE SLB Apache NYSE APA and Chesapeake Energy NYSE CHK were among the bigger gainers Chevron NYSE CVX added nearly 1 Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM was up 0 8
Gold Futures moved lower as investors seemed more inclined to take on more risk | 9/9/2019 |
MSFT | Forsaken by Trump immigrant Dreamers seek U S Supreme Court reprieve | By Lawrence Hurley BALTIMORE Reuters When Maricruz Abarca learned three years ago that she had been given the legal right under a U S government program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to work in the United States and avoid deportation she started to cry After years of living illegally in the shadows after moving to the United States from Mexico at age 15 to join relatives in New Jersey she finally could make concrete plans for the future Having the opportunity to be legal and without fear of deportation it was just a big plus and going to sleep every night without thinking about what was going to happen with my kids Abarca 31 said in an interview on the campus of the University of Baltimore where she is studying with aspirations of becoming a lawyer Abarca is one of roughly 660 000 people dubbed Dreamers covered by DACA which was created to protect immigrants who entered the United States illegally or overstayed a visa as children DACA was implemented in 2012 by Democratic President Barack Obama Republican President Donald Trump in 2017 moved to rescind the program though he was blocked by various court rulings For Abarca DACA has provided concrete benefits It helped her become eligible for lower in state college tuition and obtain a license as a used car dealer It also provided security for her family including her three children all American citizens by virtue of being born in the United States Abarca dreams of one day becoming mayor of Baltimore But Abarca s status along with all the others protected by DACA is under threat The U S Supreme Court whose 5 4 conservative majority includes two justices appointed by Trump is scheduled to hear arguments on Tuesday to decide the legality of Trump s plan to rescind the program and expose the DACA recipients once again to the threat of deportation The justices will hear the Trump administration s appeals of three lower court rulings in California New York and the District of Columbia that found that the president violated a U S law called the Administrative Procedure Act in seeking to kill DACA Trump has made his hardline policies cracking down on legal and illegal immigration a centerpiece of his presidency Abarca is one of the DACA recipients who sued the administration She said she plans to participate in a rally outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday her 32nd birthday The future of thousands of Dreamers are basically in their hands Abarca said of the justices We are just right there in limbo not knowing what s going to happen in our lives If the program is terminated I m going back to the shadows Abarca added Adonia Simpson a lawyer for the Miami based immigrant rights group Americans for Immigrant Justice said some DACA recipients are worried that personal information they gave the government when they enrolled in DACA now could be used to target them or relatives for potential deportation There s a lot of uncertainty and fear A lot of folks are uncertain about what happens if the program ends Simpson said The DACA recipients received backing from various business groups and companies including Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL that filed briefs with the Supreme Court opposing Trump s move Cece a 33 year old Microsoft employee in Washington state who spoke on condition of being identified by just her first name said DACA paved the way for her to work for the company as a security and service engineer She moved to the United States with her mother from Mexico when she was 4 years old and now has a 9 year old son who is a U S citizen When Trump announced his plan to end DACA I remember feeling like my dream had ended she said Colleges and universities including the University of California system which has around 1 700 Dreamers enrolled also oppose Trump s move They re working They re starting families They re paying taxes They re contributing in every way Janet Napolitano the president of the University of California system who served as U S homeland security secretary under Obama when DACA was created told Reuters THIS LAWLESS PROGRAM Trump s administration has argued that Obama exceeded his constitutional powers when he bypassed Congress to create DACA Trump s supporters including 13 conservative states led by Texas agreed They argued that the program imposes costs on states by forcing them to provide services for DACA recipients such as healthcare education and law enforcement This case thus directly implicates the states effort to bring about an orderly end to DACA and threatens to continue the numerous harms inflicted on the states by this lawless program lawyers for the states wrote in court papers Because lower courts have ruled against Trump DACA remains in effect and people already enrolled in the program can get renewable two year work permits The administration has refused to approve new applications It said it has issued more than 473 000 renewals since January 2018 Obama created DACA by executive action after Congress failed to pass a bipartisan immigration policy overhaul that would have provided a path to citizenship to young immigrants brought by their parents into the country illegally as children Obama and DACA advocates have said the people protected by it were raised and educated in the United States grew up as Americans and often know little about their countries of origin Trump has given mixed messages about the young immigrants protected by DACA He said in 2017 that we love the Dreamers but then moved to kill the program and has never proposed a detailed replacement If the court rules in his favor the Republicans and Democrats will have a DEAL to let them stay in our Country in very short order Trump said in a Twitter post on Oct 9 without explaining the nature of such a deal The Democratic led House of Representatives this year passed a bill that would protect Dreamers The Senate controlled by Trump s fellow Republicans has shown no sign of approving it Abarca is not confident that Trump s administration will ultimately protect people in her position
They are saying they want to support Dreamers but at the same time they are saying you are not welcome Abarca said It doesn t make sense | 11/8/2019 |
INTC | Intel to use Tokyo Olympics to show off 3D tracking other new tech | TOKYO Reuters Tech giant Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC said on Wednesday it will use the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to show off a portfolio of new technology including artificial intelligence driven 3D tracking of athletes to augment broadcasts of events during the Games
The tracking technology will use mobile cameras to capture video of Olympic events that will be used to create visual overlays and analysis the company announced in Tokyo
The Olympic showcase comes as the once dominant chipmaker looks for new opportunities amid a forecast of modest profit growth over the next three years as its market share for personal computer chips shrinks
This is a really good opportunity for us to showcase the microprocessor technologies that we have been developing for many years but also a lot of our work in software in algorithms and broadcast enhancing experience Rick Echevarria general manager of Intel s Olympic Program said at an event attended by members of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee
Intel also said it would use virtual reality to recreate images of venues to help train staff Live virtual broadcasts would be on offer for track events boxing beach volleyball and the opening and closing ceremonies
Intel said its chips would also be used in facial recognition systems tracking some 300 000 people including athletes volunteers journalists and staff entering and exiting Olympic venues
The company will also host a four day esport gaming tournament in Tokyo just before the Olympic opening with a 500 000 prize pool
In 2017 the International Olympic Committee IOC recognized competitive computer gaming as a sport
Esports which often pack sports stadiums and attract huge online audiences are still considered a long way from becoming a formal part of the Olympics but the IOC is keeping an open mind to the chagrin of some Olympians
Esports are set to become a full medal event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2022 | 9/11/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Flat as 30 Year Bond Inverts | Investing com U S futures were flat on Wednesday as investors remained on edge after the yield on the 30 year Treasury bond hit a record low adding to concerns over the economic fallout from the protracted Sino U S trade war
The 30 year yield fell below that of the 3 month note a day earlier for the first time since 2007 while the 2 year note inverted against the 10 year bond The inversion of the Treasury bonds is considered a precursor for a recession although when and if a downturn will happen remains uncertain
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2 points or 0 1 by 6 40 AM ET 10 40 GMT while Dow futures gained 10 points or 0 1 and S P 500 futures were up 2 point or 0 1
Altria NYSE MO inched up 0 6 in premarket trade after falling 3 5 on news that it is in talks with Philip Morris NYSE PM to merge Facebook NASDAQ FB gained 0 7 while Intel NASDAQ INTC was up 0 2 and Teva rose 0 5
Autodesk NASDAQ ADSK slumped 12 4 after it said the trade war could hurt its financials in the second half of the fiscal year JP Morgan Chase NYSE JPM was down 0 4 while Tesla NASDAQ TSLA declined 0 3
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN inched down 0 1 after reports that it wants exclusive programming for IMDb TV which launched on Tuesday The ecommerce giant has reached out to content suppliers for more licensing agreement including offering upfront license fees The Wall Street Journal reported
In commodities crude oil jumped 1 6 to 55 80 a barrel Gold futures were flat at 1 551 90 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies rose 0 1 to 98 012 | 8/28/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Takes Pre Holiday Breather Ulta Shares Crash | Investing com Stocks stumbled Friday after a tumultuous month dominated by trade tensions battles between the president and the Federal Reserve and falling interest rates
The S P 500 gained all of 0 06 The Dow Jones industrials rallied to a 0 16 gain and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0 13
In a month where the Dow saw 16 days where changes were 100 points or more traders probably decided they needed the break for the Labor Day weekend to recharge U S markets will be closed on Monday
But the U S China trade battles that dominated headlines this month will be back The United States plans to impose tariffs on a wide variety of goods from China starting Sunday There s a second round mostly on consumer products due in December The two sides mostly toned down the rhetoric this week allowing stocks to come back from losses the week before
The S P 500 finished the week up 2 8 while the Dow rose 3 The Nasdaq was up 2 7
The S P 500 finished August with a 1 8 loss The Dow fell 1 72 and the Nasdaq dropped 2 6
For the year the S P 500 is up 16 7 while the Dow has risen 13 2 The Nasdaq is up 20
The splashiest move of any stock came from Ulta Beauty NASDAQ ULTA which had been growing rapidly for the last few years But Thursday it cut its profit forecast for the full year and warned that sales would slow CEO Mary Dillon said the outlook reflects the headwinds we are currently seeing in the U S cosmetics market
Shares were off 29 by far the worst performer among stocks in both the S P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 index The Nasdaq 100 was down 0 15
Ulta was only a small reason for the decline Decliners included Cisco Systems NASDAQ CSCO Apple NASDAQ AAPL Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL
Leading the Dow were pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance NASDAQ WBA UnitedHealth Group NYSE UNH after multiple days of losses and Intel NASDAQ INTC Cisco Systems NASDAQ CSCO was the laggard down 1
The quiet day came as oil prices moved lower Gold futures were 7 50 lower to 1 529 40 an ounce but palladium a key element used to control automobile emissions jumped a whopping 57 70 an ounce in the futures market to 1 539 50 making it once again the world s priciest metal
Interest rates moved lower with the 10 Year yield falling to 1 505 from Thursday s 1 516 The spread between the 10 year yield and two year yield narrowed to negative 0 77 basis points continuing the yield inversion that has many concerned a recession may be in the offing The 2 Year yield was 1 51
Interest rates moved lower with the 10 Year yield falling to 1 505 from Thursday s 1 516 The spread between the 10 year yield and two year yield narrowed to negative 0 77 basis points continuing the yield inversion that has many concerned a recession may be in the offing The 2 Year yield was 1 51
In addition to the battles over trade and tariffs next week brings the monthly jobs and unemployment report the most important U S economic report
There is also concern over where Hurricane Dorian will make landfall The National Weather Service says the storm now a Category 3 hurricane but likely to strengthen will hit somewhere in Florida although no one knows exactly where One track has the storm coming ashore north of West Palm Beach
Chipmaker Western Digital NASDAQ WDC discount retailer Dollar Tree NASDAQ DLTR Campbell Soup NYSE CPB and casino operator Wynn Resorts NASDAQ WYNN were among the top S P 500 leaders on the day
Ulta Alexion Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ ALXN contact lens maker Cooper Companies NYSE COO and Marathon Oil NYSE MRO were among the worst S P 500 performers
In addition to the battles over trade and tariffs next week brings the monthly jobs and unemployment report the most important U S economic report
There is also concern over where Hurricane Dorian will make landfall The National Weather Service says the storm now a Category 3 hurricane but likely to strengthen will hit somewhere in Florida although no one knows exactly where One track has the storm coming ashore north of West Palm Beach
Chipmaker Western Digital NASDAQ WDC discount retailer Dollar Tree NASDAQ DLTR Campbell Soup NYSE CPB and casino operator Wynn Resorts NASDAQ WYNN were among the top S P 500 leaders on the day
Ulta Alexion Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ ALXN contact lens maker Cooper Companies NYSE COO and Marathon Oil NYSE MRO were among the worst S P 500 performers
Interest rates moved lower with the 10 Year Treasury yield falling to 1 505 from Thursday s 1 516 The spread between the 10 year yield and two year yield narrowed to minus 0 77 basis points continuing the yield inversion that has many concerned a recession may be in the offing The 2 Year yield was 1 51
In addition to the battles over trade and tariffs next week brings the monthly jobs and unemployment report the month s most important U S economic report
There is also concern over where Hurricane Dorian will make landfall The National Weather Service says the storm now a Category 3 hurricane but likely to strengthen will hit somewhere in Florida although no one exactly where One track has the storm coming ashore north of West Palm Beach
Chip maker Western Digital NASDAQ WDC discount retailer Dollar Tree NASDAQ DLTR Campbell Soup NYSE CPB and casino operator Wynn Resorts NASDAQ WYNN were among the top S P 500 leaders on the day
Ulta Beauty Inc NASDAQ ULTA Alexion Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ ALXN contact lens maker Cooper Companies NYSE COO and Marathon Oil NYSE MRO were among the worst S P 500 performers | 8/30/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks mixed at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 16 | Investing com U S stocks were mixed after the close on Friday as gains in the Basic Materials Telecoms and Industrials sectors led shares higher while losses in the Consumer Services Consumer Goods and Technology sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0 16 while the S P 500 index gained 0 06 and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0 13
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc NASDAQ WBA which rose 1 57 or 0 79 points to trade at 51 19 at the close Meanwhile UnitedHealth Group Incorporated NYSE UNH added 1 47 or 3 38 points to end at 234 00 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC was up 1 15 or 0 54 points to 47 41 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Cisco Systems Inc NASDAQ CSCO which fell 1 03 or 0 48 points to trade at 46 78 at the close Procter Gamble Company NYSE PG declined 0 78 or 0 95 points to end at 120 23 and Nike Inc NYSE NKE was down 0 78 or 0 66 points to 84 50
The top performers on the S P 500 were Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ WDC which rose 3 98 to 57 27 Dollar Tree Inc NASDAQ DLTR which was up 3 95 to settle at 101 53 and Campbell Soup Company NYSE CPB which gained 3 90 to close at 45 00
The worst performers were Ulta Beauty Inc NASDAQ ULTA which was down 29 55 to 237 73 in late trade Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ ALXN which lost 10 17 to settle at 100 76 and Cooper Companies Inc NYSE COO which was down 5 73 to 309 75 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Eltek Ltd NASDAQ ELTK which rose 52 63 to 6 380 Jason Industries Inc NASDAQ JASN which was up 29 40 to settle at 0 505 and SeaChange International Inc NASDAQ SEAC which gained 20 21 to close at 2 32
The worst performers were Afya Ltd NASDAQ AFYA which was down 30 23 to 21 90 in late trade Ulta Beauty Inc NASDAQ ULTA which lost 29 55 to settle at 237 73 and Kelly Services B Inc NASDAQ KELYB which was down 24 87 to 23 560 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1694 to 1226 and 126 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1331 fell and 1308 advanced while 101 ended unchanged
Shares in Campbell Soup Company NYSE CPB rose to 52 week highs up 3 90 or 1 69 to 45 00 Shares in Afya Ltd NASDAQ AFYA fell to all time lows falling 30 23 or 9 49 to 21 90 Shares in SeaChange International Inc NASDAQ SEAC rose to 52 week highs rising 20 21 or 0 39 to 2 32
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 6 15 to 18 98
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0 50 or 7 75 to 1529 15 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in October fell 2 73 or 1 55 to hit 55 16 a barrel while the November Brent oil contract fell 2 33 or 1 41 to trade at 59 08 a barrel
EUR USD was down 0 58 to 1 0991 while USD JPY fell 0 20 to 106 28
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 31 at 98 763 | 8/30/2019 |
INTC | Twitter CEO s hacked account sends racist tweets before being secured | By Elizabeth Culliford SAN FRANCISCO Reuters The account of Twitter Inc N TWTR Chief Executive Jack Dorsey was hacked on Friday afternoon sending public tweets and retweets including racial slurs and curse words to 4 million followers before Twitter secured the account Twitter acknowledged the hack and said it was investigating It later tweeted that Dorsey s account was secure and there was no indication that Twitter s systems had been compromised One of the tweets claimed Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was innocent while others contained racist comments about black people and Jews There was also a tweet suggesting there was a bomb at Twitter s headquarters The account posted a hashtag that was used during the apparent hacks of several YouTube stars last week The hack underscored potential vulnerabilities in the social media platform which is widely used by world leaders and politicians including U S President Donald Trump It comes at a time when social media companies are facing scrutiny over management of their networks privacy issues and security of user data The offensive tweets and retweets were deleted less than an hour after the incident Some Twitter accounts named in the compromised tweets and retweets appeared suspended on Friday Screenshots of the tweets appeared to show they were sent through Cloudhopper a mobile text messaging service that Twitter acquired in 2010 Twitter did not immediately respond when asked to confirm if the hack took place via Cloudhopper Security researcher Brian Krebs said it appeared that Dorsey was the victim of a SIM swapping attack when a mobile provider is tricked or otherwise convinced to transfer a victim s phone number to a SIM card controlled by someone else The Friday incident was not the first time that Dorsey s Twitter account has been hacked his account was compromised in 2016 by a group that also hacked the Twitter accounts of Google NASDAQ GOOGL CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook NASDAQ FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Twitter shares were down less than 1 in after hours trade following the hack | 8/30/2019 |
INTC | U S investment in Malaysia up sharply as trade row with China drags on | By Krishna N Das
KUALA LUMPUR Reuters Malaysia approved U S investment worth 5 62 billion in the first half of the year compared with 113 million the previous year the government said on Wednesday a possible sign of a diversion of U S business as a trade row with China drags on
U S and Chinese companies alike are looking at moving some of their manufacturing out of China to escape tit for tat tariffs imposed on each other s products
Economists say Vietnam and Malaysia are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries though countries such as India are also trying to attract companies such as Apple O AAPL Foxconn TW 2354 and Wistron Corp TW 3231
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority which shared the data on foreign private investments with Reuters on Wednesday declined to name any company but said global firms were increasingly attracted to Malaysia for its stable business and political climate
In the first six months of the year Malaysia approved U S investment proposals worth 11 69 billion ringgit in the manufacturing sector compared with 307 million ringgit a year earlier replacing China at the top of the investment list
Malaysia already hosts manufacturing plants of U S companies such as Intel Corp O INTC Dell Technologies Inc N DELL and On Semiconductor Corp O ON
Proposed U S investment in the service sector soared to 11 52 billion ringgit from just 42 3 million in the year ago period the data showed
Total approved proposals from Chinese companies dipped to 5 1 billion ringgit this year from 5 69 billion a year earlier OLUSECON Reuters US Online Report Economy 20190904T113211 0000 | 9/4/2019 |
MSFT | Aramco share sale curb rules out overseas listing for at least a year | By Hadeel Al Sayegh and Marwa Rashad DUBAI RIYADH Reuters The Saudi government plans to sell 2 of state oil giant Aramco in a domestic listing on Dec 11 three sources familiar with the matter said but restrictions on future share sales mean an international IPO is ruled out for at least a year Final pricing for the IPO initial public offering is scheduled for Dec 5 and the world s most profitable company is expected to start trading on the Riyadh bourse six days later the sources said The Saudi government will face a one year restriction on selling more Aramco shares following the domestic listing according to the sources meaning any overseas IPO is unlikely to be held in 2020 Saudi Aramco declined to comment while the Saudi government s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Aramco fired the starting gun on the domestic IPO on Sunday after a series of false starts However it did not give details on how much of the company would be sold or when the listing would happen while expert valuations of the company vary wildly from around 1 2 to 2 3 trillion Sunday s announcement had said Aramco and the selling shareholder would be subject to restrictions on the sale disposition or issuance of additional shares but did not provide the lock up period Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to raise billions of dollars to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in non energy industries Initial hopes for a 5 initial public offering IPO on domestic and international bourses were dashed last year when the process was halted amid debate over where to list Aramco overseas Aramco said the IPO timetable was delayed because it began a process to acquire a 70 stake in petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp ON THE ROAD Aramco roadshows for the Riyadh IPO will begin on Nov 18 according to the sources Bankers have told the Saudi government that investors will likely value the company at around 1 5 trillion below the 2 trillion valuation touted by Prince Mohammed when he first floated the idea of an IPO nearly four years ago Sources had told Reuters earlier the oil company could offer 1 2 of its shares on the local bourse raising as much as 20 billion to 40 billion A deal over 25 billion would top the record breaking one of Chinese e commerce giant Alibaba NYSE BABA in 2014 A 2 trillion valuation would be almost twice that of Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT currently the world s most valuable listed company and seven times that of Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM the biggest listed oil major by market cap The Saudi government is looking to list 2 of the company on the Saudi bourse though rather than listing the entire share capital on the exchange the sources said Normally public companies list the entire share capital on the exchange and have a portion of that as free float Aramco would become the largest company by market cap in the MSCI EM index following listing but would account for only 0 5 0 6 of the index given an expected low index weighting Bernstein analysts said in a note on Tuesday | 11/5/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Dow Nasdaq Transports Move Higher | Investing com On the surface it was a quiet day for the stock market but Boeing Walgreens Boots Alliance NASDAQ WBA and transportation stocks suggested the market could move higher
The S P 500 finished down slightly mostly because higher interest rates cut into utilities and real estate stocks
But the Dow Jones industrials added about 0 11 hitting a new closing high thanks basically to gains in Boeing NYSE BA and pharmacy giant Walgreens NASDAQ WBA The Nasdaq Composite was up only slightly with chip and networking stocks providing the fuel But that too was a new closing high but barely a closing high
The Nasdaq 100 index dominated by big technology stocks fell back a half point after hitting closing highs on Friday and Monday
Apple NASDAQ AAPL which hit a new intraday high and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT closed down very slightly their losses costing the index a whopping two points in total The index was down a half point
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ REGN up 6 9 and Adobe Systems NASDAQ ADBE were the index leaders
Boeing NYSE BA was up 2 adding 48 points to the blue chip index because in a CNBC interview its new board chairman David Calhoun voiced confidence for CEO Dennis Muilenburg s performance in the 737 Max crisis although the CEO will give up his 2019 bonus
As cynical as it sounds the stock is still up 11 on the year a signal that many investors are willing to stick with Boeing and expected the aerospace giant to come out of the crisis caused when two 737 Max jets fell out of the sky in Indonesia and Ethiopia Calhoun acknowledged engineering problems with the plane and said the company will be compensating customers forced to ground their 737 Max planes
Walgreens jumped on a Reuters report it may be looking at going private in what might be one of the biggest leveraged buyouts ever The gain was good for 11 points for the Dow which ended the day up 30 5 points
If a deal can be done it would take a lesser performer out of the Dow The shares are off about 7 on the year when the index itself is up 17 8 The big downside to a buyout would be how many people would lose jobs in cost cutting
Transportation stocks had a strong day reflecting hopes that a trade deal between the United States and China will boost shipping and air travel
The Dow Jones Transportation Average hit a new intraday high of 11 161 32 The average ended up 0 6 but fell short of a new closing high Nonetheless the average moved up on big gains for logistics giant Expeditors International of Washington NASDAQ EXPD and strength in airline stocks JetBlue Airways NASDAQ JBLU hit a 52 week high
A rising transportation average is an important coincident index If the economy is growing consumers are buying stuff If they re buying more stuff someone needs to ship it Trucks are a key transportation mode and PACCAR NASDAQ PCAR the big maker of trucks hit a new all time high
The index is up 20 5 for the year and 13 5 since slumping in May
The gains for the transports were strong enough to overcome weakness from rising oil prices and higher interest rates as well The 10 Year Treasury yield rose to 1 855 from Monday s 1 788
Supermarket giant Kroger NYSE KR International Flavors Fragrances NYSE IFF Regeneron Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ REGN and Under Armour Inc C NYSE UA were among the top S P 500 performers
Pharmaceutical company Mylan NASDAQ MYL medical equipment maker Becton Dickinson NYSE BDX oil company Occidental Petroleum NYSE OXY and animal medicine company IDEXX Laboratories NASDAQ IDXX were among the weakest S P 500 performers | 11/5/2019 |
MSFT | IBM Bank of America team up to launch financial services specific cloud | By Imani Moise
Reuters International Business Machines Corp N IBM said on Wednesday that it has built financial services specific cloud technology in collaboration with Bank of America Corp N BAC which will be the first major bank to use the platform
The public platform IBM s first industry specific cloud is designed to meet the high regulatory security and resiliency standards required of the financial services industry
By setting a standard that addresses the concern of hosting highly confidential information we aim to drive the public cloud to a safety level that is unmatched said Cathy Bessant chief operations and technology officer of Bank of America
Bank of America has focused on its internal cloud computing capabilities Over the past several years the second largest U S bank has gotten down to about 70 000 servers from over 200 000 and trimmed its data centers to 23 from 67
Streamlining those operations has saved 2 billion annually Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said on an earnings call last month However the bank still relies on cloud services from external vendors since third parties can usually offer the service 23 30 cheaper he said
We don t need to own the hardware he said We just need to find out who can provide it the right way
Investing in cloud computing is key for banks as more transactions become digital It is critical that the platform can transfer information quickly keep data private and prevent service outages
Bank of America customers reported trouble accessing online banking and card services late last month according to Downdetector com
Cloud services used by banks have come under scrutiny in Washington after a massive data breach at Capital One Financial Corp N COF raised questions over the risks posed by banks reliance on third party cloud providers
U S lawmakers have asked regulators to consider direct oversight of the cloud services big tech companies provide to banks like Amazon com Inc s O AMZN Amazon Web Services Microsoft Corp s O MSFT Microsoft Azure and Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google Cloud saying they have become a critical component of the global financial system IBM was not one of the cloud providers mentioned in the letter | 11/6/2019 |
MSFT | Privacy protection essential to shield human rights says Microsoft s Smith | LISBON Reuters Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT President Brad Smith said on Wednesday a new wave of data privacy protection and other security measures was needed to safeguard people s rights at a time when everything has gone digital Speaking at Lisbon s Web Summit Europe s largest tech conference Smith said it was important to protect privacy something he sees as a fundamental human right and one of the next decade s most critical issues It s why I believe we will not only need a new wave of technology but a new wave of privacy protection as well a new wave of security protection a new wave of measures to protect the ethics and human rights associated with artificial intelligence AI he said He gave no details of any concrete measures he was proposing Tech companies such as Microsoft and rival company Apple NASDAQ AAPL have been under mounting pressure to do more to protect users data In August this year the Dutch Data Protection Agency said Microsoft was remotely collecting data from users of Windows Home and Windows Pro
At the time Microsoft said it was committed to protecting the privacy of its customers and had improved privacy features for individuals and small business users of Windows 10 in recent years | 11/6/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Trade Uncertainty Takes the Fizz out of Rally | Investing com Many investors want or expect stocks to move higher but a little buyer reluctance took over the stock market on Wednesday
The caution was caused in large part by news reports that the signing of a U S China trade deal may be delayed until December assuming a site for the signing can be chosen and the last details negotiated
The S P 500 finished up 2 points and traded within a range of about 12 5 points The Dow Jones industrials were basically flat at 27 492 56 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0 3 8 410 63
The number of stocks hitting 52 week highs fell to 117 on Wednesday from 285 on Tuesday
The wrinkle in the trade deal was born out of Chile s decision to cancel the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit It was to be held this month in Santiago with President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign the trade deal at that time
But local protests about economic conditions turned nasty forcing the Trump Administration and Xi s government to work on finding a new site possibly in Sweden or Switzerland
The final details of what is expected to be the first of several agreements are still being negotiated A key detail for China is for the U S to scrap tariffs due in December on 156 billion in goods including cell phones laptop computers and toys It also wants relief on tariffs imposed in September on goods including machinery semiconductors and furniture
So the market stalled The S P 500 had risen 6 34 between Oct 8 and its closing high of 3 078 on Monday a fairly rapid rise especially considering the index is up 22 7 on the year Clearly some traders saw the trade news and decided to wait
What little excitement came on a Wall Street Journal report that Xerox NYSE XRX might try to take over computer maker HP Inc NYSE HPQ better known as simply Hewlett Packard HP was up 6 4 Xerox rose 3 6 both among the 10 biggest S P 590 gainers on the day
While 20 Dow stocks were higher Boeing NYSE BA was off 1 1 and Walgreens Boots Alliance NASDAQ WBA dropped 2 8 as excitement faded that the pharmacy giant might try to go private One reason is that Stephen Schwarzman CEO of Blackstone NYSE BX Group called the idea a stretch Blackstone has been involved in many of the largest buyouts
The declines for Boeing and Walgreens subtracted more than 39 points from the Dow on a day when Apple NASDAQ AAPL was up 0 04 and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT slipped 0 28
Health real estate consumer staples and financial stocks were the market leaders Energy shares were lower as oil prices fell in response to the trade deal news
Interest rates also moved lower with the United States 10 Year Treasury yield down to 1 821 from Tuesday s 1 865 Gold was up 9 40 to 1 493 10 in New York as some investors looked for safe havens
Cosmetic company Coty NYSE COTY health company DaVita HealthCare Partners NYSE DVA Hewlett Packard NYSE HPQ and CVS Health NYSE CVS were the S P 500 leaders
Diamondback Energy NASDAQ FANG packaging company Sealed Air NYSE SEE drugmaker Perrigo NYSE PRGO and Occidental Petroleum NYSE OXY were the S P 500 laggards | 11/6/2019 |
MSFT | USA China Japan and Korea to dominate 5G study | By Douglas Busvine
BERLIN Reuters China the United States Japan and Korea will account for more than half of the world s subscribers to super fast 5G mobile networks by 2025 leaving Europe lagging a study showed on Thursday
Europe moving more slowly to build 5G networks will lag in terms of consumer take up Yet the picture looks different in business where 5G will be able to run smart factories using connected robots devices and sensors
It s going to be a small cluster of countries that leads adoption in 5G with the rest of the world following Tim Hatt head of research at GSMA Intelligence told Reuters
China Japan Korea and the U S between those you re looking at well over half of worldwide 5G subscribers by 2025
The rapid rollout of 5G networks with speeds fast enough to download a movie to a smartphone in seconds has surprised many Nokia HE NOKIA the world s No 2 network vendor behind Huawei HWT UL recently suspended its dividend to invest in upgrading the 5G gear it sells to carriers
In Korea 66 of mobile connections will be 5G by mid decade GSMA Intelligence forecast in a 100 page study followed by the United States on 50 and Japan on 49
In terms of sheer numbers China will predominate with 600 million 5G connections Worldwide 1 57 billion people are expected to adopt 5G by 2025 or 18 of total mobile users
Early experience shows that carriers can hike 5G prices by 15 20 offering more for more unlimited data plans But if the past is anything to go by those gains will eventually be competed away
Graphic Forecast 5G Penetration in 2025
EUROPE LAGS OR DOES IT
With standards to enter force in a couple of years that will support the development of the industrial Internet of Things IoT such usage is seen by European industry as a more promising way to recoup the vast outlays needed for 5G
Rather than sell to enterprise clients Hatt said carriers would be better off teaming up with them on projects in the IoT a market that GSMA Intelligence forecasts will be worth 1 trillion in 2025 roughly equal to total mobile industry revenue last year
Yet of that only 5 will come from connectivity forcing carriers to compete with global consulting firms and Silicon Valley tech giants like Amazon NASDAQ AMZN or Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT for the rest of the pie said Hatt
4G ROLLS ON
For developing nations it s the spread of affordable connectivity through older 4G technology and not 5G that will affect the lives of billions of people for years to come the research arm of telecoms industry group GSMA found
Looking to emerging markets like Nigeria Mexico India or Indonesia a combination of cheap Android smartphones and affordable data still offers growth potential
GSMA Intelligence forecasts that 59 of total worldwide mobile connections will be 4G in 2025
For a lot of these countries 5G is just not on the horizon right now said Hatt
That 4G generation is for the most part mobile only They don t have computers This is a whole new ball game and the operators are pretty well positioned to take advantage of that | 11/7/2019 |
MSFT | Lion King lifts Disney earnings as streaming costs stay under budget | By Lisa Richwine and Neha Malara Reuters Walt Disney Co s N DIS popular theme parks and a remake of The Lion King pushed earnings past Wall Street targets on Thursday and the company spent less than it had projected on its big plunge into streaming entertainment Shares of Disney rose more than 5 to 140 77 in after hours trading Disney is trying to transition from a cable TV leader to a powerhouse in the crowded streaming video market dominated by Netflix Inc O NFLX The family friendly digital entertainment service Disney is set to debut on Tuesday Excluding certain items Disney earned 1 07 per share for the quarter that ended in September above average analyst estimates of 95 cents per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv Disney will initially stream in the United States Canada and the Netherlands On Nov 19 it will debut in Australia and New Zealand followed by several countries in western Europe on March 31 Chief Executive Bob Iger said We re making a huge statement about the future of media and entertainment and our continued ability to thrive in this new era Iger told analysts on a conference call The Disney app will be accessible via a wide range of smart TVs mobile phones and streaming devices including Amazon com Inc s O AMZN Fire TV devices and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd KS 005930 and LG Electronics Inc KS 066570 products Iger said The company is spending heavily to compete for digital viewers Disney s direct to consumer and international unit which also includes ESPN and Hulu reported an operating loss of 740 million from July through September up from 340 million the previous year but less than the 900 million that Disney had forecast Seeking a broad audience of all ages Disney will offer a deep library of TV shows and movies from Disney Pixar Animation Marvel Studios the Star Wars franchise and the National Geographic Channel plus original programming such as a new High School Musical series and a remake of Lady and the Tramp It will cost 7 per month less than the 13 for Netflix s most popular plan Edgier adult programming will go to Hulu including shows from FX Networks starting in March Iger said FX on Hulu will feature every season of more than 40 FX original series spanning the past 17 years such as Fargo and American Horror Story Disney faces several competitors including a just launched service from Apple Inc O AAPL and offerings from AT T Inc s N T WarnerMedia and Comcast Corp O CMCSA next year Distribution agreements with Apple Samsung and others show they understand this is an ecosystem and even with all their market power they can t go it alone said Forrester analyst Jim Nail For the just ended quarter the theme parks and consumer products unit reported a 17 rise in operating income to 1 4 billion driven by sales of Frozen and Toy Story merchandise and higher guest spending at Disneyland in California The movie studio benefited from remakes of The Lion King and Aladdin plus Pixar sequel Toy Story 4 Profit at the division jumped 79 to nearly 1 1 billion The company s media networks division posted a 3 decrease in operating income to 1 8 billion Disney said Sports network ESPN experienced higher programming production and marketing costs and now has 3 5 million subscribers
Overall revenue rose 34 to 19 10 billion edging past analysts average estimate of 19 05 billion | 11/7/2019 |
MSFT | Culture change is the cutting edge of mental health benefits at work | By Beth Pinsker NEW YORK Reuters When Hartmut Braune comes to work in security communications at SAP he never knows what emergency will land in his inbox It is a challenging job compounded by the fact that Braune also coordinates the company s global Lighthouse Core Team which provides peer assistance to struggling employees as well as a shoulder to cry on It s the difficult part but sometimes tears help clear the situation said Braune who is based in Germany Many companies offer employee assistance programs mindfulness apps or in office counseling But experts say a culture shift toward openness from the C suite on down is most effective That translates to peer counseling colleagues sharing their experiences and open dialogue Companies take a myriad of approaches to this challenge At SAP considered a thought leader on employee mental health the company calls its system the Employee Care Cycle That starts with prevention and destigmatization said Torsten Paul SAP s director digital health well being Indeed Braune coached one woman who returned to work at SAP after a mental health leave but had not been open with her manager and colleagues about why she took time off People have a tendency to hide what was happening they feel shame Braune said Braune walked the woman through some tiny steps she could take and eventually she met with her manager A week later when Braune saw the woman she was smiling Overall depression causes an average of 40 days of absenteeism per sufferer at SAP Torsten said Serious cases might involve short or long term disability But if a person returns to work and the same stress factors exist they will just get sick again One key offering for employees is a two day immersive mindfulness program so popular it has a waiting list of 9 000 The company also shares video testimonials on its internal website from colleagues who have overcome challenges In addition SAP encourages workers to do frequent self assessments and managers assess the organization itself At Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT individuals at all levels share their own mental health experiences in person on social media and via podcasts We didn t ask but it has happened that many of our leaders stepped up and started telling their stories their personal struggles or ones they ve witnessed said Sonja Kellen senior director of global health and wellness at Microsoft And it has naturally become pervasive in the culture One employee who shared her story was 25 year old program manager Beth Anne Katz who detailed her battles with depression on YouTube videos and a company website Being open about my suffering was the hardest thing I ve done but I am not afraid of who I am anymore Depression isn t something to be ashamed of Katz tells her colleagues Last May Microsoft hosted several movie screenings about anxiety and suicide followed by conversations with the people who volunteered their stories A counselor stood by It s been gratifying to see the sheer volume of people to speak up said Kellen Cost savings are not the key driver even though mental healthcare is a top spend Kellen added noting that mental health breaks are one of the top reasons people go on leave at Microsoft beyond parental leave AN APP FOR THAT Of course there are apps for helping culture change Technology is particularly good at crunching data from employee self assessments to help companies figure out what services they need London based Unmind for example provides a workplace mental health platform used by companies in 47 countries including British Airways and Live Nation Employers get data such as how many people are stressed or feel ill because of stress and information on how managers can help them be less stressed Workers can access targeted educational material Many companies also turn to web based mindfulness apps one of which is Raw Mind Coach and app based therapy delivery like Talkspace These are helpful to those without access to in person counseling Consultants help companies develop a tailored strategy such as Mind Share Partners a non profit consultancy which recently published a report on mental health at work in partnership with SAP We re not a benefits provider We see our trainings as what s needed to reduce stigma said Kelly Greenwood Mind Share Partner s founder and CEO Ken Dolan Del Vecchio a workplace mental health consultant preaches the following message to companies urging them to take action on mental health The health of employees is correlated positively to business outcome It would be foolish to leave that to chance
This story corrects the name of Torsten Paul which was transposed in the 5th paragraph Follow us ReutersMoney or at Editing by Lauren Young and Dan Grebler | 11/8/2019 |
INTC | U S to Ease Huawei Sanctions for Another 90 Days Ross Says | Bloomberg Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars Sign up here
The U S will extend for another 90 days a narrow set of exemptions that had protected rural networks and other U S customers from a ban on doing business with China s Huawei Technologies Co Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday
Some telecom companies in the U S are dependent on Huawei and thus a 90 day reprieve was deemed appropriate Ross said in an interview with Fox Business s Maria Bartiromo
We re giving them a little more time to wean themselves off he added Ross said the next deadline will be around Nov 19 He added that Commerce decided to place 46 more Huawei subsidiaries on its entity list
The announcement doesn t address the wider national security concerns about Huawei and answer the bigger question of whether U S chip companies and other major suppliers will be allowed to sell parts to China
QuickTake How Huawei Became a Target NYSE TGT for Governments
President Donald Trump over the weekend indicated the U S was doing very well with China and talking but also suggested he wasn t ready to sign a trade deal
U S stocks climbed Monday after the Trump administration signaled progress on trade negotiations and Ross announced the extension Treasuries slumped
Huawei China s largest technology company by sales has been at the heart of worsening tensions and been called a bargaining chip in thorny trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing Trump had said he anticipated talking with Chinese President Xi Jinping very soon and the Huawei move may sweeten the tone of those discussions
Huawei for its part has been trying to carry on operations in face of U S sanctions on the sale of the vital technology The company this month announced its in house HarmonyOS an open source operating system that could one day serve as a replacement for Google Inc NASDAQ GOOGL s Android if its access to that software is curtailed
Without Android or the numerous American silicon technology and consultancy suppliers that Huawei does business with many of its most promising product lines would either cease their rapid growth or be thwarted entirely
Rural Areas
The U S Commerce Department previously granted a three month temporary license to Huawei s U S customers shortly after the Trump administration blacklisted the Chinese company That allowed telecom carriers in rural areas to continue using Huawei equipment and Google to provide only key Android security updates to Huawei phones
The latest extension came after Trump met in July with the chief executives of key Huawei suppliers from Alphabet Inc s Google and Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO Inc to Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC and Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc to discuss economic issues including a possible resumption of sales to Huawei U S companies argued that Huawei will turn to non American suppliers if sanctions persisted hurting the U S in the long run But trade talks with Beijing ground to a halt and China refused to resume purchases of American agricultural products
National Security
The announcement Monday came one day after President Trump suggested that Huawei was unlikely to receive another extension pushing back against news reports about an expected reprieve
At this moment it looks much more like we re not going to do business Trump told reporters on Sunday in New Jersey I don t want to do business at all because it is a national security threat
The president tied trade negotiations with the ongoing situation in Hong Kong saying that a deal between the U S and China would be harder if there s a violent conclusion to protests there because of concerns raised by U S lawmakers
Earlier this month the trade war between the two countries intensified as the U S announced a next round of 10 tariffs on Chinese imports between Sept 1 and Dec 15 China responded with a boycott of American farm products and allowed its currency to weaken signaling that this can help cushion the tariff blow
Updates with markets in sixth paragraph | 8/19/2019 |
INTC | Qualcomm strikes new licensing deal with LG | Reuters Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc said on Tuesday that it has entered into a new five year patent license agreement with LG Electronics Inc to develop manufacture and sell 3G 4G and 5G smartphones
LGE had said in June it was unable to narrow differences with Qualcomm and renew its chip license agreement
Qualcomm in April also reached a surprise settlement that cleared the road for iPhones to once again use its modem chips but its shares were hurt in July when Apple NASDAQ AAPL bought Intel NASDAQ INTC Corp s modem business for 1 billion | 8/20/2019 |
INTC | Intel unveils first artificial intelligence chip Springhill | JERUSALEM Reuters Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC on Tuesday unveiled its latest processor that will be its first using artificial intelligence AI and is designed for large computing centers The chip developed at its development facility in Haifa Israel is known as Nervana NNP I or Springhill and is based on a 10 nanometer Ice Lake processor that will allow it to cope with high workloads using minimal amounts of energy Intel said Facebook NASDAQ FB it said already has started using the product Intel said its first AI product comes after it had invested in Israeli AI startups including Habana Labs and NeuroBlade In order to reach a future situation of AI everywhere we have to deal with huge amounts of data generated and make sure organizations are equipped with what they need to make effective use of the data and process them where they are collected said Naveen Rao general manager of Intel s artificial intelligence products group These computers need acceleration for complex AI applications
It said the new hardware chip will help Intel Xeon processors in large companies as the need for complicated computations in the AI field increases | 8/20/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Gains as Recession Fears Fade Nvidia Boosts Tech | Investing com Wall Street clawed back more of their midweek losses on Friday in the absence of fresh geopolitical shocks but were still on course for a third straight weekly loss against the backdrop of a slowing global economy
The Dow Jones gained 207 points or 0 8 to 25 786 08 points by 9 32 AM ET 13 32 GMT while the S P 500 rose 23 points or 0 8 2 870 20 points
The tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was outperforming with a gain of 1 0 after a strong set of quarterly numbers from semiconductor maker Nvidia after the bell on Thursday encouraged hopes that the cycle for silicon chips may be turning up
Shares in Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA jumped 7 4 while fellow chipmakers Intel NASDAQ INTC gained 1 4 and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD rose 2 1 The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index traded up 1 9
In the only major earnings report of the morning agricultural machinery maker Deere Company NYSE DE cut its full year profit forecasts after saying its sales fell 3 in the three months to July
Concerns about export market access near term demand for commodities such as soybeans and overall crop conditions have caused many farmers to postpone major equipment purchases said Chief Executive Officer Samuel Allen
Deere stock still jumped 2 8 reflecting how much bad news had already been baked in to the stock since President Trump s tariff announcement escalated the trade war with China at the end of last month It s still down nearly 14 from last month s high
Elsewhere General Electric NYSE GE bounced 6 8 on news that Chief Executive Larry Culp had put his money where his mouth was by buying the dip in GE stock on Thursday amid accusations of irregular accounting by short sellers
On the economic front housing data painted a mixed picture of the U S real estate market
Housing starts unexpectedly fell in July marking a third straight month of declines
However building permits a proxy for future construction jumped by a stronger than expected 8 4 That was the largest increase in more than two years
Still ahead the University of Michigan will publish its preliminary reading of consumer sentiment for August
The data will likely provide insight into how optimism among American consumers is holding up to U S President Donald Trump s handling of the ongoing trade conflict with China
Elsewhere crude oil WTI futures were on the rebound up 1 0 after a torrid week although the bearish outlook for supply and demand from OPEC s monthly report on the oil market caused a decline from earlier intraday highs Gold futures were down 0 4 at 1 524 90 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which tracks the greenback against a basket of developed market currencies was up some 0 2 at 98 155 thanks to gains against the safe haven yen and Swiss franc
The stock still jumped 2 8 reflecting how much bad news had already been baked in to the stock since President Trump s tariff announcement escalated the trade war with China at the end of last month It s still down nearly 14 from last month s high
The stock still jumped 2 8 reflecting how much bad news had already been baked in to the stock since President Trump s tariff announcement escalated the trade war with China at the end of last month It s still down nearly 14 from last month s high
The stock still jumped 2 8 reflecting how much bad news had already been baked in to the stock since President Trump s tariff announcement escalated the trade war with China at the end of last month It s still down nearly 14 from last month s high | 8/16/2019 |
INTC | U S tech industry leaders French digital service tax harms global tax reform | By Jonas Ekblom and David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters Major tech firms and U S tech industry groups said on Monday that France s new digital services tax undermines the global tax regime and multilateral efforts to reform it Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google Facebook Inc O FB and Amazon com Inc O AMZN and major trade associations testified Monday against the tax at a hearing before the U S Trade Representative s office and other government officials The French Senate in July approved a 3 levy that will apply to revenue from digital services earned in France by companies with more than 25 million euros in French revenue and 750 million euros 838 million worldwide It does depart from even the outlines of what we expect out of the OECD said Daniel Bunn director of global projects at the Tax Foundation commenting on OECD wide efforts to create a global agreement on taxing the digital economy The U S Chamber of Commerce said the tax will generate revenue of approximately 500 million euros 554 million per year a large majority of which will be paid by U S firms and will cost U S firms millions to conduct significant re engineering of accounting systems to ensure that they can accurately assess liability Major tech firms warned of increased costs Unilateral measures like the DST are harmful to Facebook and the digital economy Alan Lee Facebook s global head of tax policy said in a statement Matthew Schruers chief operating officer at the Computer and Communications Industry Association CCIA representing companies like Intel Corp O INTC eBay Inc O EBAY and Netflix Inc O NFLX said at the hearing that the tax undermines the progress made on a new tax system on the digital economy and supports an aggressive response to this problem CCIA believes that this action warrants a substantial proportionate response from the United States Schruers said adding the tax unquestionably targets U S firms in an attempt by the French government to ringfence them Amazon s international tax policy director Peter Hiltz said more than 10 000 French based businesses are selling on Amazon s online stores and notified them certain fees will increase by 3 for Amazon fr sales starting Oct 1 Last month President Donald Trump threatened to tax French wines or other products in response USTR could impose new tariffs after a public comment period ends Aug 26 Other EU countries have also announced plans for their own digital taxes arguing a levy is needed because big multinational internet companies book profits in low tax countries like Ireland no matter where the revenue originates | 8/19/2019 |
MSFT | Saudi Crown Prince approves announcement of Aramco IPO on Sunday sources | By Hadeel Al Sayegh Marwa Rashad and Rania El Gamal
DUBAI RIYADH Reuters Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday agreed that the initial public offering of state oil giant Aramco will be announced on Sunday five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters
The world s top oil company will announce its intention to float ITF on Nov 3 the sources added
The crown prince finally gave the green light one source said
Aramco declined to comment
Saudi Aramco officials and advisers have held last minute meetings with investors over the past few days in an attempt to achieve as close to a 2 trillion valuation as possible ahead of an expected listing launch on Sunday according to sources
The final meeting by the Saudi government on Friday evening was to decide whether to go ahead with the listing
Although Crown Prince Mohammed put a 2 trillion valuation on the company in early 2016 bankers and company insiders say Aramco s value is closer to 1 5 trillion
At that price Aramco would still be worth at least 50 more than the world s most valuable companies Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Apple NASDAQ AAPL which each have a market capitalisation of around 1 trillion
Riyadh is looking to list a 1 2 stake on the Saudi stock market to raise at least 20 billion 40 billion
If the deal exceeds 25 billion Aramco will become the biggest IPO in the world topping Alibaba s 25 billion IPO in 2014
The listing is the centrepiece of the crown prince s plan to shake up the Saudi economy and diversify away from oil But there have been various delays since it was first announced in 2016
Prince Mohammed wants to eventually list a total of 5 of the company An international sale is expected to follow the domestic IPO
Analysts meetings with top institutional investors are likely to begin on Sunday another source said
The state owned oil major has also approached governments in the Gulf and Asia including China to try to secure the bulk of the investment from countries on friendly terms with Saudi Arabia as the reception elsewhere has been cooler sources have previously said | 11/2/2019 |
MSFT | Saudi Aramco kick starts what could be world s biggest IPO offers scant details | By Rania El Gamal Marwa Rashad Saeed Azhar and Davide Barbuscia
DHAHRAN Saudi Arabia DUBAI Reuters Saudi Arabia s giant state oil company finally kick started its initial public offering IPO on Sunday announcing its intention to float on the domestic bourse in what could be the world s biggest listing as the kingdom seeks to diversify its economy away from oil
But in its long awaited announcement Aramco the world s most profitable company offered few specifics on the number of shares to be sold pricing or the date for a launch
Bankers have told the Saudi government that investors will likely value the company at around 1 5 trillion below the 2 trillion valuation touted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he first floated the idea of an IPO nearly four years ago
Aramco also did not mention what measures it has taken to beef up security following unprecedented attacks on its oil plants in September
Sources have told Reuters the oil company could offer 1 2 of its shares on the local bourse raising as much as 20 billion to 40 billion A deal over 25 billion would top the record breaking one of Chinese e commerce giant Alibaba N BABA in 2014
Today is the right opportunity for new investors to reap the benefits of Aramco s ability to achieve value and boost it on the long term Aramco Chairman Yasir al Rumayyan told a news conference at the company s headquarters in the eastern city of Dhahran
The company will spend the next 10 days talking to investors and sounding out their interest and the price range will follow he said
The IPO is designed to turbocharge Prince Mohammed s ambitious economic reform agenda by raising billions to build non energy industries and diversify revenue streams
Rumayyan said a decision on an international listing for Aramco shares will be made in the future without giving a time frame or possible venue
Selling a small piece of Aramco in a captive market gives the KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia more control to prop the value of Aramco up over its fair value said Gary Ross CEO at Black Gold Investors
Confirmation of the sale of shares in the oil giant whose formal name is Saudi Arabian Oil Co comes about seven weeks after the crippling attacks on its oil facilities underlining Saudi Arabia s determination to push on with the listing regardless
Aramco said it does not expect the Sept 14 attacks which targeted plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia s oil industry and initially halved its production would have a material impact on its business operations and financial condition
Aramco accounted for about one in every eight barrels of crude oil produced globally from 2016 to 2018 it said on Sunday
Its net income for the third quarter of 2019 amounted to 21 1 billion according to Reuters calculations dwarfing the income for the same period of oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp N XOM which was just over 3 billion
Chief Executive Amin Nasser said at the news conference that Aramco plans to release the prospectus on Nov 9
To help get the deal done Saudi Arabia is relying on easy credit for retail investors and hefty contributions from rich locals
Whatever this local round achieves with domestic players being strong armed into investing international investors are still going to value this well below the expectations of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Rory Fyfe managing director at Mena Advisors
LURING INVESTORS
The Saudi stock market fell 2 on Sunday after the announcement The benchmark index TASI is down nearly a fifth since May as local institutions sold shares to prepare for the Aramco deal fund managers and analysts say
Salah Shamma head of investment MENA at Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity said some local investors could be selling other shares in order to shift investments to Aramco but this could well be a case of short term pain for long term gain
To comfort investors Aramco said on Sunday the state will forgo its right to receive a portion of cash dividends on shares giving priority to new shareholders
Aramco is also cutting royalties it pays to the state Effective Jan 1 2020 it will adopt a progressive royalty scheme with a marginal rate set at 15 up to 70 per barrel 45 between 70 and 100 and 80 if the price rises higher
The firm said the Saudi market regulator which approved the application to list on Sunday issued an exemption for non resident institutional foreign investors to subscribe
Saudi investors would be eligible to receive bonus shares a maximum of 100 bonus shares for every 10 allotted shares
At a valuation of 1 5 trillion Aramco would still be worth at least 50 more than the world s most valuable listed companies Microsoft Corp O MSFT and Apple Inc O AAPL which each have a market capitalisation of about 1 trillion
But a 1 sale would raise only around 15 billion for Saudi coffers ranking Aramco as the 11th biggest IPO of all time Refinitiv data show For a graphic on the top 10 largest global IPOs see
Some perspective on the Aramco IPO for the overall Saudi diversification story is needed the likely Aramco IPO proceeds will be less than the Aramco dividends the government received in the first half of 2019 alone said Hasnain Malik head of equity strategy at Tellimer
GRAPHIC Aramco vs Oil Majors 9 month earnings
THE RIGHT TIME
The promised listing has had Wall Street on tenterhooks since Prince Mohammed flagged it in 2016
Aramco mandated 27 banks to work on the deal including Citigroup NYSE C Goldman Sachs NYSE GS HSBC JPMorgan NYSE JPM and Morgan Stanley NYSE MS
I think this is the right time for us to take Aramco to be a public company we wanna go IPO and we wanna go now Rumayyan told reporters on Sunday when asked about the timing
Initial hopes for a blockbuster international listing of about 5 were dashed when the share sale was halted last year amid debate over where to list Aramco overseas
Aramco said the IPO timetable was delayed because it began a process to acquire a 70 stake in petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp SE 2010
Prince Mohammed also came under intense international criticism last year for the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul by Saudi operatives a murder for which the crown prince has said he bears responsibility because it happened under my watch
The death tarnished the image of the kingdom s de facto ruler and imperiled his plans to diversify the economy Republican and Democratic lawmakers also citing the civilian toll from a Saudi air campaign in Yemen have ramped up efforts to block U S arms sales to Saudi Arabia
IPO preparations were revived this summer after Aramco attracted huge interest in its first international bond sale seen as a pre IPO relationship building exercise with investors
But a listing announcement expected on Oct 20 was delayed after advisers said they needed more time to lock in cornerstone investors three sources told Reuters
A growing movement to fight climate change and embrace new green technologies have put some fund managers particularly in Europe and the United States off the oil and gas sector
The bond sale in April forced the secretive company to reveal its finances for the first time including net income of 111 billion more than a third bigger than the combined net income of the five super oil majors Those companies have been raising payouts to shareholders to counter rising pressure from climate activism
Aramco said on Sunday it intended to declare aggregate ordinary cash dividends of at least 75 billion in 2020
At a valuation of 1 5 trillion this would mean a dividend yield of 5 below that offered by rival Royal Dutch Shell L RDSa Shell s dividend yield is over 6 according to Refinitiv data
GRAPHIC Aramco valuation vs oil majors | 11/3/2019 |
INTC | Porsche invests in Israeli road visibility startup TriEye | TEL AVIV Reuters Israel s TriEye whose short wave infra red sensing technology enables vision in adverse weather and night time conditions has expanded its funding round to 19 million with an investment from German sports car manufacturer Porsche DE PSHG p
The amount invested by Porsche was not disclosed
TriEye said on Wednesday the additional funds will be used for product development and operations as well as team growth
In May TriEye announced an early funding round led by Intel NASDAQ INTC Capital Other investors in the round include Israeli businessman Marius Nacht and TriEye s existing investor Grove Ventures To date TriEye has raised 22 million including a seed investment of 3 million led by Grove Ventures in 2017
The company said its camera whose initial samples are due to launch in 2020 is designed to save lives on the roads
Porsche Ventures said it seeks strategic investments in businesses relating to customer experience mobility and digital lifestyle as well as artificial intelligence blockchain and virtual and augmented reality | 8/21/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks lower at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2 37 | Investing com U S stocks were lower after the close on Friday as losses in the Oil Gas Technology and Industrials sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2 37 while the S P 500 index declined 2 59 and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 3 00
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co NYSE BA which rose 0 52 or 1 84 points to trade at 356 25 at the close Meanwhile UnitedHealth Group Incorporated NYSE UNH fell 0 95 or 2 22 points to end at 230 67 and Walmart Inc NYSE WMT was down 0 96 or 1 07 points to 110 84 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL which fell 4 62 or 9 82 points to trade at 202 64 at the close Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC declined 3 89 or 1 82 points to end at 44 96 and American Express Company NYSE AXP was down 3 65 or 4 46 points to 117 81
The top performers on the S P 500 were Salesforce com Inc NYSE CRM which rose 2 19 to 151 49 Newmont Goldcorp Corp NYSE NEM which was up 2 16 to settle at 39 32 and Intuit Inc NASDAQ INTU which gained 1 10 to close at 278 74
The worst performers were Foot Locker Inc NYSE FL which was down 18 92 to 33 99 in late trade L Brands Inc NYSE LB which lost 9 31 to settle at 17 53 and Hasbro Inc NASDAQ HAS which was down 8 94 to 104 13 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Fuwei Films Holdings Co Ltd NASDAQ FFHL which rose 217 77 to 6 2600 Liquid Media Group Ltd NASDAQ YVR which was up 24 02 to settle at 1 563 and KemPharm Inc NASDAQ KMPH which gained 22 89 to close at 0 89
The worst performers were TuanChe ADR NASDAQ TC which was down 31 32 to 2 61 in late trade American Resources Corp Class A NASDAQ AREC which lost 28 41 to settle at 0 80 and Craft Brew Alliance Inc NASDAQ BREW which was down 20 60 to 10 29 at the close
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2543 to 443 and 20 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 2289 fell and 381 advanced while 67 ended unchanged
Shares in Foot Locker Inc NYSE FL fell to 52 week lows losing 18 92 or 7 93 to 33 99 Shares in L Brands Inc NYSE LB fell to 5 year lows falling 9 31 or 1 80 to 17 53 Shares in Fuwei Films Holdings Co Ltd NASDAQ FFHL rose to 5 year highs up 217 77 or 4 2900 to 6 2600 Shares in American Resources Corp Class A NASDAQ AREC fell to 52 week lows falling 28 41 or 0 32 to 0 80 Shares in Craft Brew Alliance Inc NASDAQ BREW fell to 3 years lows losing 20 60 or 2 67 to 10 29
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 19 12 to 19 87
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1 87 or 28 25 to 1536 75 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in October fell 2 53 or 1 40 to hit 53 95 a barrel while the October Brent oil contract fell 1 32 or 0 79 to trade at 59 13 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 58 to 1 1142 while USD JPY fell 0 95 to 105 41
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0 52 at 97 550 | 8/23/2019 |
MSFT | Apple pledges 2 5 billion to fight California housing crisis | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL on Monday said it would commit 2 5 billion to easing a housing shortage that has driven up prices across California with most of the money dedicated to funds that will be run either with or by the state government One billion dollars will go to a jointly run fund with state officials aimed at jumpstarting delayed or stalled affordable housing projects Another 1 billion will go to a state run fund to provide first time home buyer financial assistance to teachers nurses and first responders such as police and firefighters among others In an interview with Reuters Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company felt a profound responsibility to improve California s housing crisis Apple s current headquarters a ring of gleaming metal and glass nicknamed the spaceship in Cupertino California sits less than five miles from the suburban family home where co founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak assembled the first Apple computers in the 1970s We want to make sure that it is a vibrant place where people can live and also raise a family Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters in an interview And there s no question that today that isn t possible for many people that the region suffers from an affordability crisis that is existential The move comes after Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB and Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc owned Google both committed 1 billion toward California housing initiatives while Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT committed 500 million in the Seattle Washington area Apple said the project financing fund was the first of its kind Real estate developers often secure bonds for affordable housing development but must service the debt during construction until the houses are built and start to generate revenue Apple and state officials hope to provide bridge financing during construction at rates below those from commercial lenders Apple said the funding could take two years to deploy but that it hopes to recycle the funding for future projects over five years This unparalleled financial commitment to affordable housing and the innovative strategies at the heart of this initiative are proof that Apple is serious about solving this issue California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement The 2 billion in funding will be deployable across California while the remaining 500 million will go toward efforts specific to Apple s home region in Northern California where fast growing tech companies have drawn protests from residents who blame them for rising housing costs Apple will make available about 42 acres of land in northern San Jose California valued at 300 million on which it hopes nearly 3 800 affordable housing units can be built It will also donate 150 million to a Bay Area affordable housing fund and 50 million to Destination Home a public private group addressing homelessness in Silicon Valley home to some of the world s most valuable public companies
Tech has grown a lot and it has become a larger portion of the economy Cook said We d like to be part of the solution so that s why we re jumping in | 11/4/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft rolls out new cloud tool for analyzing business data | SAN FRANCISCO Reuters Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT announced on Monday a new service aimed at helping large businesses put to use the huge amounts of data stored in corporate systems
The Azure Synapse system to be unveiled at an event in Florida is part of the company s fast growing cloud computing unit which has driven the company s shares up over the past five years The tool is meant to help companies build out systems that analyze large amounts of data to make better business decisions such as whether a digital marketing campaign is driving more traffic to stores and websites
The Synapse aims to solve two problems for businesses building those systems Rohan Kumar the corporate vice president of Azure Data told Reuters in an interview
The first is that businesses need different software tools to analyze data held in systems like customer databases where names and addresses sit in neat rows and columns and look like a spreadsheet versus newer systems like website monitoring tools where clicks are recorded as a long stream of numbers and time stamps The Synapse tool is designed to handle both kinds of data he said
Second the Synapse system automatically handles some of the tasks for building out a system to analyze data reducing the amount of work needed from computer programmers Deutsch Bank and Unilever LON ULVR are among the customers testing the system Microsoft said
What we re seeing with our customers is these projects that would typically take multiple months are now getting completed within a day Kumar said | 11/4/2019 |
MSFT | Give or take a trillion Investors still in the dark on Saudi Aramco value | By Saeed Azhar Stanley Carvalho and Ron Bousso Reuters Saudi Aramco s blockbuster listing remained shrouded in mystery on Monday a day after the company finally announced its plans with scant details disclosed and expert valuations varying wildly from around 1 2 to 2 3 trillion The state oil giant the world s most profitable company fired the starting gun on a domestic initial public offering IPO on Sunday after a series of false starts that had kept the investment world guessing However potential investors rattled by a damaging attack on Aramco s facilities in September were not given key details usually included in intention to float notices such as how much of the company will be sold and when the sale will happen Now fund managers are poring over bank research about the famously secretive company but little certainty has been provided even by analysts from the Wall Street giants with roles in the IPO five investment and banking sources told Reuters Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said he wants a 2 trillion valuation seeking to raise billions of dollars to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in non energy industries That valuation figure is almost twice that of Microsoft N MSFT currently the world s most valuable listed company and seven times that of Exxon Mobil Corp N XOM the biggest listed oil major by market cap Analysts from banks working on the Riyadh bourse listing have met Aramco s management in Dhahran over the past month to get more information on the company but their valuations of the company still vary by around 1 trillion Bank of America Merrill Lynch NYSE BAC has a range of 1 2 trillion to 2 3 trillion while EFG Hermes says 1 55 trillion to 2 1 trillion according to two fund managers who have seen the reports Goldman Sachs NYSE GS one of the IPO coordinators has put the valuation between 1 6 trillion and 2 3 trillion two separate sources said Credit Suisse s research offers a similarly wide range one of the fund managers said A major factor in the broad spread is the various assumptions analysts are making for the future direction of oil prices said a source familiar with the deal The banks were not immediately available for comment Sources have told Reuters that Aramco could offer 1 2 of its shares raising as much as 20 billion to 40 billion A deal over 25 billion would top the record breaking IPO of Chinese e commerce giant Alibaba N BABA in 2014 Aramco Chairman Yasir al Rumayyan said a decision on an international listing would be made in the future Graphic Aramco vs Oil Majors first half 2019 profits Graphic Aramco vs oil majors market cap ROADSHOWS AND RISK Two bankers working on the deal estimated around 80 of shares would be sold to local retail and institutional investors with about 20 likely to go to international buyers Having a large domestic investor base is expected to make it easier to achieve a higher valuation Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters a government committee had been securing pre sale commitments from wealthy Saudis while retail investors were being offered cheap credit Aramco did provide investors with some extra financial information on Sunday and Monday including its nine month earnings which showed net income fell to 68 2 billion by the end of September 30 down from 83 1 billion a year earlier The Saudi Arabian Oil Company to give its full name did not give a reason for the fall but it likely reflects lower oil prices In 2016 when the oil price hit 13 year lows Aramco s net income was only 13 billion according to a company bond prospectus this year compared to 111 billion in 2018 Its net income for the third quarter of 2019 amounted to 21 1 billion according to Reuters calculations By contrast Exxon Mobil s income for the period was just over 3 billion Aramco said it did not expect the Sept 14 attacks on its facilities which initially halved its production would have a material impact on its business However the attacks underlined the potential political risk associated with the state company Saudi Arabia blamed arch rival Iran a charge rejected by Tehran The analysts roadshow for Aramco where analysts from banks working on the IPO speak to investors began in the Middle East on Sunday and will run for a fortnight involving 26 to 27 analysts across the world a source familiar with the deal said Roadshows involving senior management will begin after analysts meetings while pricing is likely to be announced around Nov 28 the source added Graphic Dividend Yield ASSET MANAGER UNDECIDED Legal General Investment Management one of Britain s biggest asset managers has not yet decided whether to invest in Aramco its chief investment officer Sonja Laud told the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit on Monday She added concerns from a corporate governance viewpoint are well flagged The close relationship between the crown prince and new Aramco Chairman Rumayyan who also heads the kingdom s sovereign wealth fund is a governance concern for some investors sources have previously said The wealth fund will use the proceeds of the IPO to deliver on the prince s ambitious reforms Among other expert valuations for Aramco Bernstein analysts estimate a fair value range is 1 2 trillion to 1 5 trillion Others are more conservative A more reasonable valuation is around 1 trillion said Anish Kapadia head of London based independent oil and mining advisory Palissy Advisors Our view is that an aspirational 2 trillion valuation is extremely high from a fundamentals perspective
Graphic Chart showing estimated valuations ranges by bank analysts | 11/4/2019 |
MSFT | Essential Strategies for Securing Your Business Crypto Assets | Crypto assets are often associated with numerous advantages including the transparency and security of transactions However these don t mean that cryptographic assets have immunity from theft They can be stolen by cybercriminals in more ways than one
According to a report by cybersecurity firm CipherTrace This figure is more than 400 higher than the amount of stolen crypto money in the previous year The bulk of the amounts stolen is attributed to thefts from cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency infrastructure services online wallets in particular
On the other hand cybersecurity company Carbon Black reported that while the most common targets of cryptocurrency theft are exchanges 27 businesses are a close second 21 It only makes sense for cryptocurrency owning businesses to put security measures in place as a growing number of businesses are already accepting bitcoins and other crypto assets as payments These include Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Overstock and Expedia NASDAQ EXPE Even KFC Canada Virgin Galactic and several branches of Subway already include cryptocurrency in their list of payment options
The Nature of Crypto Asset Theft
How are cryptocurrencies and other cryptography based assets stolen Before going into the details of this topic it s important to know the basics of how the supposedly unbreakable encryption behind bitcoin and other cryptography based assets is defeated With all the lengthy strings of characters used to identify a transaction and the similarly kilometric private keys needed to access wallets how come cryptocurrencies are still compromised A good way to answer this question is by comparing cryptocurrency to a fortress with indestructible walls Attacks may not be able to pierce through the walls but the fortress has openings intentionally added for the entry and exit of the users These points of entry exit are what hackers exploit Cryptography at least before quantum computers become viable is still virtually impenetrable That s why it s not what cybercriminals attack it s the specific accounts whose owners fail to take advantage of security measures
One of the common ways to steal cryptocurrency is clipboard hijacking This is done by introducing clipper malware to computers These clippers copy and submit data stored in the clipboard which may include the private keys for cryptocurrency wallets Many of the malware used to steal crypto asset details are concealed as cryptocurrency trading add ons slack bots and supposedly mundane apps laced with malicious codes
Some attacks may be o | 11/4/2019 |
MSFT | U S urged to invest more in AI ex Google CEO warns of China s progress | By Jeffrey Dastin and Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters U S government funding in artificial intelligence has fallen short and the country needs to invest in research train an AI ready workforce and apply the technology to national security missions a government commissioned panel led by Google s former CEO said in an interim report on Monday The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence NSCAI created by Congress last year raised concerns about the progress China has made in this area It also said the U S government still faces enormous work before it can transition AI from a promising technological novelty into a mature technology integrated into core national security missions The commission thinks an allied effort on AI in the realm of national security is important Robert Work vice chairman of the NSCAI and a former deputy secretary of defense told reporters The NSCAI has spoken with Japan Canada the United Kingdom Australia and the European Union Work said China is investing more than the United States in AI said the report which referred to the Asian nation more than 50 times China takes advantage of the openness of U S society in numerous ways some legal some not to transfer AI know how the report said at a time of heightened tensions between the countries A spokeswoman for China s embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment China is ahead in two areas One is in the face recognition surveillance area And another one is in financial technology This does not mean that they re ahead in AI overall Eric Schmidt the panel s chairman and one of several U S tech industry executives on the commission told reporters A poll the commission conducted of researchers found that China is a fast follower but that the best and the most original papers are still occurring in the West Schmidt said There is still a way forward for the United States to win the high stakes technological race he said Schmidt is a technical advisor to Google s parent Alphabet Inc O GOOGL He was previously the company s executive chairman and before that was Google s chief executive officer Others on the commission include Andrew Jassy CEO of Amazon Web Services O AMZN and Safra Catz CEO of Oracle Corp N ORCL CHINA S RESEARCH TIES Part of the commission s report addressed whether the United States should restrict American cooperation with Chinese AI researchers including through visa and export controls The challenge U S officials face is that American industry and academic leaders have said that any such restrictions would harm the U S economy the report said The commissioners did not specify solutions saying instead that the choice need not be a binary one between cooperating and disentangling It said however the United States should be open to cooperating with China on promoting the responsible use of AI including for example jointly banning use of AI to authorize the launch of nuclear weapons The commission also expressed concern that China by allegedly using AI to violate human rights will set a bad example for authoritarian regimes It noted that beside China at least 74 other countries are also engaging in AI powered surveillance including half of advanced liberal democracies Calling attention to activism by tech workers who have protested industry partnerships with the U S military the report said ethics and strategic necessity are compatible with one another There is widespread support for making the technology unbiased and safe the report said but the Commission is concerned that debate will paralyze AI development Last month the Pentagon awarded a controversial contract to Microsoft Corp O MSFT protested by some of the company s workers that will help the military better access data and cloud computing services from battlefields and other remote locations
The final report from the commission will be ready in about a year the commission said | 11/4/2019 |
MSFT | Do more with less New Zealand firm s four day week | Reuters A New Zealand estate planning company which made headlines when it trailed a four day week last year has seen a big productivity increase since it made the change permanent with staff spending less time surfing the Internet Perpetual Guardian tried cutting working hours to 30 from 37 5 for its 240 staff in early 2018 asking them to deliver the same amount of output in less time but keeping pay the same The success of the trial prompted the company to introduce the policy on a long term opt in basis from last November Almost four fifths of staff chose the shorter working week I m doing this as a businessman not because I want people to have a nice life Perpetual Guardian founder Andrew Barnes told Reuters Business is slowly coming to the realization that if one in four of your staff is stressed or has a mental health problem that is not productive Interest in reduced working hours is growing around the world Britain s opposition Labour party has promised a 32 hour week for the whole country if elected Microsoft O MSFT reported a 40 rise in productivity when it gave its 2 300 employees in Japan Fridays off in August Critics of a shorter working week say it is not suited to all sectors and can be difficult and costly to implement Think tank the Center for Policy Studies for example published a report on Tuesday that estimated that Labour s policy would cost the public sector alone at least 17 billion pounds 21 94 billion Barnes who has set up a foundation to fund research into the four day week and the future of work said Perpetual Guardian s productivity revenues and profits had been boosted since the four day week was introduced Staff loyalty increased and the company was able to attract higher quality recruits Stress levels and sick days had fallen Barnes said Productivity has risen 30 40 while Internet surfing dropped 35 in office hours with people improving their time management holding shorter meetings and signaling if they do not want to be disturbed The four day week is mandatory for senior managers at the company to prevent working hours creeping up again If people see a leader who is not taking four days a week they think If I take up this policy I won t get to the top Barnes said
Perpetual Guardian still opens its branches five days a week as staff take different days off Barnes said the company might consider opening on Saturdays as some employees would prefer to work that day and take a weekday off instead | 11/5/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks cling to gains on trade hopes mixed earnings weigh on Europe | By Karin Strohecker
LONDON Reuters World stocks hovered near a 15 month high on Tuesday underpinned by cautious optimism over a Sino U S trade deal and expectations of another dose of policy stimulus from the Federal Reserve with safe havens such as gold and yen on the back foot
A mixed bag of earnings offset some of the chipper mood on European bourses with the pan regional STOXX 600 snapping a six day losing streak to ease 0 4 and Germany s DAX index GDAXI easing 0 2
The losses in Europe followed a mixed performance in Asia where Japan s Nikkei N225 rose 0 4 to reach levels last seen a year ago Shanghai blue chips CSI300 dithered either side of flat
U S President Donald Trump said on Monday he expected to sign a significant part of a trade deal with China ahead of schedule but did not elaborate on the timing
The U S trade representative also said Washington was studying whether to extend tariff suspensions on 34 billion of Chinese goods set to expire on Dec 28
But analysts cautioned that trade tensions were far from over
It isn t yet clear that an interim deal that kicks trade worries down the road would be sufficient to allay concerns about the geopolitical economic earnings and policy backdrop Mark Haefele CIO at UBS Global Wealth Management
President Trump s announcement of a Chinese commitment to buying 40 50 billion of U S agricultural products appears unrealistic U S exports to China peaked at just 26 billion in 2012 when prices were much higher
U S futures ESc1 NQc1 pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street after Monday s rally that saw the S P 500 SPX gain 0 56 to a record closing peak and the Dow DJI rise 0 49 and the Nasdaq IXIC 1 01
Microsoft Corp O MSFT climbed 2 46 in late NY trade after winning the Pentagon s 10 billion cloud computing contract beating out Amazon com Inc O AMZN
Google parent Alphabet Inc O GOOGL meanwhile slipped after missing analysts estimates for quarterly profit even though revenue growth topped expectations
WAIT AND SEE
With markets in wait and see mode for Fed and trade developments bond yields inched lower Germany s benchmark 10 year bond yield hovered just below three month highs hit on Monday when yields across the single currency bloc rose sharply after the European Union granted Britain a Brexit extension
Yields on two year Treasury notes were treading water after hitting four week highs on Monday at 1 668 US
Investors are still looking forward to a likely rate cut from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday though the outlook was less clear beyond that
We expect the Federal Reserve will cut rates this week and possibly once next year as insurance against a broad economic slowdown BlackRock s chief fixed income strategist Scott Thiel said in a note to clients
The futures market has 50 basis points of cuts priced in by June
Central banks in Japan and Canada also meet this week with talk the former might ease further if only to prevent an export sapping bounce in its currency
The shift from safe harbors saw the yen weaken slightly with the dollar standing at 108 89 yen after having reached its highest in three months It was eyeing a key technical level at 109 31
The euro edged up to 1 1095 EUR and was little changed against a basket of currencies at 97 782 DXY
The British pound meanwhile fell toward a 10 day low nearing 1 28 against a broadly stronger greenback as investors waited for Prime Minister Boris Johnson s next attempt to push for a general election before the end of the year
Spot gold hovered at 1 493 per ounce after having pulled away from last week s top around 1 517
Oil prices were pressured by signs of rising U S crude stock piles
Brent crude LCOc1 futures slipped 45 cents to 61 12 a barrel while U S crude CLc1 lost 53 cents to 55 28 | 10/29/2019 |
INTC | AMD lands Google Twitter as customers with newest server chip | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Advanced Micro Devices Inc O AMD on Wednesday released the second generation of its processor chip for data centers and said that it had landed Alphabet Inc O GOOGL Google and Twitter Inc N TWTR as customers AMD competes against Intel Corp O INTC to supply chips for data centers that power internet based services Both firms have come to rely on data center chips for growth because personal computer sales have stagnated as users shifted to mobile devices AMD s newest generation of server chip called EPYC uses a new chip making technology from its contract manufacturers that helps the chips have better performance while consuming less power Intel which makes chips in its own factories instead of relying on contractors is behind schedule delivering chips made with its own newer manufacturing process It plans to release them next year AMD has tried to take advantage of that by courting some of Intel s biggest customers such as Google AMD said on Thursday that Google is using its second generation EPYC server chip in Google s internal data centers and that Google will offer it to external developers as part of its cloud computing offerings later this year It is the first time Google has publicly acknowledged using AMD s EPYC chips Intel shares were down 0 6 to 46 42 in after hours trading after AMD s customer announcements AMD shares were up 0 3 to 29 30 Intel which said that both Google and Twitter remain customers is the dominant supplier of data center chips with more than 90 of the market under its control But AMD has been making inroads with its most recent chips Patrick Moorhead founder of Moor Insights Strategy said he estimates that AMD took low single digit market share from Intel with the first generation of EPYC server chips and that he expects that share to expand with the second generation announced Wednesday In terms of performance Moorhead said the new AMD chips are better than Intel s chips at some kinds of computing work but may lag on others He said that new Intel chip features for machine learning tasks and new Intel memory technology being with customers such as German software firm SAP SE DE SAPG could give Intel an advantage in those areas
Moorhead said in a research note that most every large business he talks to wants more competition in the space to accelerate innovation and lower costs With that said none of these customers would adopt AMD if it didn t have some advantages | 8/7/2019 |
MSFT | Facebook Google Twitter urged to do more to combat fake news in EU | By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS Reuters Facebook O FB Google O GOOGL and Twitter N TWTR must do more to tackle fake news or face regulatory action the European Commission said on Tuesday
The threat by the EU executive came a year after the U S tech giants together with Mozilla Microsoft O MSFT and seven European trade bodies signed up to a voluntary code of conduct to combat fake news in a move aimed at warding off intrusive rules
The Commission is now drawing up regulations known as the Digital Services Act This will set out liability and safety rules for digital platforms services and products a move which has already triggered fears in the tech industry of heavy handed intervention
The latest monthly report from the companies showed a wide divergence between them and provided few details on the impact of the measures taken by the companies EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova EU security chief Julian King and EU digital commissioner Mariya Gabriel said in a joint statement
Large scale automated propaganda and disinformation persist and there is more work to be done under all areas of the Code We cannot accept this as a new normal they said
They called on the companies to cooperate with more independent bodies An independent consultant hired by the Commission will publish its assessment early next year followed by the EU executive s own study | 10/29/2019 |
MSFT | France Germany step up effort to build rivals to U S cloud firms | PARIS Reuters France and Germany are stepping up efforts to foster homegrown rivals to U S tech giants Amazon NASDAQ AMZN and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT in cloud computing according to a joint statement by the countries finance ministries issued on Tuesday Amazon Microsoft and Alphabet s Google NASDAQ GOOGL dominate the field of data storage worldwide with a combined market share of more than 50 according to market research This dominance is raising concerns in Europe that sensitive corporate data could be spied on in the wake of the adoption of the U S CLOUD Act of 2018 and in the absence of any major competitors with the exception of China s Alibaba NYSE BABA Amazon s cloud division has a 600 million contract with the CIA while Microsoft recently won a 10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon We want to establish a safe and sovereign European data infrastructure including data warehouses data pooling and develop data interoperability French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in a statement Le Maire s German counterpart Peter Altmaier also cited the need to regain our digital sovereignty The two governments pledged to hold a workshop before the end of November The aim is to present proposals for a European data infrastructure in early 2020 according to the joint statement The initiative follows a call that Le Maire made earlier this month to French tech companies Dassault Systemes and OVH to come up with plans to break the dominance of U S cloud computing firms
Previous French government supported attempts to build a so called sovereign cloud to store the most sensitive data held by companies and states failed | 10/29/2019 |
MSFT | StockBeat AMD Stutters but Wall Street Sees Reason for Optimism | Investing com Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD shares were struggling to shake off losses on Wednesday following a slight miss on third quarter revenue The miss however has not stopped some on Wall Street getting even more bullish on the chipmaker
Rosenblatt Securities lifted its price target on AMD to 52 from 42 and maintained its hold rating on the stock AMD was down 1 33 at 1 45 p m 17 45 GMT
AMD reported third quarter earnings of 18 cents a share in line with consensus estimates from Investing com But its revenue of 1 8 billion just missed estimates of 1 81 billion Earnings were up 38 4 from a year earlier Revenue was up 9 1
The slight miss on the top line was driven by a fall in demand for gaming consoles pressuring sales of the company s gaming CPUs
But the headwinds from gaming may fade ahead of the new game console cycle with Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Sony NYSE SNE expected to launch new consoles late next year
Looking ahead AMD will likely benefit from continuing notebook traction and a ramp up in demand for desktop and server equipment in 2020 Rosenblatt suggested
AMD is up about 77 for the year so far despite Wednesday s decline It has an average price target of 33 54 according to consensus estimates from Investing com | 10/30/2019 |
MSFT | Spain s Sanchez says there will be no online independence for Catalonia | MADRID Reuters Spain s Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez stepping up efforts to control separatist groups and parties activity on the internet said on Thursday his government would not allow Catalonia to set up a virtual independent republic online
Sanchez faces a parliamentary election on Nov 10 with much depending on how voters react to days of sometimes violent protests that followed the jailing of nine Catalan separatist leaders this month
Opinion polls show his Socialist party leading but with fewer seats than in a previous election in April in part because right wing parties received a boost from voters upset with the unrest in the wealthy northeastern region
I m telling Catalan separatists There won t be independence either offline or online The state of law will be as forcefully online than in the real world Sanchez told Onda Cero radio
The government on Thursday adopted a decree to oblige all public administrations in Spain to host their websites in the European Union a move aimed at putting an end to what he called the separatists aim of a digital republic
Jordi Puignero Catalan Digital Policy councilor described the law as a digital coup d etat at a news conference in Barcelona
We have witnessed websites closures application closures internet traffic filtering and now they want to ban a republic that they said does not exist Well it exists and it is unstoppable he said
The move is part of a broader crackdown by Spanish authorities on the online activity of separatists
A Spanish judge ordered the closure of secretive Catalan protest group Democratic Tsunami which was immediately followed by the group migrating its website to another address
Then Spanish police requested coding hosting company GitHub owned by Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT to block an app uploaded in its system by Democratic Tsunami
A GitHub spokesperson told El Pais newspaper that Democratic Tsunami s content had been removed But the group said its app designed to announce the group s actions could still be downloaded through a link posted on the Telegram messaging platform
Separatist politicians including Catalonia s former regional president Carles Puigdemont have set up an online Council for the Catalan Republic which says it has 80 000 followers
Puigdemont s Junts per Catalunya JxCat party has included in its electoral program a plan to create a digital Catalan republic before there can be a real one
Separately Democratic Tsunami on Thursday called on people to take to the streets on Nov 9 on the eve of the parliamentary election to force the Spanish state to reflect on the jailing of the Catalans | 10/31/2019 |
MSFT | Exclusive Sachem Head bets on Instructure plans to call for review | By Svea Herbst Bayliss BOSTON Reuters Hedge fund Sachem Head Capital Management has built a new stake in Instructure Inc N INST and plans to push the educational software company to explore alternatives including selling itself two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday New York based Sachem Head which has been buying the company s shares over time wants the Salt Lake City based company which has a market capitalization of 1 6 billion to pursue a full sale process the sources said The exact size of Sachem Head s position could not be determined Sachem Head which is run by Scott Ferguson and invests 3 2 billion on behalf of clients according to a recent regulatory filing is one of a handful of activist investors that have successfully pushed companies to break apart or sell themselves A spokesman for Sachem Head declined to comment Instructure s stock price jumped as much as 6 on the news of Sachem Head s stake The hedge fund believes Instructure which has been a publicly traded company since 2015 can generate interest among private equity investors as well as publicly traded companies that want its education product according to the sources who asked not to be named because the matter is private Since January Instructure s share price has gained 16 but it lags the Standard Poor s 500 20 6 gain in part because its employee development software product Bridge has failed to generate considerable market share sources said Instructure s flagship learning management system Canvas is a market leader in the higher educational space where it enjoys strong customer support and has recently begun to move into international markets Instructure has a number of hedge fund owners and in the last months a handful of investors have privately complained to management about the company s direction taking particular aim at the Bridge product sources said One investor is hedge fund Praesidium Investment Management Company whose portfolio manager Kevin Oram presented the company as one of his best ideas at the recent Sohn San Francisco Investment Conference citing Canvas success and Bridge s failures Having Sachem Head as a new investor in the stock could add considerable momentum to changes the company may already be thinking about sources said Instructure has announced plans to hold an analyst day on Dec 3 and may lay out potential changes at that time Sachem Head recently called on Whitbread PLC L WTB to sell its Costa Coffee business before it was spun off to Coca Cola Co N KO It also helped persuade Eagle Materials to split its core businesses before the company s board agreed to spin off its heavy materials and light materials businesses into two publicly traded entities The hedge fund prefers to stay out of the limelight and tends to settle with companies instead of waging expensive and time consuming proxy contests Market speculation began mounting about Sachem Head s new position after Ferguson teased a new idea without naming it at a recent industry conference
Demand to buy the company outright could be high among private equity investors ranging from Vista Equity Partners to Providence Equity Partners to Silver Lake Partners At the same time companies like Microsoft Corp O MSFT and Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google which owns Google Classroom and publishers like Pearson PLC L PSON McGraw Hill Education Holdings might be interested sources said | 10/31/2019 |
MSFT | Aramco IPO Waits on Crown Prince as Saudi Rich Pressed to Invest | Bloomberg Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will decide in the next two days whether there s enough support from local investors to finally go ahead with the initial public offering of state oil producer Aramco
Aramco is preparing to announce its intention to float on Sunday according to people familiar with the matter The final decision will be made by Prince Mohammed after he hears feedback from bankers who ve been pitching the deal to investors in Saudi Arabia and beyond the people said asking not to be named discussing private deliberations
It will be a Saudi decision first and foremost specifically Prince Mohammed s decision Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Saudi energy minister and the crown prince s half brother said earlier this week
An earlier plan to kick off the share sale in mid October was shelved after international money managers balked at the 2 trillion valuation the crown prince has placed on the world s largest oil producer
Aramco executives held meetings with investors in London and New York over the last week but there are few signs they are ready to pay the valuation Prince Mohammed has insisted on since 2016 If the IPO goes ahead now it s likely to rely heavily on money from within the kingdom
The richest Saudi families many of whom had members held in Riyadh s Ritz Carlton hotel during 2017 s corruption crackdown have been pressed to commit large sums to the IPO people with knowledge of the matter said asking not to be identified discussing private conversations
Local asset managers including those looking after government funds have also been asked to make significant contributions while domestic banks have been told to lend generously so retail investors can buy Aramco shares the people said
Whether that s sufficient to get the valuation to 2 trillion remains to be seen The prince may need to be satisfied with a figure closer to 1 7 billion if he wants the deal to go ahead people said
For Prince Mohammed getting the IPO done may be more important than achieving the valuation he initially put forward for two reasons First Saudi Arabia is selling a tiny stake probably around 2 so he isn t leaving too much money on the table by accepting a lower valuation
Second what happens after the IPO may matter more because the ups and downs of the share price will be a barometer of the Saudi economy and a successful IPO now opens the door to further sales
It s very important to make sure it s a successful IPO where success is defined as a material price increase after flotation Maximizing shareholder return at this stage is very secondary Ali Shihabi a Saudi commentator with links to the government said on Twitter Also if large numbers of Saudi retail investors participate as is expected it s essential to guarantee them a good return
Riyadh still has ambitions to sell Aramco shares on an international exchange bankers have talked about London New York and Tokyo as possibilities and the initial 1 2 stake IPO may be a first step in future sales In 2016 Prince Mohammed said he wanted to sell about 5 of the company
Even at a valuation of 1 5 trillion the IPO would be gigantic That would still create the world s largest publicly traded company far outstripping Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL the only two worth more than 1 trillion today
It would also almost certainly mean a record share sale selling 2 of Aramco s equity would yield 30 billion for Saudi Arabia s sovereign wealth fund surpassing the 25 billion raised by China s Alibaba NYSE BABA Group Holding Ltd in 2014
A successful sale is key to Prince Mohammed s Vision 2030 plan to overhaul the Saudi economy and end the kingdom s reliance on oil exports The proceeds from the IPO will boost the firepower of the OPEC nation s sovereign wealth fund which already has investments in funds managed by Blackstone NYSE BX Group LP and SoftBank Group Corp
Goldman Sachs Group Inc NYSE GS JPMorgan Chase NYSE JPM Co and the other Wall Street giants advising Aramco haven t given up on luring international investors to the IPO At management meetings with fund managers in London and New York last week the reception was mixed according to people who attended the meetings
Some investors saw the potential of switching their oil investments to Aramco where rock bottom production costs mean they re likely to outlast less efficient producers as the world shifts away from fossil fuels But others remain skeptical that Aramco deserves a valuation that would put their dividend yields below established public oil majors like Royal Dutch Shell LON RDSa Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM
The company is ready and timing will depend on market conditions and be at a time of the shareholder s choosing Aramco said in a statement
If Prince Mohammed decides to give the go ahead trading in Aramco stock will start on the Saudi Stock Exchange the Tadawul on Dec 11 according to Al Arabiya By the end of 2019 the world s most valuable company will no longer be listed in New York but in Riyadh | 11/1/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Jobs Report Powers S P 500 Nasdaq to New Highs | Investing com A better than expected jobs report Friday crushed worries about trade disputes and set off a big rally for stocks
The S P 500 the Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 hit new intraday highs and set closing highs as well The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed within 12 points of its closing peak of 27 359 16 reached on July 15
The S P 500 was up 0 97 finishing at 3 066 91 The Nasdaq ended up 1 1 at 8 386 40 The Nasdaq 100 added 0 96 to 8 161 17 The Dow surged more than 301 points or 1 1 at 27 347 36
The S P 100 Index also set a record close up 0 98 to 1 363 03
The rally was set off by the Labor Department s report that employers added 128 000 jobs in October more than expected The unemployment rate moved up to 3 6 but economists said that was a function of more people coming into the labor force Reports in August and September were revised higher meaning the summer and early fall hiring has been little affected by trade woes or the recently settled General Motors NYSE GM strike
The report confirms the assessment of many economists and the Federal Reserve that the domestic economy is growing steadily despite the U S Chine trade fight and slowing economies around the world
A bevy of stocks hit all time highs including Apple NASDAQ AAPL Amgen NASDAQ AMGN American States Water NYSE AWR JPMorgan Chase NYSE JPM and United Technologies NYSE UTX
The S P was led by the energy industrial financial materials and technology sectors Caterpillar NYSE CAT was the top Dow stock rising nearly 5
Chip stocks were big winners with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 2 3 to a record close of 1 689 93 Four of the top five performers among Nasdaq 100 stocks were chip stocks led by Skyworks Solutions NASDAQ SWKS up nearly 8
The stocks of both companies with market capitalizations greater than 1 trilflion were higher Apple was up 2 84 boosting its market cap to 1 156 trillion Microsoft up 0 24 ended the day with a 1 096 trillion market cap
Apple NASDAQ AAPL up 22 since the end of August has seen its market cap grow by 213 billion Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT is up by 4 1 in the same time frame Its market cap is up 43 billion
For some perspective the growth in Apple s market cap in the last two months is nearly the same size as the total market cap of Chevron NYSE CVX
Only the utilities and real estate sectors fell back because interest rates moved up with stocks
The jobs report pushed oil prices up more than 3 Interest rates moved higher as well with the 10 Year Treasury yield reaching 1 722 up from Thursday s 1 691 | 11/1/2019 |
INTC | StockBeat AMD Caught Up in Market Selloff Despite Cheers From Wall Street | Investing com Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD was caught up in the broader market sell off on Monday despite drawing praise from analysts on Wall Street who believe the chipmaker s new server chip as well as its graphics and PC hardware will strengthen its position against rival Intel NASDAQ INTC
Following a meeting with AMD Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster and the unveiling of AMD s new server processor Cowen upgraded its price target on Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD to 42 From 40
AMD fell nearly 4 however as investors shunned risk assets generally on fears that a prolonged US China trade war would weigh on global growth
The S P 500 was off 1 1 and the Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0 8 The major indexes are down about 5 from their July peaks
AMD s consistent product execution across personal computing graphics processing units and server lines puts the company in a strong position to compete with Intel NASDAQ INTC and could boost gross margin targets and deliver material upside to the 2020 performance Cowen added
The praise for the chipmaker s server business has not been without merit it recently won new business from two tech heavyweights in Google NASDAQ GOOGL and Twitter NYSE TWTR Both will be using the second generation of AMD s processor chip for data centers
ustomers for the second generation of its processor chip for data centers
customers for the second generation of its processor chip for data centers
AMD s second generation Epyc server called Rome was launched last week It has generated a lot of fanfare with some touting its impressive performance metrics particularly within the context of expected power usage and expected cost
With cloud customers eager for an alternative source to Intel s server hardware Wedbush said it expected a favorable server CPU upcycle ahead for AMD
AMD s strong initial shipments of Rome are indicative of strong demand for customer test qualification in our view a trend we would see as unlikely if AMD s new product did not promise a significant improvement in performance Wedbush said in a recent client note
AMD is up 79 this year and has a consensus price target from Investing com of 33 05 | 8/12/2019 |
INTC | Huawei Hires Trade Lobbyists as Sales Slow in U S China Fight | Bloomberg Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars Sign up here
Huawei Technologies Co hired the law firm Sidley Austin LLP to lobby on trade as the U S pressures allies to join it in blacklisting the Chinese telecom giant and the company finds itself increasingly mired in President Donald Trump s trade war with Beijing
The lobbying which began in July will focus on export controls trade sanctions and other national security related topics according to a disclosure filed with the U S Senate The document shows that Huawei is deepening its ties to Sidley Austin which is already working on the company s legal challenges in the U S while also ramping up its lobbying presence
Huawei which is under an existential threat after the Trump administration blocked it from buying American technology over national security concerns has been drawn into the latest escalation of the trade war
Only six weeks ago following a meeting in Japan with Chinese President Xi Jinping Trump said he d delay imposing some restrictions on U S companies sales to Huawei The U S even invited companies to apply for licenses under an exemption to the Huawei ban
But Bloomberg reported on Aug 8 that the White House was holding off any decisions on those licenses The delay follows a series of rapid fire tit for tat moves including Trump announcing plans to impose tariffs on 300 billion of Chinese imports in September and China halting purchases of U S farm goods The U S also declared China a currency manipulator
Deepens Ties
Sidley Austin is already defending Huawei and a U S affiliate against charges that they defrauded at least four banks by concealing business dealings in Iran in violation of U S sanctions
U S prosecutors are seeking to disqualify the company s lead lawyer in the case James Cole because they say his former role as the No 2 at the Justice Department gave him access to classified information that represents an obvious conflict of interest A hearing has been scheduled in the matter in September
Meng Wanzhou Huawei s chief financial officer and the daughter of its billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei is also charged in the case She remains free on bail in Vancouver while she fights extradition to the U S
Sidley is also representing Huawei in a suit against the U S over seizure of telecommunications equipment during an investigation into whether the gear required export licenses Neither Cole nor the lawyers listed in that lawsuit are among the lobbyists on the disclosure
The Chinese company is one of the world s biggest purchasers of semiconductors Continuing those sales is crucial to the fortunes of chipmakers such as Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc and Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO Inc who sent their chief executives to meet with Trump in July
Huawei has seen a dramatic slowdown in sales growth as it deals with the U S campaign
Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google stopped providing Huawei with a version of its Android operating system which lets apps run and provides mobile security on smartphones That means Huawei the world s second biggest smartphone seller can no longer pre install Google s popular apps like Gmail and YouTube on Huawei devices
To fight back Huawei last week unveiled an in house operating system called HarmonyOS saying it can replace Android if Google s software is barred from its future smartphones But Ren also said the company needed a lot more time to build an apps ecosystem a requirement for any operating software to thrive in the long run
American Onslaught
Huawei which the U S says poses a risk because it must cooperate with Beijing s espionage agencies under Chinese law is kicking off a yearslong overhaul to create an iron army that can help it survive an American onslaught while protecting its lead in next generation wireless Ren warned in an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News
The U S says Huawei can build backdoors into its equipment and that it has stolen other companies intellectual property The Shenzhen based company counters that governments and customers in 170 countries use its equipment which poses no greater cybersecurity threat than that of any communications technology vendor Huawei says that the campaign results from Washington s realization that the U S has fallen behind in developing fifth generation mobile networks
Huawei which had all but shut down its Washington lobbying operation at the end of 2018 has also recently hired the law firms of Steptoe Johnson LLP and Jones Day as lobbyists After Samir Jain a Jones Day partner who served on President Barack Obama s National Security Council registered to lobby for the company Trump criticized the move in a tweet The company says Jain will help with legal efforts and not lobby
Sidley Austin also represents the U S division of Chinese video surveillance company Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Alibaba NYSE BABA Group Holding Ltd and organizations with ties to the governments of Hong Kong and Russia according to disclosures It also represents Bloomberg LP the owner of Bloomberg News | 8/12/2019 |
INTC | StockBeat Nvidia Soars Ahead of Earnings After Trump Delays Tariffs | Investing com Nvidia rallied on Tuesday thanks to a timely boost ahead of its quarterly report due later this week after the U S delayed some tariffs on Chinese goods lifting investor sentiment on chipmakers
The United States Trade Representative office said Tuesday that new tariffs on certain consumer items which were set to go into effect on Sept 1 would be delayed until Dec 15 citing health and security factors
Semiconductor related goods including cellphones laptops and video game consoles are also set to be spared easing fears that U S chipmakers such as Nvidia for whom China is a large source of gaming revenue growth were set to come under further pressure
Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA rose more than 3 amid a sea of green across semis with Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Intel NASDAQ INTC and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD also on track to end the day more than 2 higher
The more somber news on trade comes just days ahead of Nvidia s fiscal second quarter earnings due Thursday after the close
Analysts are optimistic that the company s gaming sector which accounts for the bulk of revenue growth can meet Wall Street expectations There are doubts however over the performance of its data center segment
Fiscal second quarter gaming revenues as well as NVDA s fiscal third quarter forecast are likely to meet or exceed estimates in our view in light of modest expectations Wedbush said in a note to clients But data center revenues are more of a question mark the brokerage added
Nvidia is up about 17 for the year and has a consensus price target from Investing com of 182 39 suggesting more than 16 of upside from its current price of 156 35
from its current price of 156 35 | 8/13/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Decline on Weak Chinese German Data | Investing com U S futures fell on Wednesday as data from China and Germany showed the continuing damage to the world economy from trade related disputes
Industrial output growth in China fell to a 17 year low in July while Germany s 0 1 decline in GDP pointed towards the euro zone s biggest economy suffering a recession this year analysts said
Given varied risks a gloomy global trade outlook and elevated uncertainty we expect the German economy to post another mild decline in Q3 19 and therefore enter a technical recession even before Brexit and US EU trade risks are due to crystallize Barclays LON BARC economist Iaroslav Shelepko said in a note to clients after the data
The signs of economic weakness were a sobering reminder of the challenges to equity markets ending a short lived relief rally on Tuesday triggered by the U S s decision to delay new tariffs on some Chinese goods to early December
Nasdaq 100 futures fell 74 points or 1 by 6 42 AM ET 10 42 GMT while Dow futures dipped 235 points or 0 9 and S P 500 futures declined 25 points or 0 9
Technology companies were down in premarket trade on worries that the slowdown in the Chinese economy as reflected in another drop in retail sales growth in July could hit their bottom line Apple NASDAQ AAPL fell 1 5 while AMD dipped 1 6 and Intel NASDAQ INTC declined 0 9
Banking stocks were under pressure on fears for their profit margins as the yield curve stays stubbornly inverted Citigroup NYSE C lost 2 3 while JP Morgan was down 1 8 and Morgan Stanley NYSE MS fell 2 1
Cannabis company Tilray NASDAQ TLRY fell 8 8 after posting a bigger than expected loss due to increased operating expenses
Second quarter earnings season is winding down this week but networking gear maker Cisco NASDAQ CSCO will still be closely watched when it reports after the close
In commodities crude oil slumped 1 6 to 56 17 a barrel after reaching a high of 57 10 during the prior session Gold futures gained 0 3 to 1 518 55 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was down 0 1 to 97 537 | 8/14/2019 |
MSFT | Google urges confidentiality protections in Texas led antitrust probe | By Jonathan Stempel Reuters Google on Thursday petitioned a Texas judge to ensure that the state led probe into possible antitrust violations by the Internet search and advertising company will not compromise its confidential business information The request by Google and its parent Alphabet Inc O GOOGL came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is leading the probe by 48 U S states Washington D C and Puerto Rico hired two consultants who have worked for Google rivals or critics Google wants an order preventing the consultants Cristina Caffarra an economist who has worked for Microsoft Corp O MSFT and News Corp O NWSA and Eugene Burrus a former Microsoft lawyer from disclosing sensitive information or working for rivals until one year after their consultancies end Given the breadth of confidential information sought by Paxton s office and the heightened risks of leaks and disclosure to Google s competitors and complainants in this and other regulatory proceedings a protective order is appropriate and necessary Google said A spokesman for Paxton said the attorney general had made a number of proposals to ensure that sensitive Google information would be used only in the probe which was announced in September and not by rivals Google s petition is nothing more than an effort to hamstring the investigation the spokesman Marc Rylander said in a statement But Google is not entitled to choose the states expert or run the states investigation Technology related companies such as Google Amazon com Inc O AMZN Apple Inc O AAPL and Facebook Inc O FB have faced growing antitrust concerns from regulators and lawmakers The industry has been scrutinized over such issues as their growing or dominant market shares their ability to protect users privacy and whether they are spreading misinformation or favoring certain viewpoints over others In a petition filed with a Travis County Texas state court Google said Paxton has refused to accept necessary limitations on the use of its confidential information such as forbidding the consultants from working for rivals during the probe Caffarra a competition expert at Charles River Associates was described as a public critic of Google who has challenged the company s business practices before the European Union and in Russia on behalf of Yandex O YNDX a rival in that country The petition also said Burrus an adviser to McKinsey Co claimed to have developed a case that led to a 2 7 billion EU fine for Google in June 2017 Google did not name Caffarra Burrus or the third consultant Notre Dame law professor Roger Alford as respondents in its petition
It said the protective order should also cover Alford should others hire him for future legal work against Google | 11/1/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Extend Gains as Recession Fears Ease | Investing com U S stock futures were set to claw back more of their midweek losses on Friday as the absence of fresh geopolitical shocks allowed the market to build on gains that began on Thursday with a batch of generally positive U S economic data
By 6 50 AM ET Dow futures were up 245 points or 1 0 from late Thursday s levels while the S P 500 Futures contract was up 27 points also a gain of 1 0
The Nasdaq 100 futures contract was outperforming with a gain of 1 3 after a strong set of quarterly numbers from semiconductor maker Nvidia after the bell on Thursday encouraged hopes that the cycle for silicon chips may be turning up
Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA was indicated to open up 6 1 in premarket trade while Taiwan Semiconductor NYSE TSM was up 2 6 and Intel NASDAQ INTC was up 1 3 Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD rose 3 4
Nvidia said the steep drop in revenue over the last year that was caused by sharp declines in demand from cryptocurrency miners and data centers appears to be bottoming out It said revenue will be down less than 10 from year earlier levels in the current quarter One other bright spot was a record quarter for automotive chip sales suggesting that the long foretold surge in computer power in autos may finally be on the way
However the sector like the broader market remains captive to the trade dispute between the U S and China on which there was no major news overnight and where the next major development may well be a retaliation by China to President Donald Trump s proposed extension of import tariffs on Chinese goods
Trump s offer to postpone half of the additional tariffs due on 1 September until later in the year could be viewed as a positive step but in truth it is only a small gesture and at the moment it remains difficult to project a path to a more general de escalation in the trade war said Mark Dowding chief investment officer at Bluebay Asset Management in a strategy note
In the only major earnings report of the morning agricultural machinery maker Deere Co NYSE DE cut its full year profit forecasts after saying its sales fell 3 in the three months to July although it said it still expects full year sales to rise 5 The stock has lost 16 since President Trump s tariff announcement escalated the trade war with China at the end of last month
Concerns about export market access near term demand for commodities such as soybeans and overall crop conditions have caused many farmers to postpone major equipment purchases said Chief Executive Officer Samuel Allen
Concerns about export market access near term demand for commodities such as soybeans and overall crop conditions have caused many farmers to postpone major equipment purchases said Chief Executive Officer Samuel Allen
Elsewhere crude oil WTI futures were bouncing hard after a torrid week rising 1 7 ahead of OPEC s monthly report on the oil market Gold futures were down 0 5 at 1 523 35 a troy ounce while the dollar index which tracks the greenback against a basket of developed market currencies was up some 0 2 at 98 148 thanks to gains against the safe haven yen and Swiss franc | 8/16/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Bounces Back as Yuan Steadies | Investing com Wall Street bounced back on Tuesday as China steadied the yuan one day after markets suffered their worst percentage drop of the year
The People s Bank of China fixed the Chinese yuan higher than expected after letting it slump on Monday in a move seen as a response to U S import tariffs
The U S Treasury Department labeled China a currency manipulator on Monday night ending any hope of a quick resolution to the trade war and indirectly putting pressure on the two countries central banks to support their economies with looser monetary policy
This trade spat is going away no time soon but we should see central bank easing bets rise globally and that will help limit some of the market carnage over the next couple of weeks said Edward Moya senior market analyst at Oanda in New York
The Dow rose 177 points or 0 7 by 9 46 AM ET 13 46 GMT while the S P 500 was up 23 points or 0 8 and the Nasdaq composite rose 87 points or 1 1
Technology companies were higher after the morning bell reflecting their large exposure to the Chinese market
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA rose 1 1 while Intel NASDAQ INTC gained 1 4 and Apple NASDAQ AAPL jumped 2
Walt Disney NYSE DIS was up 1 ahead of its earnings report after the market close while Take Two NASDAQ TTWO Interactive surged 8 3 after beating estimates on its bottom and top line
Shake Shack NYSE SHAK was up 5 after its second quarter results came in higher than forecast and Aurora Cannabis NYSE ACB jumped 14 3 after it said it expects cannabis sales to rise in its fiscal fourth quarter
Dean Foods NYSE DF slumped 28 4 suffering from an accelerated customer switch away from traditional white milk It said it now expects annual cash flow to be negative having previously forecast it to be stable to positive this year
In commodities crude oil rose 0 5 to 54 95 a barrel while gold futures was flat at 1 476 95 a troy ounce The U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies rose 0 2 to 97 518
Reuters contributed to this report | 8/6/2019 |
INTC | Stocks S P Slips but Oil Gains Boost Energy Shares as Traders Await Fed | Investing com Energy stocks withstood the overall market unease ahead of an expected Federal Reserve rate cut on Wednesday and rallied on top of rising crude prices
The Fed is expected to cut its federal funds rate the rate it wants banks to charge each other for overnight loans by a quarter point to 2 to 2 25 Investing com s Fed Rate Monitoring Tool puts the odds at 100 A second quarter point rate cut is expected to come in September though there is skepticism the rate cut is really needed
The waiting meant many investors and traders weren t willing to take big positions ahead of the Fed announcement at 2 PM ET 18 00 GMT
The S P 500 finished down 0 3 The Nasdaq Composite index slipped 0 24 and the Dow dropped 0 1
The Fed is expected to cut its federal funds rate the rate it wants banks to charge each other for overnight loans by a quarter point to 2 to 2 25 Investing com s Fed Rate Monitoring Tool puts the odds at 100 with a second rate cut coming in September though there is skepticism the rate cut is really needed
Meanwhile as investors and traders waited for the Fed decision and earnings reports from Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD after the Tuesday close energy investors started reacting to the immediate stimulus of higher crude prices
Apple shares were off slightly ahead of the fiscal third quarter report but it beat market expectations In after hours trading the shares were up around 4 If the gains hold on Wednesday its market cap could top 1 trillion for the first time since last fall
Futures trading Tuesday afternoon suggests a weak open but the real action will come after the Fed announcement
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2 1 to 58 05 a barrel Brent crude the global benchmark climbed 1 6 to 64 72 Prices moved higher because of hopes a rate cut will boost economic activity and demand for energy In addition traders saw reports that Iranian exports were down substantially The U S Energy Information Administration will issue its weekly report on oil inventories Wednesday morning
Those gains plus higher natural gas prices boosted stocks of oil and gas production companies as well as big integrated companies Noble Energy NYSE NBL was up nearly 6 Anadarko Petroleum NYSE APC added 1 1
Among the majors Chevron NYSE CVX Royal Dutch Shell NYSE RDSa and BP NYSE BP were all higher Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM was down slightly
The Dow briefly pushed into the green partly because of strong earnings from Procter Gamble NYSE PG up 3 8 and a rebound in shares of Boeing NYSE BA But the blue chips were pulled down by Pfizer NYSE PFE Intel NASDAQ INTC Verizon Communications NYSE VZ and McDonald s NYSE MCD
The S P and Nasdaq remained stubbornly in the red all day
Interest rates were higher with the 10 Year Treasury yield drifting up to 2 06 from 2 055 on Monday
Energy real estate materials and industrial stocks were the strongest market sectors on Tuesday Utilities telecommunications and consumer discretionary stocks were lower
Winners and Losers Among the S P 500
National Oilwell Varco NYSE NOV Martin Marietta Materials NYSE MLM Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies NYSE WAB biopharmaceutical company Incyte NASDAQ INCY and Cimarex Energy NYSE XEC were among the top S P 500 performers on the day
Technology research firm Gartner NYSE IT Under Armour NYSE UA HCA Holdings NYSE HCA and DISH Network Corporation NASDAQ DISH Network were among the worst S P 500 performers on the day | 7/30/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks lower at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0 09 | Investing com U S stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday as losses in the Telecoms Utilities and Technology sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0 09 while the S P 500 index lost 0 26 and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0 24
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter Gamble Company NYSE PG which rose 3 82 or 4 43 points to trade at 120 43 at the close Meanwhile Boeing Co NYSE BA added 2 12 or 7 21 points to end at 347 42 and Merck Company Inc NYSE MRK was up 0 95 or 0 78 points to 83 27 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE which fell 6 39 or 2 65 points to trade at 38 80 at the close Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC declined 1 54 or 0 81 points to end at 51 70 and Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ was down 1 27 or 0 73 points to 56 64
The top performers on the S P 500 were National Oilwell Varco Inc NYSE NOV which rose 11 32 to 23 02 Martin Marietta Materials Inc NYSE MLM which was up 9 98 to settle at 246 34 and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp NYSE WAB which gained 9 45 to close at 77 820
The worst performers were Gartner Inc NYSE IT which was down 19 03 to 138 25 in late trade Under Armour Inc C NYSE UA which lost 13 69 to settle at 21 050 and Under Armour Inc A NYSE UAA which was down 12 28 to 24 07 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Energy Focu NASDAQ EFOI which rose 40 90 to 0 56 Iradimed Co NASDAQ IRMD which was up 33 30 to settle at 24 10 and Heat Biologics Inc NASDAQ HTBX which gained 26 66 to close at 0 660
The worst performers were Yogaworks Inc NASDAQ YOGA which was down 35 53 to 0 20 in late trade Alimera Sciences Inc NASDAQ ALIM which lost 28 11 to settle at 0 643 and Datasea Inc NASDAQ DTSS which was down 17 14 to 1 16 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1778 to 1225 and 30 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1718 rose and 916 declined while 105 ended unchanged
Shares in Martin Marietta Materials Inc NYSE MLM rose to all time highs gaining 9 98 or 22 35 to 246 34 Shares in Procter Gamble Company NYSE PG rose to all time highs rising 3 82 or 4 43 to 120 43 Shares in Alimera Sciences Inc NASDAQ ALIM fell to all time lows down 28 11 or 0 252 to 0 643
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 8 65 to 13 94
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0 77 or 10 90 to 1431 30 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in September rose 2 58 or 1 47 to hit 58 34 a barrel while the October Brent oil contract rose 0 03 or 0 02 to trade at 64 93 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 04 to 1 1158 while USD JPY rose 0 01 to 108 61
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 02 at 97 820 | 7/30/2019 |
INTC | Qualcomm forecast current quarter revenue below estimates | By Stephen Nellis and Munsif Vengattil Reuters Qualcomm Inc s O QCOM quarterly revenue and profit forecast fell short of Wall Street targets driven by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd s strong gains in the Chinese smartphone market the U S company said sending its shares down as much as 6 In an interview on Wednesday Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf told Reuters Huawei had stolen market share mainly from its domestic rivals such as Xiaomi Corp HK 1810 Oppo and Vivo all of which are major Qualcomm customers Huawei s advance has spurred other phone makers to cancel 4G models planned for the rest of this year and instead focus on 5G models for release early next year that could drive growth for Qualcomm he added Huawei was very aggressive in terms of making sure they built their market share there because they couldn t sell things internationally Mollenkopf said And the reaction of the other Chinese phone makers was Let s go as fast as we can to 5G because there s a great opportunity there even to the point of saying Let s cancel 4G models Mollenkopf said Qualcomm will not see benefits from that shift until early 2020 but said 5G rollouts by carriers appeared to be on track including in China where Huawei is also a major telecommunications gear supplier KinNgai Chan an analyst at Summit Insights Group called Qualcomm s outlook a pause in 4G ahead of the transition to 5G Huawei s effect on Qualcomm s forecast underscores the extent to which the Chinese company has become more of a rival than a customer to the San Diego based company Huawei which was the subject of U S sales restrictions imposed in May continues to buy a small number of Qualcomm chips But the companies which are among the world s largest holders of patents related to 5G technology are in a protracted licensing dispute Huawei had been making good faith payments and negotiations have inched forward but Mollenkopf said no further payments are included in Qualcomm s fiscal fourth quarter guidance The companies are talking and we re focused on a final agreement but we don t have it yet Mollenkopf said Huawei supplies many of its own chips for smartphones and it grabbed market share from Chinese companies over the past quarter according to market research firm Canalys Those companies higher end phones which compete against directly with Huawei s models tend to use Qualcomm chips Mollenkopf said the U S China trade war and a slow smartphone market drove Qualcomm to lower its outlook for 2019 sales of smart devices to a range of 1 7 billion to 1 8 billion down from a previous estimate of 1 8 billion to 1 9 billion Qualcomm collects license fees from smartphone makers for using its patents The company s modem chip shipments fell 22 to 156 million in the third quarter missing analysts estimate of 160 1 million according to FactSet Apple Inc O AAPL and Qualcomm settled all their litigation in April Apple signed a six year patent license deal with Qualcomm as well as a multi year chip supply agreement The two have not said when Apple would resume using Qualcomm s chips in iPhones after dropping them in favor of Intel Corp s O INTC chips for 2018 iPhone models Apple last week bought Intel s modem business to help supply its own smartphone chips Mollenkopf told Reuters the company had expected such a deal when negotiating its agreement with the iPhone maker but Apple s purchase had no effect on Qualcomm s fourth quarter outlook This was something everybody assumed Mollenkopf said And we protected ourselves and feel very good about continuing to be able to compete for Apple s business he added Qualcomm forecast total fourth quarter revenue of 4 3 billion to 5 1 billion and profit of 65 cents and 75 cents per share below estimates of 5 63 billion and 1 08 per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv Qualcomm is also seeking to pause the enforcement of a sweeping antitrust decision in a case brought by the U S Federal Trade Commission The company has said the ruling could upend its licensing talks with handset makers around 5G technology Revenue for the third quarter ended June 30 was 4 9 billion missing analysts estimates of 5 08 billion That excluded a one time payment from Apple for unpaid royalties while the two were in a legal dispute
Excluding items Qualcomm earned 80 cents per share beating analysts average estimate of 75 cents | 7/31/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Slump as China Hits Back at U S on Trade Currency | Investing com U S futures slumped on Monday as China retaliated against the U S by suspending imports of American agricultural goods and letting the yuan depreciate
The yuan slipped below 7 per U S dollar for the first time since 2008 at one stage Even though the People s Bank of China set the daily midpoint of the currency s trading band at 6 9225 per dollar the onshore yuan market is so tightly controlled as to give the day s trading range a quasi official seal of approval
The moves come only days after U S President Donald Trump proposed another 10 tariffs on the remainder of all U S imports of Chinese goods worth about 300 billion Trump has often accused China of weakening its currency to make exports cheaper and getting an unfair advantage in trade which Beijing denies
Nasdaq 100 futures fell 132 points or 1 7 by 6 41 AM ET 10 41 GMT while Dow futures lost 324 points or 1 2 and S P 500 futures were down 38 points or 1 3
The escalation of the trade war may overshadow the U S earnings season which continues Monday with Tyson Foods NYSE TSN Loews NYSE L and others
Technology stocks were down in premarket trade with Facebook NASDAQ FB slumping 2 3 Tesla NASDAQ TSLA down 2 3 and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT falling 1 9 Apple NASDAQ AAPL slipped 2 3 while Cisco NASDAQ CSCO declined 1 2 and Intel NASDAQ INTC lost 1 4
JP Morgan Chase NYSE JPM was down 1 8 while Caterpillar NYSE CAT fell 1 4 and Ford Motor Company NYSE F lost 1 5
China focused HSBC Holdings LON HSBA NYSE HSBC fell 1 9 after its board ousted CEO John Flint a 30 year veteran at the bank less than a year and a half after he took over in the top position
On the economic front the IHS Markit composite PMI is released at 9 45 AM ET 13 45 GMT while the ISM non manufacturing PMI comes out at 10 00 AM ET 14 00 GMT
In commodities crude oil fell 0 8 to 55 20 a barrel Gold futures gained 0 8 to 1 468 75 a troy ounce It had earlier hit a six year high of 1 473 05 The U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies dipped 0 3 to 97 572 as the dollar fell against funding currencies such as the yen and Swiss franc but rose against higher yielders | 8/5/2019 |
INTC | Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Tuesday | Investing com Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday July 30
1 Fed kicks off meeting consumer housing data on tap
The Federal Reserve kicks off its two day policy meeting with markets expecting the first U S interest rates cut in more than a decade
With a quarter point cut priced in markets will likely focus on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell s indications for the future path of monetary policy Fed funds futures project another cut to arrive in September with the odds for a third in December above 50
On the economic agenda the consumer the strongest prop to the U S economy recently will return to center stage Personal income and spending data for June will be released at 8 30 AM ET 12 30 GMT followed by the Conference Board s July reading of consumer confidence at 10 00 AM ET 14 00 GMT
Traders will also receive an update on the state of the U S housing market with the publication of pending home sales for June
2 Apple AMD in spotlight after Beyond Meat disappointment
Apple NASDAQ AAPL will report third quarter earnings after the closing bell Markets are hoping its services segment led by iCloud Apple Music and the App Store can reduce its dependence on iPhone sales which make up about 60 of total revenue
Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD will also report after the market close amid a better than expected PC environment and a more sanguine backdrop for the broader sector reflected in positive updates from chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN and Intel NASDAQ INTC AMD s guidance should reveal whether it still expects revenue growth of just under 10 this year
Shares in Beyond Meat NASDAQ BYND tumbled more than 12 in premarket trade after it reported mixed quarterly numbers and announced a 3 25 million share offering just three months after going public Some analysts indicated that investors were looking for an excuse to take profit on a gain of more than 700 since its initial public offering
3 U S futures turn negative on dim European outlook
U S futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street erasing small overnight gains as a series of negative outlooks and data from Europe underlining the economic weakness that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week was getting worse and worse
underlining economic weakness that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week was getting worse and worse
underlining economic weakness that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week was getting worse and worse
underlining economic weakness that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week was getting worse and worse
German giants Bayer DE BAYGN and Lufthansa DE LHAG both gave cautious forecasts A GfK survey added to the angst showing that German consumer morale worsened for the third month in a row heading into August as trade disputes bit in Europe s biggest exporter
Eurozone business confidence also fell to its lowest in almost six years in July
4 Oil prices extend rally ahead of inventories
Brent oil extended a four day rally while U S crude traded higher for the fourth day out of the last five on expectations of Fed action that will support the economy and consequently fuel demand for oil
On the calendar the American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly data on crude stockpiles ahead of official government data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday
Consensus is looking for a seventh straight weekly draw of 1 82 million barrels Last week the EIA data showed a plunge of nearly 11 million barrels that did little to boost prices as analysts suggested the draw was distorted by the passing of Hurricane Barry
5 BoJ Brexit move currency markets as U S dollar firms ahead of Fed
A swirl of factors buffeted currency markets ahead of the start of the Fed meeting
a swirl of other factors buffeted currency markets
The yen hit intraday highs against the dollar after the Bank of Japan kept its key overnight rate unchanged at 0 1 The BoJ did revise down its forecast for inflation and repeated its guidance to take additional easing measures if necessary but some had speculated that it could extend its promise for extremely low rates to beyond spring of 2020
The pound remained under pressure hitting a new 28 month low against the dollar as newly appointed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubled down on his opposition to the Irish backstop an insurance policy that aims to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
The U S dollar index hit a two week high
U S dollar index held firm
U S dollar index held firm
Reuters contributed to this report | 7/30/2019 |
MSFT | NewsBreak S P 500 Opens at Record High | Investing com The S P 500 index opened at a new record high on Monday rising as far as 3 042 10 as fresh hopes for a U S China trade truce the aversion of a Hard Brexit at the end of the month and supportive news for index heavyweights Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and AT T NYSE T all helped to support sentiment
Over the weekend both the U S and Chinese governments had indicated that technical preparations for their so called phase 1 deal had made good progress with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce saying in a statement that the groundwork was basically completed
Risk appetite received a further boost on Monday morning when the European Union confirmed that it had offered the U K a three month extension to the deadline for Brexit definitively removing the risk of a disorderly rupture on Oct 31
In corporate news Microsoft rose 3 2 to a new all time high after it won a multi billion dollar Cloud computing order from the Pentagon beating out its biggest rival in the space Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN AT T NYSE T rose 3 8 after saying it was on track to meet its profit and deleveraging targets and issuing a three year action plan for raising shareholder value that was approved by activist investor Elliott Management
By 9 38 AM ET 1338 GMT the S P 500 was at 3 040 59 up 18 points or 0 6 from Friday s close It hit its previous record high of 3 027 98 on July 26 | 10/28/2019 |
MSFT | Pentagon deal to boost Microsoft s position in cloud computing analysts | Reuters Amazon com Inc s O AMZN firm grip on the cloud computing market could be threatened by Microsoft Corp s O MSFT multi billion dollar contract with the Pentagon Wall Street analysts said on Monday Last week Microsoft won the Pentagon contract termed Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud or JEDI that will be worth up to 10 billion over a period of 10 years beating out favorite Amazon s AWS Shares of Microsoft rose as much as 3 4 to a record high of 145 67 on Monday Bottom line the contract is a significant win for Microsoft and vaults Azure forward in the cloud platform wars J P Morgan analyst Mark Murphy said Amazon s Amazon Web Services currently holds about 32 of the cloud computing market while Microsoft s Azure has about 18 according to research firm Canalys While AWS contributes nearly 13 to Amazon s total net sales Azure accounts for about 33 of Microsoft s revenue and are both a major cash cow for the companies Friday s decision came after months of controversy and protest over the process for awarding the deal and even drawing the attention of President Donald Trump who has publicly taken swipes at Amazon long considered the frontrunner Analysts at brokerage firm Compass Point said the deal was a significant victory for Microsoft over AWS and added that Amazon could challenge the decision We expect a degree of handwringing among Congressional Democrats given the political and practical dimensions of this issue but our sense is that lawmakers are unlikely to wade too deeply into these waters Compass Point s Marshall Senk said Brokerages Mizuho and Independent Research raised their price target on the Microsoft stock at the prospect of the company getting a boost from the contract In the end the fact that Azure was chosen as the sole provider for this important project is a testament to just how far it has come over the past couple of years said Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz who raised his price target by 8 to 160 Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives noted that the deal helps Microsoft gain a bigger chunk of an estimated 1 trillion of next decade cloud business and 100 billion of U S government business This version corrects paragraph 5 to say cloud not could | 10/28/2019 |
MSFT | Google s search for sales in cloud hardware clip Alphabet profit | By Munsif Vengattil and Paresh Dave
Reuters Google parent Alphabet Inc O GOOGL reported quarterly results on Monday that show costs continue to rise faster than revenue as the web search leader seeks to broaden its business dampening Wall Street s enthusiasm despite Google s continued dominance in advertising sales
The company the world s leading provider of internet search advertising and video services posted its highest ever quarterly expenses It missed analysts estimates for third quarter profit by about 1 7 billion though it beat revenue estimates by about 175 million
Alphabet shares lost 1 6 after hours to 1 268 50 nearly erasing the 1 95 gain notched in regular trading when Reuters citing sources reported Google had made an offer to acquire U S wearable device maker Fitbit Inc N FIT
Google has increased spending in recent years on areas including cloud computing and consumer electronics that it views as essential to maintaining its industry leadership in the face of stiff competition from Amazon com Inc O AMZN and Microsoft Corp O MSFT
The new businesses are pushing Google into sales of subscriptions devices and technology licenses But it has had to invest in people facilities and content Google is on track to hire more than 20 000 people this year in large part to staff its newer units
Nicholas Hyett equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown LON HRGV said he was not overly concerned by the spending
CEO Sundar Pichai can turn off the speculative spending at any time if he suddenly becomes more interested in profitability but we suspect most investors would rather he stuck to the approach Hyett wrote in a note
Alphabet reports highest ever quarterly expenses
Alphabet provides limited product level financial disclosures compared with some peers leaving investors increasingly uncertain about how pressures including regulatory scrutiny advertiser boycotts and global trade tensions are affecting operations
For instance Alphabet reported 1 5 billion in unrealized losses in the third quarter from shares held in other companies helping negate about 1 billion in profit But an Alphabet spokeswoman declined to disclose which investments lost money
Profit also was hurt by a 554 million charge from a settlement with French tax authorities in September
Alphabet s chief financial officer Ruth Porat told financial analysts that the company s revenue growth rates underscored the strength and vibrancy of the company
In the last 12 months we re generating over 150 billion in total revenues that s about 25 billion of growth in the last year she said
COSTLY PURSUITS
Google has tried to demonstrate that its cloud computing business is roaring disclosing last quarter about 2 billion in revenue and saying that plans continued to hire thousands to stoke the unit s growth
In hardware Google s debut in May of the Pixel 3a its most affordable smartphone yet went well according to technology analysts It boosted Google s overall smartphone sales this summer in a typically slow quarter
Google also has tried to reassure investors that there is no weakness in its YouTube video unit while expressing confidence in its business overall through share buybacks
But spending has not been held back and higher costs loom as Google deals with clashes with regulators Total quarterly expenses grew 25 compared to a year ago a similar rate to recent periods to 31 3 billion It topped the previous high of 31 1 billion in the 2018 fourth quarter
Alphabet which generates about 85 percent of its revenue from sales of ad space and ad technology reported total third quarter revenue of 40 5 billion In line with recent quarters that was up 20 over last year Analysts on average estimated 19 52 growth and 40 325 billion in revenue according to IBES data from Refinitiv
Net income for the third quarter rose to 7 1 billion or 10 12 per share compared with analysts estimates of 8 811 billion or 12 44 per share
The operating margin was 23 down from 24 in the second quarter
Google in the third quarter acknowledged investigations by the U S Congress Department of Justice and 48 states into the company s competitive practices It settled a privacy investigation by the Federal Trade Commission It also got an additional 90 day reprieve from an export ban that would restrict its relationship with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei one of its top partners in distributing mobile apps
Google has said it is cooperating with the probes while saying that it has survived calls for increased regulation many times
Haris Anwar analyst at financial markets platform Investing com said the quarterly results cast a cloud An earnings miss at a time when the big tech companies are being probed for their business practices adds to the uncertainty and creates a hint of pessimism around the company he said in an email to Reuters
Alphabet shares were up 17 in the trailing 12 months entering Monday compared with a 33 gain for Microsoft and 29 for Facebook Inc O FB the internet s No 2 seller of advertising | 10/28/2019 |
MSFT | Amazon could challenge loss of 10 billion Pentagon cloud deal as early as next week | By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters If Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN decides to fight the Pentagon s decision to award a highly contested 10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft it could act as early as next week A challenge to the Defense Department s award announced Friday is widely expected by legal experts analysts and consultants especially after President Donald Trump publicly derided Amazon s bid for the high stakes contract In July Trump said the administration was reviewing Amazon s bid after complaints from other companies Before then Amazon was widely considered to be a front runner Trump has repeatedly taken swipes at Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos who owns the Washington Post For over a year the acrimonious contract award process for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure JEDI contract set off a showdown among Amazon Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT Oracle Corp NYSE ORCL and IBM NYSE IBM Corp and involved conflict of interest allegations legal challenges and intense lobbying In a statement Amazon Web Services said it was surprised about this conclusion A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the company is considering options for protesting the award The company did not respond to requests for comment on its next steps Reuters spoke to several legal experts who said the company primarily has two options It could go to the U S Government Accountability Office GAO a legislative branch of the government that offers auditing services which could offer an immediate stay Amazon could also go to the U S Court of Federal Claims which could allow it to strengthen its case through discovery Amazon has three calendar days to request a debriefing a process in which the government explains to Amazon why it was unsuccessful and shares details on the evaluation process said Michael Hordell an attorney who works with Barnes and Thornburg LLP The debriefing could also get extended by a few days if the Defense Department allows additional questions after offering an explanation a move the agency has allowed in the past several attorneys said After the Pentagon has answered Amazon s questions the company has five calendar days to file a protest with the GAO Hordell said If the company is not happy with the GAO s decision Amazon could also go to the United States Court of Federal Claims the attorneys said It could even skip going to the GAO altogether they said Another option for Amazon is to file a protest with the Department of Defense but all attorneys Reuters spoke to said that is highly unlikely AN AUTOMATIC STAY If Amazon goes to the GAO it can get an automatic stay of performance said Franklin Turner an attorney with McCarter English LLP That gives the GAO 100 days to make a decision Turner said If the company goes to the court it does not get an automatic stay and has to file a preliminary injunction an order that may be granted before or during trial with the goal of preserving the status quo before final judgment The court on the other hand allows for discovery a process which allows an aggrieved party to obtain evidence by requesting additional documents and depositions The direction of the company s legal fight could further be decided by a set of documents and evidence that the Defense Department will need to offer the company after Amazon files its protest If Amazon does not receive all the documents and evidence it wants the company could either file a supplemental protest at the GAO or could go to court the attorneys said Amazon is likely to fight the decision if only to show it is serious about its government contracting business some of the attorneys and analysts said Down the road the company is likely to focus on winning cloud contracts from the Central Intelligence Agency which is looking to ramp up its reliance on the cloud with plans to solicit tens of billions of dollars of work from tech companies next year
Amazon already has a 600 million contract with the CIA | 10/28/2019 |