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MSFT | Microsoft says Russia linked hackers target sports organizations | Reuters Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT said it has tracked significant cyberattacks coming from a group it calls Strontium or Fancy Bear targeting anti doping authorities and global sporting organizations The group also called APT28 has been linked to the Russian government Microsoft said in a blog post https At least 16 national and international sporting and anti doping organizations across three continents were targeted in the attacks which began on Sept 16 according to the company The company said some of these attacks had been successful but the majority had not Microsoft has notified all customers targeted in these attacks Strontium one of the world s oldest cyber espionage groups has also been called Sofancy and Pawn Storm by a range of security firms and government officials Security firm CrowdStrike has said the group may be associated with the Russian military intelligence agency GRU Microsoft said Strontium reportedly released medical records and emails taken from sporting organizations and anti doping officials in 2016 and 2018 resulting in an indictment in a federal court in the United States in 2018 The software giant added that the methods used in the most recent attacks were similar to those used by Strontium to target governments militaries think tanks law firms human rights organizations financial firms and universities around the world Strontium s methods include spear phishing password spray exploiting internet connected devices and the use of both open source and custom malware it added Microsoft has in the past taken legal steps o prevent Strontium from using fake Microsoft internet domains to execute its attacks By August last year Microsoft had shut down 84 fake websites in 12 court approved actions over the past two years
Microsoft said at the time that hackers linked to Russia s government sought to launch cyber attacks on U S political groups | 10/28/2019 |
MSFT | USMCA Advocates See Impeachment as Leverage to Pass Trade Deal | Bloomberg U S companies and trade groups that want lawmakers to approve a new trade pact with Mexico and Canada are making the unusual bet that the impeachment drama in Washington could actually help get the deal through Congress Industry coalitions and smaller firms have increased their lobbying in recent weeks in a bid to get the U S Mexico Canada Trade Agreement ratified before the presidential race heats up early next year Yet while that timetable would put the USMCA squarely in the path of the intensifying impeachment probe of Donald Trump deal supporters say they see that as a potential advantage
They re wagering that House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi will want to show voters that the party can still do other business while investigating the president That would blunt criticism from Trump and Republican allies who have faulted Pelosi and Democrats for focusing too much on impeachment
As we get deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of impeachment the speaker is going to have to demonstrate that the Democratic majority in the House can continue to move legislation and this I believe is the lowest hanging fruit said Phil Cox co chairman of Trade Works for America a coalition of companies and organizations that represent farmers ranchers automakers and others
It s up to Pelosi to decide when the pact gets a vote While she has said she wants to get to yes she hasn t committed to a timetable as a Democratic working group meets with the White House officials to amend provisions on the environment labor rights drug patent protections and overall enforcement of the pact
The trade groups say they think the renegotiated deal could win support from both political parties
For Republicans backing the trade pact is a chance to show support for Trump while delivering results for constituents according to John Murphy senior vice president for international policy at the U S Chamber of Commerce which is leading the USMCA Coalition of associations and more than 500 firms including General Motors Co NYSE GM Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Walmart NYSE WMT Inc
Even though Democrats may be reluctant to hand the president a victory many will be motivated to show voters they can make progress on kitchen table issues he said
Considering what a rambunctious time it is here in Washington we re optimistic that this will happen Murphy added The gaps have been narrowed very considerably and a lot of the many different actors in this town have their own compelling reasons to move forward on this Murphy pointed out that meetings have intensified between U S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the Democratic working group He said he thinks the parties are potentially close with a very serious objective to get a handshake agreement before the House goes on recess from Friday until Nov 12 Legislative text for a vote could follow shortly the lawmakers return he said
The USMCA would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement which has been in place since 1994 The USMCA Coalition says that U S trade with Canada and Mexico supports 12 million American jobs and reached almost 1 3 trillion in 2017
Murphy said the chamber has facilitated more visits by businesses and associations to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about the USMCA than any other issue including 14 of the so called fly ins since Labor Day alone It broadcast television ads in Michigan and New Mexico last week to encourage voters to call their representatives to support the USMCA with spots continuing elsewhere as part of a six figure campaign The group has targeted about 100 Democratic members for outreach especially freshmen lawmakers The bipartisan Trade Works for America is focusing on 45 congressional districts in 21 states with Democratic members where Trump won in 2016 or are very competitive Cox said The group is seeking to double the 300 000 contacts it s made with voters within the next 45 days urging them to call or write their representative to support USMCA
Even smaller businesses are adding their voices Two executives from North Carolina based Kontoor Brands Inc which produces Wrangler and Lee apparel came to Washington last week to meet with about a dozen Democratic House members and staff to urge them to pass the USMCA before Thanksgiving The company is telling lawmakers that jobs in their district would be at risk without a trade deal because the company has 75 U S suppliers that employ about 75 000 workers many of whom make zippers and other components for jeans produced at the company s Mexican facilities Scott Deitz vice president for corporate relations said Kontoor has also offered to help arrange meetings between the suppliers and their representatives
We re not important enough of a company to boil the ocean but what we can do is partner with our suppliers in a way where we might be able to punch above our weight a little bit Dietz said
If Pelosi brings USMCA to the floor there should be enough votes to pass it said Joe Crowley a former 10 term Democratic representative from New York who is honorary co chairman of the Pass USMCA Coalition a separate effort of business groups
While some Democrats won t vote for the pact under any circumstances others are working to put their imprint on it by making changes something that hadn t happened before this year he said
Is this the greatest trade agreement since sliced bread No it s not Crowley said But there s no such thing as a perfect agreement
While Trump has been tweeting about do nothing Democrats and Nervous Nancy Pelosi taking too long to act on USMCA other members of the administration have saying positive things about one of the president s favorite nemeses
There is considerable positive momentum for passage before the end of the year in part because of how Pelosi has handled negotiations Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said during an Oct 22 speech at an infrastructure forum in Washington
I know that President Trump has his political differences with Speaker Pelosi Kudlow said But I will also say that Speaker Pelosi on USMCA has been cooperative and accommodative and accessible | 10/29/2019 |
MSFT | Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Tuesday | Investing com Saudi Aramco is finally listing oil prices are falling and stocks are pulling back a little from Monday s record highs as the Federal Reserve s two day policy meeting begins Plus Boeing NYSE BA CEO Dennis Muilenburg starts two days of testimony in front of Congress about the 737 MAX Here s what you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday 29th October
1 The Saudi Aramco IPO is here probably
Saudi Aramco the world s most profitable company is finally set to being marketing its initial public offering on Sunday Saudi state TV reported
The news triggered selling in European stock markets Tuesday as portfolio managers made room in their portfolios for what is expected to be a large block of shares by paring existing holdings
Questions still remain about the company s valuation While the country s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had sought a valuation of 2 trillion reports suggest bankers have guided for somewhere between 1 trillion and 1 5 trillion If the deal does go ahead it will represent a substantial payday for Wall Street banks involved in it
The Al Arabiya channel said the company intends to start trading on the local Tadawul market on Dec 4
2 Oil prices slip on Russian comments API data due
Crude oil prices fell to their lowest in nearly a week after Russian deputy energy minister Pavel Sorokin said it was still too early to commit to additional measures to stabilize a market haunted by the threat of oversupply
Sorokin said in an interview with Tass that the existing output restraint agreement which has held 1 2 million barrels a day of crude back from world markets has been effective so far It s consistent with previous official Russian comments suggesting that they expect this year s slide in prices to stop any further loss of market share to U S shale producers
Oil traders didn t lose any time remarking that the planned Dec 4 stock market debut of Aramco is just one day before Russia OPEC and other major exporters meet in Vienna to review the output restraint deal which is scheduled to run through the end of March
Later Tuesday the American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly data for U S crude oil inventories Analysts expect the official government data to show a build of 729 000 barrels
3 Stocks set for lower open as Fed meets
U S stock markets are set to open lower with the start of the Federal Reserve s two day policy meeting deterring bets on new record highs
By 6 30 AM ET Dow futures were down 55 points or 0 2 while S P 500 Futures were down 0 1 and Nasdaq 100 Futures were flat
Tuesday s earnings parade is a cast of thousands with the following companies all set to report Mastercard Merck Pfizer Amgen Stryker Mondelez ConocoPhillips NYSE COP S P Global Inc NYSE SPGI Marsh McLennan AMD Shopify Allstate Electronic Arts Corning Edison Kellogg KKR Martin Marietta Mattel and FireEye
In Europe BP LON BP kicked off earnings season for Big Oil with a 41 drop in underlying net profit that kept its debt levels slightly above its targeted range
4 Alphabet s rising cost problem
Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL the parent company of Google said revenue grew 20 to 40 5 billion in the third quarter but profits still disappointed due to rising costs not least the cost of bulking up its cloud computing business where it has much ground to make up on rivals Amazon NASDAQ AMZN and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT The shares fell 2 in after hours trading
Overall profit of 7 1 billion was down 23 from a year earlier and some 15 below analysts expectations
Together with disappointing results from Amazon NASDAQ AMZN the numbers suggest that Big Tech is starting to suffer from cost inflation even if it s still churning out healthy amounts of cash The company s payroll expanded by some 6 in the quarter to over 114 000
Elsewhere after Monday s closing bell Beyond Meat NASDAQ BYND fell 10 despite posting its first quarterly profit and raising its revenue outlook The post IPO lockup on investors expires today
5 Boeing s Muilenburg due before Congress
Boeing NYSE BA chief executive Dennis Muilenburg is due to start two days of testimony before Congress regarding the 737 MAX scandal
In prepared statements for his Senate testimony later today Muilenburg will admit mistakes and repeat promises that the company will never let similar mistakes happen again
How convincing Muilenburg s testimony is could have a big influence on the regulatory backlash coming its way Peter DeFazio the chairman of the House of Representatives transport committee told reporters on Monday said he would propose a new law overhauling the regulatory system which lets the Federal Aviation Administration pass on responsibility for approving design changes to aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing NYSE BA | 10/29/2019 |
INTC | U S firms see little clarity on Huawei as U S China talks resume | By Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON Reuters A month after President Donald Trump said he would allow U S companies to resume selling to blacklisted Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei his administration has done little to clarify what sales will be permitted The lack of clarity on what U S firms can supply to the world s top producer of telecommunications equipment as long as it s on a so called entity list is likely to cast a shadow over this week s U S China trade negotiations in Shanghai Trump had pledged to allow the sales as a goodwill gesture to President Xi Jinping when the two met last month and agreed to restart talks to try to resolve their year long trade war China for its part agreed to restart large scale agricultural purchases U S chipmakers cheered Trump s announcement which administration officials clarified afterwards meant the government would issue export licenses in cases where there is no national security risk and where the items are non sensitive and readily replaced by rivals But the department has yet to respond to any of a total of around 50 license requests from about 35 companies sowing uncertainty in the industry and in Beijing At this stage there is mass confusion said William Reinsch a former Commerce official adding that the plan for case by case decisions maximizes the uncertainty The governments of the world s two largest economies have imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on each other s goods slowing global growth and roiling markets U S Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He starting on Tuesday the first face to face meeting since the two leaders met Many people close to the talks expect the topic of Huawei to dominate along with the failure of Chinese agricultural purchases to meet expectations taking time and attention away from the many deeper longer term issues Trump hosted a meeting of seven technology CEOs last week to discuss Huawei and other topics at which the executives expressed frustration at Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for not providing clear guidelines Reuters reported By making the meeting public the U S was trying to send a signal we re moving on Huawei we need you to move on agriculture said Wendy Cutler a former U S trade negotiator and Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute PAR FOR THE COURSE Many companies have halted sales to Huawei since the company was put on the entity list on May 16 while some have chosen to resume selling items made abroad Some including Intel Corp O INTC and Qualcomm O QCOM began pressing Commerce for carve outs soon after Some companies have taken advantage of a narrow temporary general license provided by the Commerce Department which allows for transactions such as software updates for Huawei Last week Intel and Xilinx Inc O XLNX said they had applied for licenses to resume sales of some products to Huawei The companies also said they had resumed sales of some products they had independently determined were not subject to the ban Secretary Ross has said responses to requests for licenses are coming in a matter of weeks It s par for the course for this administration said trade lawyer Doug Jacobson They are making up policy as they go along based on the president s direction The uncertainty continues to roil global industry Last month San Jose California based Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO forecast that the U S China trade tensions and the Huawei ban would knock 2 billion off its sales this year CEO Hock Tan said there was no obvious substitution for Huawei which accounted for about 900 million or 4 percent of its sales last year Fedex Corp N FDX last week said unclear Commerce department policy on Huawei resulted in considerable complexity for our operations to explain why it held back more than 100 Huawei packages which is now under investigation by Chinese authorities The May blacklisting represented a significant escalation in Washington s campaign against Huawei which it says steals U S intellectual property and violates Iran sanctions CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a U S warrant on charges she misled global banks about Huawei s relationship with a company in Iran Meng who is also the Huawei CEO s daughter maintains her innocence and is fighting extradition Washington has also launched a lobbying effort to convince U S allies to keep Huawei out of next generation 5G telecommunications infrastructure citing concerns the company could spy on customers Huawei has denied the allegations Judith Alison Lee a trade attorney at Gibson Dunn said her clients have received requests from Commerce for more information related to their license applications but no approvals so far There is a real sense of uncertainty at the department about where the administration is going on Huawei she said
Every day that goes by it creates more damage to Huawei and the Chinese and that makes the trade talks that much more difficult | 7/30/2019 |
INTC | Asian shares slide as ECB holds off easing earnings mixed | By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO Reuters Asian share prices dropped on Friday following mixed U S earnings reports and after the European Central Bank disappointed those investors who had expected an immediate easing while the euro held above two year lows struck overnight
MSCI s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan MIAPJ0000PUS dropped 0 53 while Japan s Nikkei N225 lost 0 58 Shanghai shares SSEC ticked down 0 16
European stocks are seen almost flat with pan European Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 up 0 03 while German DAX futures FDXc1 were up 0 15 and FTSE futures FFIc1 down 0 13
Wall Street shares fell from record highs on Thursday with the S P 500 SPX losing 0 53 following a flurry of downbeat quarterly results from Ford Motor N F and other companies N
But several companies that announced results after the market had closed on Thursday generally beat expectations and their shares rose in after hours trade
Google parent Alphabet O GOOGL jumped 7 9 Intel Corp O INTC 5 1 and Starbucks O SBUX 6 6 Amazon O AMZN however dipped 1 6 on its first profit miss in two years
U S stock futures ESc1 rose 0 23 in Asia
Some capital goods makers have reported soft earnings but otherwise U S earnings have been generally good partly because investors had already lowered their expectations said Hitoshi Asaoka senior strategist at Asset Management One
Still with U S share prices already at record levels further gains are likely to be limited unless we see clearer signs of recovery in global demand he said
Uncertainties over whether Washington and Beijing will be able to settle gaping differences over trade technology and even geopolitical ambitions kept many investors on guard Negotiators from the two sides will meet in Shanghai next week
A rally in global bonds ran out of steam after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi cautioned about pulling the trigger too quickly on policy easing even though he all but pledged to loosen monetary settings further as the growth outlook deteriorates
Many market players had thought Draghi could cut rates on Thursday
ECB officials told Reuters after the meeting that an interest rate cut in September appeared certain while government bond purchases and a revamped policy message were also likely
The euro s overnight index swaps are pricing in a cut of more than 10 basis points in September to minus 0 50 percent
An interest rate cut of 10 basis points in September looks like a done deal now said Hideki Kishida fixed income strategist at Nomura Securities
The 10 year German government bond yield DE10YT RR initially hit a record low of minus 0 463 percent but ended the day up slightly at minus 0 407 percent
While European bond yields are likely to stay under pressure until the next ECB meeting on Sept 12 Brexit could become a central issue as investors look to the stance of Britain s new government under Boris Johnson
If there are signs of easing tensions we could see temporary rise in European bond yields Nomura s Kishida said
The U S 10 year Treasuries yield also rose 3 basis points to 2 079 percent US10YT RR on Thursday and last traded at 2 107 percent
Also helping to stem falls in bond yields new orders for key U S made capital goods surged in June suggesting some improvement in business investment
Despite that investors expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 0 25 percentage point at its policy meeting ending on July 31 to protect the economy from potential damage from the protracted U S China trade war
An advance reading of U S GDP due at 8 30 a m 1230 GMT is expected to show the economy grew 1 8 in April June which would be the slowest growth in more than two years
GRAPHIC U S GDP growth
In the currency market the euro bounced back to at 1 1149 EUR EBS in Asian trade after sinking to 1 1101 on Thursday its lowest since May 2017
The yen was little changed against the dollar at 108 62 yen per dollar
Oil prices held firm on rising tensions between the West and Iran and a big decline in U S crude stockpiles though gains were held in check by worries about slowing growth in major economies
U S crude CLc1 ticked up 0 36 to 56 22 a barrel while Brent futures LCOc1 were up 0 16 at 63 49 per barrel | 7/26/2019 |
INTC | Alibaba s chip division releases first core processor IP | By Josh Horwitz
SHANGHAI Reuters The semiconductor division of Chinese tech giant Alibaba NYSE BABA Group Holding Ltd released its first core processor IP on Thursday as the e commerce giant continues its steady push into advanced technologies
The release also comes as China s government urges the domestic tech industry to boost its prowess in the chip sector which lags behind that of the United States and Japan
Alibaba s chip unit Pingtouge said its Xuantie 910 can serve advanced applications such as edge computing and autonomous driving and is based on RISC V an open source chip architecture developed by a consortium of tech companies and researchers
Most RISC V based processors serve more rudimentary functions such as powering simple internet of things devices
RISC V has generated interest in China s chip community offers a potential alternative to the dominant architecture of Britain s Arm Holdings Inc Arm a unit of Japan s SoftBank Group Corp charges licensing fees for its use
The open source nature of RISC V also mitigates risk of Chinese firms losing access to Arm architecture should geopolitical events cause a rift in the global chip industry
Arm was one of several companies to cease serving Huawei Technologies Co Ltd after the United States essentially banned business with the Shenzhen based phonemaker on national security grounds
Chinese companies that rely on RISC V don t have to rely on a supplier like Arm or Intel NASDAQ INTC said Stewart Randall who tracks China s semiconductor industry at Shanghai based consultancy Intralink There s no threat ever of them losing access to a key part of this design
China currently hosts two industry organizations dedicated to researching RISC V which complement the RISC V Foundation based in California
Alibaba said it intends to monetize its processor intellectual property IP by licensing it to chipmakers It also said it will release parts of related code on public repository GitHub to stimulate related development
The e commerce giant has steadily expanded from online shopping and into more technology intensive areas It is now China s biggest provider of cloud computing services and also has a fledgling smart hardware business with products including voice assistant Tmall Genie
The shift coincides with a broader government led push in China s high tech sector to develop core technologies indigenously rather than relying on foreign companies
The city of Shanghai recently launched its STAR market exchange aimed at helping advanced technology firms raise funds The market opening saw several domestic chip companies sell shares to the public | 7/26/2019 |
MSFT | Activision set for another billion dollar hit with Modern Warfare launch | By Neha Malara Reuters Call of Duty Modern Warfare the reboot of the widely popular first person shooter game will launch on Friday and is set to become another billion dollar hit for publisher Activision Blizzard Inc NASDAQ ATVI The game is a fresh take on the popular Modern Warfare sub series of the Call of Duty franchise that was initially launched in 2007 and has since become a rage among gamers It lets gamers portray elite soldiers hunting down targets in different parts of the world Michael Pachter managing director at Wedbush Securities estimates that the new game will sell 20 million units by the end of the year while Doug Creutz at brokerage Cowen forecast unit sales of mid 20 million in the fourth quarter The game s highest edition is priced at 99 99 A beta version of the game was released in September and has become the largest in the history of Call of Duty in terms of users hours played and peak concurrent number of players Activision said A trailer of the game on YouTube garnered more than 33 million views and 575 000 likes Call of Duty is a very established annualized video game franchise and has a core dedicated fan base that comes every year and picks up the new version said Mat Piscatella from research firm NPD Group The latest version of the game will release globally on Oct 25 for Sony Corp s PlayStation 4 Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Corp s Xbox One and PC It will compete with other big titles to be launched later this year including Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and Pokemon Sword and Shield We anticipate Call of Duty Mobile has minted a new audience of fans who will seek out Modern Warfare as their first taste of the franchise on console and PC due to a positive experience with the mobile game said Alex Malafeev Co Founder Sensor Tower
Call of Duty Mobile launched earlier this month was developed for smart phones by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd which also has a stake in PUBG s Bluehole and Epic Games Fortnite and is credited with popularizing the battle royale format where dozens of online players battle each other to death | 10/24/2019 |
MSFT | Amazon sales forecast slower cloud growth disappoint investors | By Noor Zainab Hussain Reuters Shares of Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN were down 3 on Friday as investors were let down by a lower than expected sales outlook and surprised by slower revenue growth at its lucrative AWS cloud business As many as 16 brokerages cut their price targets on the stock with many saying higher costs to keep its one day delivery Prime members happy played a big part in weaker profits Going forward it is difficult to assess when Amazon will once again begin to deliver profit upside We think that the buildout of next day delivery is likely to take several quarters and don t expect a return to outsized profits anytime soon said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter Amazon s median price target is 2 220 a 33 premium to where its shares are indicated to open The shares are trading down at 1 734 70 Interactive graphic on Amazon s profit Amazon was again hurt by heavy investments to speed up deliveries to its Prime members as it tries to beat back Walmart NYSE WMT Inc which is swiping market share Amazon expects costs to cater to Prime members to nearly double to 1 5 billion during the holiday season from what it spent on one day delivery during the second quarter The company reported sales growth of 24 to 70 billion in the third quarter but its prediction of 80 billion to 86 5 billion sales in the fourth quarter fell short of the 87 4 billion analysts were expecting according to IBES data from Refinitiv Holiday sales typically pull in a major share of retailers revenue and profit Interactive graphic on Amazon s holiday quarter Amazon also disappointed on slower revenue growth for Amazon Web Services the company s traditionally lucrative cloud business Daniel Liu research analyst at Canalys said Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Corp s Azure cloud business narrowed its gap with AWS during the third quarter AWS accounts for nearly a third of the global cloud market AWS revenue grew by 35 year on year and came in slightly below Microsoft s Commercial Cloud revenue growth of 36 according to Shebly Seyrafi CFA Managing Director Technology Internet Research at FBN Securities Interactive graphic on Amazon s cloud business Most analysts however stood by Amazon s long term prospects Nicholas Hyett equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown LON HRGV said Amazon s revenue continues to grow at an astonishing and for rival retailers probably alarming rate adding that robust cash generation meant that Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos would be unfazed Whether all the extra investment will be worth it in the end is perhaps open to question especially given the lackluster sales guidance for next quarter But it s been foolish to doubt Amazon in the past Hyett said
Interactive graphic on Amazon s costs | 10/25/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft beats Amazon for Pentagon s 10 billion cloud computing contract | By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON Reuters Microsoft Corp O MSFT has won the Pentagon s 10 billion cloud computing contract the Defense Department said on Friday beating out favorite Amazon com Inc O AMZN The contracting process had long been mired in conflict of interest allegations even drawing the attention of President Donald Trump who has publicly taken swipes at Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos Trump in August said his administration was reviewing Amazon s bid after complaints from other companies The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud JEDI contract is part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon meant to make it more technologically agile Specifically a goal of JEDI is to give the military better access to data and the cloud from battlefields and other remote locations Oracle Corp N ORCL had expressed concerns about the award process for the contract including the role of a former Amazon employee who worked on the project at the Defense Department but recused himself then later left the Defense Department and returned to Amazon Web Services In a statement an Amazon Web Services AWS spokesman said the company was surprised about this conclusion The company said that a detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings would clearly lead to a different conclusion according to the statement AWS is considering options for protesting the award a person familiar with the matter told Reuters Although the Pentagon boasts the world s most potent fighting force its information technology remains woefully inadequate according to many officials Officials have complained of having outdated computer systems and being unable to access files or share information as quickly as they might be able to in the private sector If I am a warfighter I want as much data as you could possibly give me Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan the director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center told reporters in August describing the importance of the contract Some companies were concerned that a single award would give the winner an unfair advantage in follow on work The Pentagon has said it planned to award future cloud deals to multiple contractors This week U S Defense Secretary Mark Esper removed himself from reviewing the deal due to his adult son s employment with one of the original contract applicants IBM Corp N IBM IBM had previously bid for the contract but had already been eliminated from the competition Microsoft said it was working on a comment IBM and Oracle did not immediately return requests for comment In a book slated for publication Oct 29 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 according to an excerpt of the book seen by Reuters ahead of its release We re not going to do that Mattis later told other Pentagon officials according to the excerpt This will be done by the book both legally and ethically Snodgrass declined to comment pending the release of his book In a statement announcing Microsoft as the winner the Pentagon underscored its view that the competition was conducted fairly and legally All offers were treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation s stated evaluation criteria Prior to the award the department conferred with the DOD Inspector General which informed the decision to proceed it said Microsoft shares were up 3 to 144 98 in after hours trading after the news Amazon shares were down 0 92 to 1 745 12 The Pentagon said it had awarded more than 11 billion across 10 separate cloud contracts over the past two years
As we continue to execute the DOD Cloud Strategy additional contracts are planned for both cloud services and complementary migration and integration solutions necessary to achieve effective cloud adoption the Pentagon said | 10/25/2019 |
MSFT | UK lawmakers call for action on banks Big Tech to avoid IT failures | By Huw Jones
LONDON Reuters British regulators should impose higher levies on banks if they need more resources to stop big IT glitches and should consider regulating cloud service providers such as Google NASDAQ GOOGL UK lawmakers said in a review on Monday
The review was launched after a major IT meltdown last year at TSB part of Spain s Sabadell which left thousands of customers locked out of their online accounts The issue led to the resignation of TSB s CEO Paul Pester
Many market infrastructure services and technology that banks use are outsourced and the review said firms cannot use third party failures as an excuse when incidents occur drawing attention to suppliers of cloud computing
The consequences of a major operational incident at a large cloud service provider such as Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Google or Amazon NASDAQ AMZN could be significant the review said There is a considerable case to regulate cloud service providers
With bank branches and cash machines disappearing more than 70 of adults rely on digital services leaving them vulnerable to IT glitches such as those also seen at Barclays LON BARC and Visa NYSE V last year parliament s Treasury Select Committee TSC said in its review
Lawmakers said they accept that completely uninterrupted access to banking services is not achievable but that prolonged or regular IT failures are unacceptable
The Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England must take action said Steve Baker the lawmaker that led the review
They should increase the financial sector levies if greater resources are required ensure individuals and firms are held to account for their role in IT failures and ensure that firms resolve customer complaints and award compensation quickly Baker said
Glitches are often due to changes to Britain s patchwork of ageing legacy payments systems but firms must not use the cost of upgrades to cut corners or as excuses to not make vital upgrades the review said
The Bank of England BoE last year aired setting tolerances for banks to recover from cyber attacks and IT disruptions with targets for maximum allowable outages linked to a combination of benchmarks like volume of business and market shares
Britain has introduced the senior managers regime or SMR to make named senior officials at financial firms directly accountable for operations they are responsible for so that regulators can take enforcement action
Senior officials at market infrastructure firms such as payments systems like Visa which suffered an outage in 2018 should also be brought under SMR the review said echoing comments last year from the BoE s Financial Policy Committee
Lawmakers said regulators were taking too long to report back on what happened at TSB
Stephen Jones chief executive of UK Finance which represents banks and financial firms said the industry worked with regulators to ensure it could respond to any major disruptions or events
UK Finance continues to engage with government over how coordination between regulatory authorities could be improved seeking to avoid overlapped or rushed mandatory change programmes that impact firms ability to protect their customers Jones said | 10/27/2019 |
MSFT | Google results to share stage with U S antitrust probe | By Paresh Dave and Diane Bartz
SAN FRANCISCO WASHINGTON Reuters Beyond fresh insights into Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL quarterly earnings on Monday financial analysts could press executives for details on the U S antitrust probe by 48 states
They should expect a common refrain during the company conference call it s deja vu all over again
Late this summer Texas announced it was leading a group of 48 state attorneys general to probe allegations of anticompetitive practices by Google largely around its lucrative online advertising business
Google maintains that the same players were involved in similar investigations but to no avail And the Federal Trade Commission settled its own two year antitrust probe in 2013 concluding it has not manipulated search results to hurt rivals
We have answered many questions on these issues over many years in the United States as well as overseas across many aspects of our business so this is not new for us Google said in a recent blog post on the topic
That is not stopping states from taking advantage of new political momentum from both sides of the aisle to go after Silicon Valley s giants including Google
Missouri for instance is folding its two year old investigation into the new Texas led probe The hope is that with more AGs there s a lot more firepower said Chris Nuelle a Missouri AG spokesman
Ryan Bangert who is leading Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton s Google probe is a veteran of the Missouri investigation where he spent nearly two years overseeing it
Texas is leading the current effort as part of an agreement to put a Democrat in charge of an investigation into Facebook O FB and a Republican at the helm of the Google effort according to sources familiar with the discussions New York s Democratic Attorney General Letitia James is leading the multi state Facebook probe
Alphabet is expected to report quarterly revenue at or above its usual 20 mark after the closing bell of trading on Monday with newer businesses such as YouTube and cloud computing driving growth
But the company offers limited product level financial disclosures which has left investors increasingly perplexed about how various pressures including the regulatory scrutiny advertiser boycotts and global trade tensions are actually affecting operations
DEJA VU
Some of the previous probes have touched on advertising the focus of this one but other issues as well
In addition to advertising the FTC s probe involved search bias and scraping of content Missouri looked at the scope of Google s data collection and whether it scraped content from competitors
Texas previous inquiry which began in 2010 focused on Google s specialized search tools for shopping finance data local businesses as well as questions about its advertising businesses New York California Ohio and Oklahoma collaborated with Texas
The states reviewed data from Facebook eBay NASDAQ EBAY Expedia NASDAQ EXPE IAC Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Yelp Verizon NYSE VZ and smaller companies such as shopping search service Nextag and ad rival Technorati according to documents obtained by Reuters through a public records request
Several companies continue to hold the same complaints about Google
Texas closed this probe in mid 2014 giving Google and companies that had complained about it notice by phone without offering any reason three people familiar with the matter said
Sally Hubbard a director at the antitrust advocacy group Open Markets Institute said five years later the Google practices concerning investigators has not abated
But the political winds have shifted said Hubbard who worked for the New York AG from 2005 to 2012 There s a lot more momentum to fix the situation
Now the AGs are hearing complaints that Google is collecting more and more data from users to sell ads while delivering them an increasingly poor experience
Google s critics say the European Union s 2 7 billion antitrust judgment against Google Shopping two years ago backs them up and economists in contact with state AGs say that Google s influence has become more problematic with the increased reliance on internet services for news and communications access
Google declined to comment In the past the company has said it faces robust competition in ad services and that in search users can easily shift to alternatives such as Bing
The states are reviewing the shopping case and other successful European investigations into Google to build a stronger case than they had amassed in their scuttled investigations Google is more dominant in the EU than in the United States and European law favors plaintiffs and a looser definition of monopoly power said Chris Sagers who teaches antitrust at the Cleveland Marshall College of Law
Proving Google is dominant in any given market will be a lot harder here than it was in Europe he said | 10/28/2019 |
MSFT | The Force is with Microsoft Shares up on winning JEDI contract | Microsoft O MSFT shares rise 3 4 to 145 50 premarket after company wins the Pentagon s 10 billion cloud computing contract
The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud JEDI contract is part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon meant to make it technologically more agile
MSFT was chosen for the contract over U S Defense department DoD favorite Amazon com Inc O AMZN
Brokerage Wedbush expects Amazon and others to challenge this decision in the courts but ultimately this is a paradigm changer for Microsoft
This deal adds at least 10 share to MSFT s stock and could have significant positive financial implications for the company over the coming years Wedbush
Shares of Amazon fall 1 1 to 1 742 50 premarket
As of Friday s close MSFT shares had gained 38 6 this year and were the second best performer on the blue chip Dow Jones index DJI | 10/28/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Jump After Twitter Earnings Beat | Investing com U S futures jumped on Friday as upbeat earnings from Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Intel NASDAQ INTC Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX and Twitter NYSE TWTR helped boost market sentiment
Twitter gained 4 1 in premarket trading after it reported an 18 jump in revenue during the second quarter with diluted earnings per share of 1 43 on net income of 1 1 billion
Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL parent company of Google rose 8 8 after its second quarter earnings beat forecasts The company also announced a 25 billion stock buyback and played down fears of increased regulatory scrutiny
Intel NASDAQ INTC surged 4 9 after it increased its revenue forecast
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 32 points or 0 4 by 7 05 AM ET 11 05 GMT while Dow futures gained 80 points or 0 3 and S P 500 futures were up 8 points or 0 3
Elsewhere on the earnings front Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX was set to open at a new all time high jumping 6 2 after posting its strongest comparable sales in three years
By contrast Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN fell 1 6 after its profit missed consensus and it said income would slump in the third quarter due to increased spending on one day delivery raising the cost of sales
McDonald s NYSE MCD is also in focus as it releases its results before the morning bell
Meanwhile Apple NASDAQ AAPL inched up 0 3 after it confirmed it is purchasing Intel s modem business in a deal valued at 1 billion while Sprint NYSE S gained 3 5 after reports that the Department of Justice is in talks with states to gain their approval for its merger with T Mobile NASDAQ TMUS
On the economic front U S gross domestic product GDP is released at 8 30 AM ET 12 30 GMT The data are expected to show a slowdown in annualized growth to 1 8 its slowest since 2017 The numbers may also influence the Federal Reserve s deliberations when it makes its monetary policy decision on July 31
In commodities crude oil gained 0 8 to 56 49 a barrel Gold futures rose 0 3 to 1 418 65 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies hit a two month high earlier in the day before edging back to 97 657 | 7/26/2019 |
INTC | Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Friday | Investing com Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday July 26
1 Slowdown expected for American economy
The Bureau of Economic Analysis will report its preliminary reading on second quarter GDP at 8 30 AM ET 12 30 GMT Friday with annualized growth forecast to slow to 1 8 the weakest reading in more than two years from 3 1 in the first three months of the year
The slowdown which comes amid a 10 year economic expansion the longest in history is partly a reflection of inventory management around the introduction of new tariffs on Chinese imports the sharpest illustration of the trade conflict that has hit global growth That backdrop has fed expectations that the Federal Reserve will step in next week with a quarter point cut to interest rates
A worse than expected number could drive U S stocks higher as markets would interpret the reading as ammunition for the Fed to ease policy more aggressively
A much stronger than expected rise in durable goods orders released on Thursday diminished the odds for a larger 50 basis point cut on July 31 to just above 20 Following July s expected reduction Fed funds futures have priced in additional 25 basis point cuts in both September and December
Investing com Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday July 26
Investing com Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday July 26
Investing com Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday July 26
2 Alphabet Intel wow while Amazon disappoints Starbucks jumps
Quarterly earnings released after Thursday s market close will be priced in with Google NASDAQ GOOGL parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOG and Intel NASDAQ INTC set to boost techs while Amazon NASDAQ AMZN missed the mark
Alphabet s shares soared more than 8 in premarket trade following a quarterly report that beat on the top and bottom lines and included a 25 billion buyback The tech giant also eased investor concerns over increased regulatory scrutiny saying that it was nothing it hadn t seen before
Intel NASDAQ INTC shares jumped 5 after it reported solid numbers and an increased revenue forecast both of which bode well for other chipmakers
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN was the exception to the positive news with shares off 1 5 as profit missed consensus and the company warned on third quarter operating income
Outside of tech Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX delivered as comparable sales beat estimates and the company raised its annual profit forecast Shares soared more than 6
3 Twitter McDonald s to take up earnings baton
Earnings season has yet to reach the halfway mark with only 42 of S P 500 firms having so far released quarterly numbers as of Thursday s close 76 of those companies have beaten profit expectations with average growth of 5 5 while 63 have topped sales estimates with 4 7 growth according to The Earnings Scout
Twitter NYSE TWTR will pick up the earnings baton for tech companies as it reports ahead of the open
Average monetizable daily active users mDAU will be one of the closely watched metrics after the company reported an 11 rise to 134 million in the first quarter
Markets will also be on the alert for any reflection of rising regulatory risk in its guidance
McDonald s NYSE MCD will be in the spotlight as the only Dow company to report ahead of the bell with market focus centered on same store sales
4 Apple confirms 1 billion purchase of Intel s modem business
Apple NASDAQ AAPL confirmed reports that it was on its way to becoming self reliant in smartphone chips as it picked up the majority of Intel s modem business in a deal valued at 1 billion
Modem chips connect devices like the iPhone to wireless data networks Apple NASDAQ AAPL has always relied on outside suppliers for the part
The deal with Intel NASDAQ INTC will bolster Apple s goal to make its own modem chip closing a gap with two of its biggest global rivals Samsung Electronics KS 005930 and Huawei that already source those components internally
5 U S futures receive boost from earnings ahead of GDP
Mostly upbeat earnings reports were sufficient to return risk appetite to U S markets with tech shares leading gains Wall Street took a dip on Thursday with blame attributed to the better than forecast durable goods orders that dented arguments for aggressive Fed action
The GDP data will likely be the final piece of the puzzle to fit into speculation over just how dovish the Fed will be next week and focus may well fall on U S President Donald Trump s Twitter account given the pressure he has already exerted on the central bank through that channel
Trump has criticised the Fed for raising rates too fast last year and not recognizing the need for faster easing now arguing that economic growth would be much higher and the very misguided central bank should move now
Trump s last tweet on Thursday announced the expected passage of the budget deal
Reuters contributed to this report | 7/26/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Twitter McDonald s Starbucks Rise Premarket | Investing com Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Friday
Twitter NYSE TWTR stock rose 5 3 in premarket trade by 8 17 AM ET 12 17 GMT after it reported an 18 jump in revenue during the second quarter with diluted earnings per share of 1 43 on net income of 1 1 billion
McDonald s NYSE MCD stock jumped 2 3 after it reported 5 7 same store sales growth in the U S in the second quarter above expectations Overall earnings were line with forecasts with earnings per share of 2 05 while revenue rose 3 in constant currencies
U S same store sales grew by 5 7 which was more than expected
Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL stock surged 8 2 after its second quarter earnings beat forecasts and it announced a 25 billion stock buyback The company also played down fears of increased regulatory scrutiny
Intel NASDAQ INTC stock was up 4 8 after it increased its revenue forecast and reported strong earnings of 1 06 per share on 16 51 billion in revenue
Apple NASDAQ AAPL stock inched up 0 2 after it confirmed it is purchasing Intel s modem business in a deal valued at 1 billion
Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX stock gained 6 2 after posting its strongest comparable sales in three years
Mattel NASDAQ MAT advanced 6 3 after it lost less than expected in its last quarter as revenue was boosted by sales of its Toy Story 4 action figures and growth in its Barbie and Hot Wheels brands | 7/26/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks mixed at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 11 | Investing com U S stocks were mixed after the close on Monday as gains in the Utilities Telecoms and Healthcare sectors led shares higher while losses in the Consumer Services Financials and Oil Gas sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0 11 while the S P 500 index declined 0 16 and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0 44
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC which rose 1 78 or 0 92 points to trade at 52 51 at the close Meanwhile Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ added 1 77 or 2 32 points to end at 133 05 and 3M Company NYSE MMM was up 1 61 or 2 80 points to 176 78 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE which fell 3 83 or 1 65 points to trade at 41 44 at the close Dow Inc NYSE DOW declined 2 16 or 1 06 points to end at 48 05 and Boeing Co NYSE BA was down 1 37 or 4 71 points to 340 29
The top performers on the S P 500 were Mylan NV NASDAQ MYL which rose 12 57 to 20 78 Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc NYSE CMG which was up 3 26 to settle at 805 32 and Cigna Corp NYSE CI which gained 2 96 to close at 172 26
The worst performers were Nektar Therapeutics NASDAQ NKTR which was down 5 94 to 29 27 in late trade National Oilwell Varco Inc NYSE NOV which lost 4 74 to settle at 20 69 and Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE which was down 3 83 to 41 44 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were TDH Holdings Inc NASDAQ PETZ which rose 98 56 to 1 35 Reven Housing Reit Inc NASDAQ RVEN which was up 25 31 to settle at 5 00 and Gores Metropoulos Inc NASDAQ GMHI which gained 19 90 to close at 12 05
The worst performers were Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ LXRX which was down 70 30 to 1 690 in late trade iPic Entertainment Inc NASDAQ IPIC which lost 40 89 to settle at 1 2000 and Airnet Technology Inc NASDAQ ANTE which was down 30 56 to 1 00 at the close
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1540 to 1469 and 38 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1647 fell and 980 advanced while 121 ended unchanged
Shares in Nektar Therapeutics NASDAQ NKTR fell to 52 week lows down 5 94 or 1 85 to 29 27 Shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc NYSE CMG rose to all time highs rising 3 26 or 25 46 to 805 32 Shares in Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ LXRX fell to all time lows falling 70 30 or 4 000 to 1 690 Shares in Reven Housing Reit Inc NASDAQ RVEN rose to 52 week highs rising 25 31 or 1 01 to 5 00 Shares in iPic Entertainment Inc NASDAQ IPIC fell to all time lows down 40 89 or 0 8300 to 1 2000
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 5 51 to 12 83
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0 52 or 7 40 to 1426 70 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1 51 or 0 85 to hit 57 05 a barrel while the October Brent oil contract unchanged 0 00 or 0 00 to trade at 63 70 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 02 to 1 1146 while USD JPY rose 0 03 to 108 80
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 05 at 97 800 | 7/29/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here are the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
1 Apple NASDAQ AAPL AMD Earnings on Deck
Apple NASDAQ AAPL delivers fiscal third quarter results Tuesday after the closing bell closing the curtains on the quarterly earnings season for big tech
Apple NASDAQ AAPL is expected to report earnings of 2 09 a share on revenue of 53 3 billion down from 2 34 in earnings on revenue of 53 3 billion a year ago
As well as the usual earnings and guidance Apple s services segment iCloud Apple Music and the App Store among other apps will be closely watched as the tech giant strives to reduce its dependence on iPhone sales which make up about 60 of total revenue
Goldman Sachs citing data from Sensor Tower expressed caution on the iPhone maker s services revenue amid signs of slowing App Store growth
In revenue terms Sensor Tower indicates iOS App Store revenue growth of 14 Y Y in June down from 18 year on year in May 21 in April and 22 in March Goldman Sachs said in a note on July 16
Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD meanwhile also reports earnings after the closing bell Tuesday
The chipmaker s report comes amid a better than expected PC environment and a more sanguine backdrop for the broader sector in the wake of a string of positive updates from semis including Taiwan Semiconductor Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN and rival Intel NASDAQ INTC
AMD is expected to report earnings of 8 cents a share on revenue of 1 52 billion according to analysts polled by Investing com That would be down from 14 cents a share on revenue of 1 76 billion a year ago The chipmaker s guidance will also be closely watched with investors eager to see if the company remains on track to meet management s guidance for high single digit year on year growth
Merck Pfizer and Procter Gamble are the other notable names slated to report earnings before markets open
2 Health of U S Consumer Housing in Spotlight
The health of the consumer the backbone of the recent strength seen in U S economy will be in the spotlight once again with consumer confidence and spending on the calendar
Personal income for June is forecast to have slowed to 0 3 from 0 5 in the prior month while personal spending is expected to also have slowed 0 3 from 0 4
The Conference Board at 10 AM ET 14 00 GMT is expected to report consumer confidence jumped to a reading of 125 in July from 121 5
Housing also will garner attention with the National Association of Realtors expected to issue its monthly measure of pending home sales at 10 AM ET 14 00 GMT
On average economists expect that homes under contract to be sold in June slowed to rise 0 5 in June from 1 1 the previous month
3 API Crude Inventory Data Ahead
The American Petroleum Institute s data due tomorrow will provide traders with an early insight into whether U S crude supplies are set to extend their six week decline
The API reported last week that domestic crude supplies fell by 10 961 million barrels
The data comes as investors await US China trade talks that are set to resume this week in Shanghai with analysts warning that oil prices may fall in the weeks ahead should the talks not bear fruit
Even with Iran s escalating activity in the Strait of Hormuz and a large draw in U S oil inventories oil markets weren t able to push higher suggesting there may be more downside in the weeks ahead said GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan
Concerns still abound over the lack of a China U S trade deal he added
West Texas intermediate crude the benchmark U S crude oil rose 1 2 Monday to settle at 56 87 a barrel | 7/29/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Disney Intel Apple Moderate Downward Pressure on Wall Street | Investing com The big picture suggests a stock market marking time until the Federal Reserve makes its decision on interest rates on Wednesday
But don t tell that to Intel NASDAQ INTC Walt Disney NYSE DIS or Apple NASDAQ AAPL All moved smartly higher on the day Intel jumped 1 8 as investors continued to cheer the sale of its modem business to Apple That will help focus the company on chips for networking and other processes
Apple moved up 0 9 ahead of Tuesday s third quarter earnings report
And Disney moved 1 2 higher and hit an all time high of 147 15 in part because of a big opening weekend for its remake of The Lion King The film grossed grossed a reported 185 million over the weekend with audiences surveyed giving it an A rating despite lukewarm reviews
The S P 500 slipped 0 15 The Nasdaq Composite index dropped 0 44 with small cap stocks the weaker end of the group The Dow Jones industrials moved up 0 11
Eighteen of the 30 Dow stocks were higher The worst of the Dow stocks was Pfizer NYSE PFE which fell 3 8 after second quarter results failed to excite investors It did sell its Upjohn business to Mylan NASDAQ MYL Visa NYSE V suffered a small loss of just 0 48 which came after it hit a 52 week high of 184 07
The Nasdaq was held back by declines in Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Facebook NASDAQ FB Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST and Dollar Tree NASDAQ DLTR Starbucks Costco and Alphabet seemed knocked down by profit taking after hitting new highs in the last week
Lower interest rates helped utility and real estate stocks Also rising were consumer staples health care and telecommunications shares including AT T NYSE T and Verizon NYSE VZ T Mobile NASDAQ TMUS was down after jumping a week ago as federal regulators approved its 26 billion merger with Sprint NYSE S
The 10 Year Treasury yield fell to 2 06 from 2 081 on Friday
Energy stocks were lower especially oil service stocks even as oil prices moved higher West Texas intermediate crude futures were up 67 cents to 56 87 Brent crude futures rose 25 cents to 63 71
Halliburton NYSE HAL was off 3 7 Schlumberger NYSE SLB slid 2 Oil and gas producer Apache NYSE APA dropped 2 5
Boeing NYSE BA fell 1 39 after Standard Poor s warned it would downgrade the stock because of the delays involved in getting the 737 Max airliner back into the year Airlines have been warning the delays since the plane was grounded last winter are hurting current and expected results
Boeing stock has fallen 23 7 from a peak of 446 01 this winter
slid 2
In addition to Apple s earnings Tuesday s reports will include earnings from companies that can easily move markets including oil giants BP NYSE BP and ConocoPhillips NYSE COP and two Dow components pharmaceutical giant Merck NYSE MRK and Procter Gamble NYSE PG
Winners and Losers in the S P 500
Generic drugmaker Mylan NASDAQ MYL Chipotle Mexican Grill NYSE CMG and Cigna Group NYSE CI were among the top S P 500 stocks on the day
Nektar Therapeutics NASDAQ NKTR National Oilwell Varco Inc NYSE NOV and Pfizer NYSE PFE were among the weakest stocks in the S P 500 on Monday | 7/29/2019 |
INTC | Trade jitters running high at U S companies ahead of new U S China talks | By Caroline Valetkevitch and Noel Randewich Reuters Worries about the U S China trade war are running high during the current U S quarterly reporting season with companies as diverse as Juniper Networks and O Reilly Automotive bemoaning the consequences but saying they are finding ways to weather the storm Trade negotiations shift to Shanghai on Tuesday with stock market investors sensitive to fallout from the year long conflict and any signs that it could escalate Tariffs were mentioned in about a third of conference calls held by S P 500 companies reporting their quarterly results through July 26 according to FactSet The 71 firms flagging tariffs were up from the 50 companies discussing tariffs in the same time frame in the first quarter season but less than the 99 a year ago when tariffs were an emerging issue for U S corporations Many of those corporations outlined to investors their plans to minimize the impact of the trade war which has added to uncertainty as they struggle with a sluggish global economy including lackluster economies in Europe and Japan Parts supplier O Reilly Automotive said in its conference call last week that it raised the prices of its products to make up for higher costs related to the tariffs Network gear maker Juniper Networks Inc NYSE JNPR on Thursday missed the mid point of its margin guidance due to the tariffs saying it expected pressure to continue even as it manages its operating expenses to mitigate the damage Of S P 500 components that have reported their second quarter earnings export focused companies have beaten analysts expectations 77 of the time while companies focused on the domestic economy have exceeded expectations just 66 of the time according to an analysis by Credit Suisse SIX CSGN That suggests that export oriented companies are feeling the trade war less than investors expected said Patrick Palfrey an earnings analyst at Credit Suisse Trade is an exacerbating factor as opposed to the primary driver of the slowdown Palfrey said S P 500 earnings are expected to have risen just 0 6 in the second quarter from a year ago according to IBES data from Refinitiv A big part of the slowdown reflects tough comparisons with a year ago when the U S tax cut package led to a 24 9 jump in second quarter earnings Roughly 76 of the 222 companies that have reported as of Monday morning have beaten analysts earnings expectations in line with the recent trend Third quarter earnings expectations have now turned negative however with earnings expected to decline 0 6 from a year ago based on Refinitiv s data Wall Street has reacted sharply over the past year to tweets from U S President Donald Trump variously suggesting progress and setbacks in settling the trade dispute Buoyed by expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates but also suggesting investors are becoming less sensitive to uncertainty around the trade war the S P 500 has surged 20 year to date and hit record highs last week Mattel s stock has surged 16 since Thursday when the toymaker s quarterly results beat expectations while it warned about the impact of an escalation of the trade war We are being watchful of the potential tariff that may be implemented and if implemented would impact the entire toy industry We have contingency plans in place and we re working closely with the retailers to ensure that we are aligned on our approach to mitigate the tariffs Mattel NASDAQ MAT CEO Ynon Kreiz said on a conference call last week The Philadelphia Semiconductor index has surged 38 in 2019 even as trade tensions and U S restrictions on sales to Chinese telecom Huawei make it harder to predict when U S chipmakers will recover from a global cyclical downturn Investors were surprised last week after Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN said that U S China trade tensions were not hampering its ability to conduct business in China while Intel NASDAQ INTC said on Thursday that customers worried about potential tariffs on chips were preemptively buying processors We really think the Q2 action was pulling from the second half into the first half Intel CFO George Davis told Reuters following the earnings report Depending on how the trade discussions go there could be some additional activity there but we re not expecting at the same level if at all during the third quarter We re forecasting demand based on the signals we re getting from our customers
China recently signaled it would allow Chinese firms to make some tariff free purchases of U S farm goods while Washington has encouraged companies to apply for waivers to a national security ban on sales to Huawei But going into the talks neither side has implemented the measures that were intended to show their goodwill | 7/29/2019 |
INTC | Apple to buy majority of Intel s modem chip business for 1 billion | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Apple Inc took a major step toward supplying its own smartphone chips by purchasing the majority of Intel NASDAQ INTC Corp s modem business in a deal valued at 1 billion the companies said on Thursday Under the deal about 2 200 Intel employees will join Apple along with intellectual property equipment and leases Combined with its existing portfolio Apple will have 17 000 wireless technology patents ranging from cellular communication standards to modems making it a more powerful player in global licensing talks that will likely take place between major 5G patent holders such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Intel shares rose 5 7 to 55 05 after the news and the company s report that its earnings beat analysts expectations Apple shares NASDAQ AAPL edged up 0 1 to 207 29 After the deal Intel will retain the right to develop modems for non smartphone applications such as PCs industrial equipment and self driving cars Modem chips connect devices like the iPhone to wireless data networks but Apple has always relied on outside suppliers for the part Intel positioned itself as the sole source of iPhone modem chips over the past year after Apple got into a prolonged legal fight with previous supplier Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc over Qualcomm patent licensing practices Cupertino California based Apple reached a surprise settlement in April that called for the iPhone to once again use Qualcomm modem chips Within hours Intel said it would quit the smartphone modem business Apple s acquisitions have mostly been much smaller companies making the Intel deal its second largest ever after its 3 2 billion purchase of Beats Electronics in 2014 The deal with Intel will bolster Apple s goal to make its own modem chip Two of Apple s biggest global rivals Samsung Electronics KS 005930 Co Ltd and Huawei already have the ability to self supply modem chips Technology news publication The Information last year reported Apple s efforts to develop its own modem but the iPhone maker has never formally acknowledged it In February Reuters reported that Apple moved its modem engineering efforts into the same chip design unit that makes the custom processors for its devices signaling a doubling down on the pursuit of self designed modem chip Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has also long said the company wants to control its own technological fate what analysts have called the Cook Doctrine We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make Tim Cook told investors back in 2009 SPEEDING UP DEVELOPMENT The purchase of Intel s assets could help Apple meet its aggressive timeline for producing a modem A person familiar with the matter said Apple plans to use Qualcomm s modem technology for a 5G iPhone in 2020 but wants to have an internally developed 5G modem technology ready for use in some of its products by 2021 Intel previously disclosed plans to have a 5G modem ready by 2020 so tapping the Intel assets could help Apple hit its target But any replacement of Qualcomm is likely to happen in phases this person said as Apple builds up its ability to ensure that its modems work on all the networks and countries where Apple sells phones Ensuring worldwide compatibility is Qualcomm s historical strength and Apple might still have to rely on Qualcomm for some modems during a transition period to its own devices There s a fierce desire at Apple to have Independence but they also realize it has to be done responsibly this person said Apple s license deal with Qualcomm lasts six years and its accompanying chip supply agreement could also last that long said one chip industry veteran who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters Apple is likely to continue to use the San Diego firm s chips in its flagship models even if it phases in its own silicon for lower end and older models this person said Apple has engaged with Taiwan s Global Unichip Corp a chip design house in which Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is an investor to explore a modem design but the work is in early stages Clearly Apple saw the handwriting on the wall because they came around and did a deal with Qualcomm this person said Apple declined to comment on its plans and Qualcomm and Global Unichip did not immediately respond to a request for comment PATENTS AS LEVERAGE The most valuable aspect of the Intel deal for Apple could turn out to be patents To sell a 5G iPhone Apple will need to strike deals with the major holders of 5G patents including Nokia HE NOKIA Ericsson BS ERICAs Huawei and Qualcomm Apple executed a licensing deal with Qualcomm but it has not disclosed whether it has deals in place with the others Erick Robinson a patent attorney who had worked in Qualcomm s licensing division in Asia said the patents could give Apple better leverage in licensing talks
I don t think Intel has quite the portfolio that Qualcomm has but they certainly have a large enough one to impact the valuations when it comes to a cross licensing deal he said It ll save Apple a huge chunk of change in cross license deals | 7/25/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft forecasts cloud sales above expectations | By Noor Zainab Hussain and Stephen Nellis Reuters Microsoft Corp O MSFT on Wednesday forecast sales for its cloud computing services that topped analysts estimates even as quarterly growth slows for its Azure business Microsoft said it expected intelligent cloud revenue of 11 25 billion to 11 45 billion for its fiscal second quarter above analysts consensus of 11 2 billion IBES data from Refinitiv showed Revenue from Azure grew 59 in the fiscal first quarter ended Sept 30 well below the 76 in the year ago period and slightly short of analysts estimates Microsoft also expects double digit percentage growth in both revenue and operating income for its fiscal 2020 company executives said on a conference call The guidance is strong said Mark Moerdler managing director of global software and senior analyst with Bernstein There were a number of people surprised that their numbers were so good for the full year The results sent Microsoft shares which were up 34 for the year before the report up 0 45 to 137 86 in after market trading Since Chief Executive Satya Nadella took over in 2014 Microsoft has been diversifying from its Windows operating system software and has focused on its cloud services which allow customers to move their computing work to data centers managed by Microsoft Worldwide spending on cloud infrastructure services grew nearly 38 year on year in the calendar second quarter to 26 3 billion according to data from research firm Canalys Amazon com Inc s O AMZN Amazon Web Services still dominates the market with a 31 5 share followed by Microsoft with 18 1 Strength in the cloud business powered Microsoft s market value past 1 trillion for the first time in April However the business faces intense competition from Amazon com Inc s O AMZN AWS and Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google Microsoft beat Wall Street expectations for its overall revenue and its intelligent cloud segment which contains Azure marking 33 1 billion in overall sales and cloud unit sales of 10 8 billion Jefferies analyst Brent Thill said Microsoft s results were strong across the board with nearly all key metrics beating consensus But Azure was the key metric that missed slightly said Daniel Morgan a senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company Azure came in at 59 revenue growth and consensus was at 60 he said Other than that it was a good quarter but if you want to throw rocks at it that is how you would do it Interactive graphic on Microsoft s cloud unit Microsoft also beat expectations in other segments It forecast sales from a division that includes LinkedIn NYSE LNKD and Office software to range from 11 3 billion to 11 5 billion in line with analysts consensus estimate of 11 4 billion The technology company s personal computing division accounted for the largest share of its first quarter revenue posted on Wednesday rising 4 to 11 13 billion The unit includes Windows software Xbox gaming consoles online search advertising and Surface personal computers Windows results were boosted by 19 revenue growth for business computers which was offset by a 7 decline for consumer PCs Mike Spencer head of investor relations for Microsoft said Google Chromebooks continued eat into Windows revenue for entry level laptops But Microsoft forecast current quarter revenue of 12 6 billion to 13 billion for the personal computing division below analysts consensus estimate of 13 38 billion Net income rose 21 to 10 68 billion or 1 38 per share while total revenue rose 14 to 33 06 billion https
Analysts had expected a profit of 1 25 per share on revenue of 32 23 billion according to IBES data from Refinitiv | 10/23/2019 |
MSFT | NewsBreak Microsoft Q1 Earnings Beat Street Estimates | Investing com Shares of software giant Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT were briefly lower immediately after the company reported its fiscal first quarter results beat on both the top and bottom lines But they soon recovered
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT said it earned 1 38 a share in the quarter up 21 from a year ago and ahead of the 1 24 a share estimate of analysts tracked by Investing com
Revenue was up 14 to 33 1 billion ahead of the analyst estimate of 32 14 billion
The company said results were driven by gains in its Intelligent Cloud Office LinkedIn NYSE LNKD and Server products and services Surface and Xbox revenues were flat
Shares recovered from the initial pullback and were at 137 90 up 0 5 by 8 p m ET They d risen 0 6 in regular trading | 10/23/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
1 Facebook Tesla Earnings Impact
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA may put a dent in market sentiment tomorrow after the automaker reported a loss that was much wider than what Wall Street was expecting Revenue also came in light
Tesla said it still looks on track to meet its guidance for vehicle deliveries this year
But shares lost about 10 following the report in after hours trading The shares are down more than 20 this year
Tech stocks are likely to be dominated by moves in shares of Facebook NASDAQ FB
The social media company topped earnings expectations thanks to better than expected average user spend in the second quarter
Shares of Facebook moved more than 1 higher after the report but then retreated into negative territory after warning revenue growth might slow in the second half
Investing com Here s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
2 Tech Earnings Galore Amazon Google Intel and More
The earnings season kicks up a gear Thursday with quarterly earnings from tech heavyweights Intel NASDAQ INTC Amazon NASDAQ AMZN and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL report after markets close
Intel NASDAQ INTC is expected to report earnings per share of 89 cents for the second quarter on sales of 15 7 billion
The chipmaker s data center business which represents almost a third of total revenue will likely garner added attention as data center spending has been hurt by a slowdown in China
With shares of Amazon NASDAQ AMZN up more than 30 year to date and flirting with 1 trillion in market cap it may take a lot to impress investors tomorrow
Performance of the company s North America segment which accounts for the bulk of revenue and its cloud services business Amazon Web Services will be closely watched
Amazon NASDAQ AMZN is expected to report earnings of 5 56 a share on revenue of about 62 5 billion according to estimates compiled by Investing com
Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL is expected to report earnings of 11 10 a share on revenue of 38 2 billion
Margins likely will be closely watched as the search engine giant has increased focus on lower margin businesses like Cloud YouTube and hardware The company in the first quarter said that it would ramp up spending on marketing
3 Jobless Claims Durable Goods on Tap
Durable goods orders and jobless claims numbers make up the top tier economic data on the calendar Thursday
The Commerce Department will report June s orders for goods lasting three years or more at 8 30 AM ET 14 30 GMT
Durable goods orders are expected to rebound 0 8 in June following a 1 3 decline in May according to economists forecasts compiled by Investing com Core durable goods orders which exclude autos are predicted to have risen 0 2 in June compared with 0 4 in the prior month
Also at 8 30 AM ET the Labor Department releases its weekly count of the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the week ended July 20 Economists forecast that initial jobless claims increased to 220 000 from 216 000 previously | 7/24/2019 |
INTC | Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Thursday | Investing com Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Thursday July 25
1 ECB takes spotlight among central bank activity
The European Central Bank will announce its monetary policy decision at 7 45 AM ET 11 45 GMT amid speculation over a cut to its key deposit rate currently at 0 4 The likeliest alternative is that President Mario Draghi signals a cut in September with a change to the bank s guidance
Weak Eurozone business surveys released this week not least another drop in the closely watched German Ifo index this morning have strengthened the case for ECB action already today
The ECB s announcement comes against a global backdrop of easier monetary policy with the U S Federal Reserve widely expected to cut interest rates next week
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said overnight that it was reasonable to expect an extended period of low interest rates barely a month after cutting the country s key interest rate to an all time low
Ahead of the ECB announcement Turkey is forecast to announce a big cut to its policy rate at 7 00 AM ET 11 00 GMT President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who recently fired the last central bank governor has reportedly asked for a 3 percentage point cut
2 Dollar hovers near 1 month high thanks to rivals weakness
Even though markets fully expect a quarter point reduction to U S interest rates on July 31 and place odds at more than 25 for a 50 basis point cut weakness in the U S dollar s major rivals has seen the greenback rise for a fifth straight session to hover near a one month high reached on Wednesday
Expectations for a dovish ECB announcement the RBA s cautious guidance and fears of a hard Brexit after Boris Johnson took over as prime minister in the U K have all put pressure on their respective currencies
Traders in the greenback will still keep an eye on U S economic data due at 8 30 AM ET 12 30 GMT June durable goods orders and weekly jobless claims will be watched for their potential impact on Fed policy
3 Facebook leads tech earnings parade
Shares in Facebook NASDAQ FB were up nearly 2 in premarket trade after it managed to top earnings expectations thanks to better than expected average revenue per user
Chief Financial Officer David Wehner officer warned however that revenue growth could decelerate in the coming quarters
The earnings news came after the Federal Trade Commission announced a 5 billion settlement with Facebook NASDAQ FB in an agreement that will require the company to establish an internal privacy oversight committee
The U S Department of Justice meanwhile is investigating whether big technology companies likely including Facebook NASDAQ FB Google NASDAQ GOOGL Amazon NASDAQ AMZN and Apple NASDAQ AAPL are engaged in anticompetitive behavior addressing a rising tide of criticism that they have become too powerful to the detriment of consumers
4 Tesla Ford results hit sentiment in swirl of auto sector news
Shares in Tesla NASDAQ TSLA tumbled more than 10 in premarket trade after the company once again pushed back its timeline for reaching profit The company s net loss was bigger than expected and it also announced that battery pioneer J B Straubel will step down from his role as chief technology officer
The quarterly loss was deeper than expected and despite record deliveries in the quarter revenue came in lighter than analysts expectations
Shares in Ford NYSE F sank as second quarter profit missed consensus and the company offered weaker than expected full year guidance
Japanese rival Nissan T 7201 also said it would cut 12 500 jobs worldwide a 2 500 increase to the previously announced number after quarterly profits plunged by 98 5
Shares in German automaker Volkswagen DE VOWG p bucked the trend with an increase in second quarter operating profits by 10 but its shares still slipped
Elsewhere Toyota NYSE TM announced a 600 million investment in Chinese ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing and a new joint venture to expand collaboration with the firm in China
5 U S futures mixed ahead of next round of earnings
U S futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street as traders prepped for another round of earnings
With 138 S P 500 firms having reported earnings as of Wednesday s close The Earnings Scout countered fears of a potential earnings recession saying that so far S P earnings growth has certainly slowed but it s not negative
Shares of Anheuser Busch Inbev NYSE BUD jumped 6 in premarket trade after the brewer of Budweiser beat consensus registering its fastest growth in beer sales in more than five years in the second quarter
Still to come 3M NYSE MMM Bristol Myers Squibb NYSE BMY Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA and Dow NYSE DOW will report before the bell After the market close Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Amazon NASDAQ AMZN and Intel NASDAQ INTC release quarterly earnings
Reuters contributed to this report | 7/25/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Mixed as Tech Earnings in Focus | Investing com U S futures were mixed on Thursday as gloom from the manufacturing sector vied with more upbeat reports from the likes of Facebook NASDAQ FB
3M NYSE MMM surged 3 4 after its earnings came in better than expected while Southwest Airlines NYSE LUV slumped 3 3 after it missed expectations
Tech stocks will be in focus after the close when Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Amazon NASDAQ AMZN and Intel NASDAQ INTC report earnings Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX is also expected to report later in the day
Nasdaq 100 futures lost 25 points or 0 3 by 7 02 AM ET 11 02 GMT while Dow futures gained 60 points or 0 2 and S P 500 futures fell half a point or 0 1
Facebook NASDAQ FB jumped 1 1 in premarket trade after the social media giant posted a profit that put its 5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations into a broader context Earnings of 2 6 billion after a 2 billion charge for the FTC fine beat expectations but executives warned revenue growth could slow in the coming quarters
Other internet platform giants were still under pressure a day after the U S Department of Justice announced it is investigating if big technology companies are engaged in anti competitive behavior
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA also slumped 12 after it pushed back its timeline for making a profit while reporting a bigger than expected net loss in the quarter
On the economic front jobless claims and durable goods orders are out at 8 30 AM ET 12 30 GMT
The European Central Bank is expected either to cut its key interest rate at 7 45 AM ET 11 45 GMT or at least point to a cut in September as weak Eurozone business surveys this week have strengthen the case for easier monetary policy
The ECB would be just the latest of the world s central banks to ease policy in the face of a slowdown in global growth The U S Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates next week
In commodities crude oil gained 1 to 56 45 a barrel Gold futures rose 0 2 to 1 426 55 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was flat at 97 417 having hit a one month high of 97 510 overnight as Australia s central bank governor talked his currency down and fears for a No Deal Brexit continued to weigh on the British pound | 7/25/2019 |
INTC | Intel Earnings Revenue Beat in Q2 | Investing com Intel NASDAQ INTC reported second quarter earnings that beat analysts expectations on Thursday and revenue that topped forecasts helped by data center chip and high performance products demand
Shares moved up 5 5 after the company boosted full year revenue guidance by 500 million to 69 5 billion While Intel trimmed its full year guidance for GAAP earnings to 4 10 a share from 4 14 it boosted its guidance non GAAP earnings for the year to 4 40 a share from 4 35
Shares closed down 1 4 in regular trading
The semiconductor giant reported adjusted earnings of 1 06 a share on revenue of 16 51 billion Analysts polled by Investing com had forecast earnings of 89 cents a share and 15 7 billion in revenue Intel earned an adjusted 1 04 on revenue of 16 96 billion a year ago and 89 cents cents on revenue of 16 06 billion in the first quarter
The company said its results were boosted by strong sales performances for chips used in data centers and growing demand for higher performance products used in personal computers and related devices Revenue for its Client Computing Group basically chips for PCs was up 1 3 to 8 84 billion better than the FactSet estimate of 8 13 billion Its higher profit Data Center business saw a 10 revenue decline to 4 98 billion but that also beat the FactSet estimate
Separately Intel said it was selling a majority of its smartphone modem business to Apple for about 1 billion About 2 200 employees will become Apple employees
Apple NASDAQ AAPL shares were off 0 8 on Thursday Apple reports fiscal third quarter earnings after Tuesday s close
Reuters contributed to this report | 7/25/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks lower at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0 47 | Investing com U S stocks were lower after the close on Thursday as losses in the Oil Gas Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0 47 while the S P 500 index fell 0 53 and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1 00
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc NYSE CAT which rose 2 12 or 2 80 points to trade at 134 71 at the close Meanwhile United Technologies Corporation NYSE UTX added 1 57 or 2 11 points to end at 136 36 and Walt Disney Company NYSE DIS was up 1 36 or 1 92 points to 143 21 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Dow Inc NYSE DOW which fell 3 83 or 2 02 points to trade at 50 77 at the close Boeing Co NYSE BA declined 3 69 or 13 34 points to end at 348 09 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC was down 1 44 or 0 76 points to 52 16
The top performers on the S P 500 were Masco Corporation NYSE MAS which rose 8 11 to 42 38 TechnipFMC PLC NYSE FTI which was up 6 03 to settle at 27 98 and LKQ Corporation NASDAQ LKQ which gained 5 11 to close at 27 58
The worst performers were Align Technology Inc NASDAQ ALGN which was down 26 99 to 200 90 in late trade Varian Medical Systems Inc NYSE VAR which lost 9 51 to settle at 121 09 and American Airlines Group NASDAQ AAL which was down 8 44 to 31 67 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were My Size Inc NASDAQ MYSZ which rose 48 89 to 0 67 Anika Therapeutics Inc NASDAQ ANIK which was up 28 86 to settle at 52 60 and Gemphire Therapeutics Inc NASDAQ GEMP which gained 28 47 to close at 0 93
The worst performers were iPic Entertainment Inc NASDAQ IPIC which was down 28 31 to 1 8950 in late trade Align Technology Inc NASDAQ ALGN which lost 26 99 to settle at 200 90 and Neuralstem Inc NASDAQ CUR which was down 25 60 to 3 7200 at the close
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2177 to 797 and 96 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1897 fell and 757 advanced while 89 ended unchanged
Shares in Masco Corporation NYSE MAS rose to 52 week highs gaining 8 11 or 3 18 to 42 38 Shares in iPic Entertainment Inc NASDAQ IPIC fell to all time lows falling 28 31 or 0 7482 to 1 8950 Shares in Anika Therapeutics Inc NASDAQ ANIK rose to 52 week highs rising 28 86 or 11 78 to 52 60 Shares in Neuralstem Inc NASDAQ CUR fell to 52 week lows down 25 60 or 1 2800 to 3 7200
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 5 55 to 12 74
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0 64 or 9 15 to 1414 45 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0 05 or 0 03 to hit 55 91 a barrel while the September Brent oil contract fell 0 03 or 0 02 to trade at 63 10 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 02 to 1 1147 while USD JPY rose 0 01 to 108 64
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 07 at 97 523 | 7/25/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here are the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
1 Amazon Slips but Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Intel Shine
Today s big postmarket earnings should help the market tomorrow although Amazon NASDAQ AMZN seeing red in after hours trading could be a hindrance
Amazon s earnings missed expectations as operating expenses jumped and the company also warned on third quarter operating income
But Google parent Alphabet s NASDAQ GOOG shares jumped sharply following a quarterly report that beat on the top and bottom lines
Intel NASDAQ INTC should help the chip sector tomorrow as it climbed on the back of solid numbers fuelled by demand for its data center chips and high performance products
And Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX also impressed investors with comparable store sales beating forecasts
2 U S Economy Expected to Show Signs of Slowing
The Bureau of Economic Analysis will report its preliminary reading on second quarter GDP at 8 30 AM ET 13 30 GMT tomorrow
Economists on average expect the economy slowed to a pace of 1 8 in the second quarter from the 3 1 rate seen in the previous quarter
But some analysts appear more optimistic on the pace of economic growth
We forecast GDP grew at an annualized rate of 2 5 in 2Q19 led by strong contributions from consumer spending and government expenditures see 2Q19 GDP Forecast In part historical data that is about to be revised contribute to this forecast Morgan Stanley said in a note
While GDP will rightfully take the spotlight consumer confidence will also get at least a cursory look
The University of Michigan releases its preliminary measure of July consumer sentiment at 10 00 AM ET 14 00 GMT
Consumer sentiment is expected to tick up slightly to 98 8 according to economists forecasts compiled by Investing com
3 Twitter Readies Earnings
The tech earnings parade continues Friday with Twitter NYSE TWTR set to release second quarter earnings before markets open
Twitter is expected to report a profit of 18 cents per share according to Investing com on revenue of 829 million
As well as its earnings and guidance average monetizable daily active users mDAU will be one of the closely watched metrics after the company reported an 11 rise to 134 million in the first quarter
The social media company s report comes against a mixed backdrop for social media companies as user growth has been steady but the threat of regulatory scrutiny is on the rise
Dow component McDonald s NYSE MCD and consumer products giant Colgate Palmolive NYSE CL also weigh in before the bell | 7/25/2019 |
INTC | Intel beats estimates raises full year revenue forecast shares up 6 | By Munsif Vengattil and Stephen Nellis Reuters Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC forecast current quarter profit and revenue above estimates and raised its full year revenue forecast on Thursday allaying concerns about a global semiconductor sales slowdown and curbs on U S sales to China s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Intel shares rose 4 9 to 54 70 in extended trading The chip industry is in a slowdown with research firm Gartner forecasting a 9 6 drop in global semiconductor revenue in 2019 to 429 billion U S China trade tensions including tariffs on some products and the restrictions on sales to Huawei are pressuring chipmakers But those factors did not trouble Intel which was the second chipmaker this week to beat analysts earnings estimates On Tuesday Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN Inc said U S China trade tensions were not hampering its ability to conduct business in China Intel s chief financial officer George Davis told Reuters the company had resumed some product sales to Huawei that comply with U S regulations Tariff threats between the United States and China actually helped second quarter sales by about 400 million Intel executives said Customers concerned about supply risk in the second half of the year related to those items pulled in some demand into the second quarter Davis said in an interview It isn t a net add to the full year forecast but it certainly de risks some of the full year Intel reported second quarter revenue of 16 5 billion and adjusted earnings of 1 06 per share Analysts on average had expected revenue of 15 7 billion and adjusted earnings of 89 cents per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv But it was the company s forecast that drove up shares with third quarter revenue and profit forecast to be 18 billion and 1 24 per share above analysts estimate of 17 72 billion and 1 16 per share The company estimated 2019 revenue of 69 5 billion instead of the 69 billion it told investors to expect in April Chief Executive Bob Swan told investors on a conference call that Intel has two factories now producing 10 nanometer chips the next generation of manufacturing technology which Intel has struggled to bring online and said plans to produce 7 nanometer chips by 2021 remain on track We re most impressed by progress on 10 nanometer ramp Abhinav Davuluri an equity analyst with Morningstar said Intel also said it planned to sell the majority of its modem business to Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL for 1 billion About 2 200 Intel employees will join Apple which will acquire a trove of patents under the deal Davis told Reuters the payment was all cash Intel will retain the rights to make non smartphone modems for self driving cars and PCs under the deal The company estimated a 500 million after tax gain from the sale of the modem business After years of acquisitions outside its core area of processing chips under previous leaders Swan has set a goal of becoming more disciplined about spending slowing investments in areas like memory chips and shedding struggling businesses Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said the sales were a step in the right direction We believe further divestitures of non core businesses would certainly make Intel look more attractive while allowing management to more closely focus on improving core operations increasing the likelihood of future execution but we are not yet convinced management will move in this direction he said in a note Revenue in Intel s client computing business which caters to PC makers and remains the biggest contributor to sales rose to 8 84 billion beating FactSet estimates of 8 13 billion Revenue from Intel s higher margin data center business rose to 4 98 billion above estimates of 4 89 billion according to FactSet Intel the biggest provider of processor chips for PCs for decades has come to count on data center chips for most of its revenue growth
Net income fell to 4 2 billion or 92 cents per share in the second quarter from 5 billion or 1 05 per share a year earlier Net revenue fell 3 to 16 5 billion | 7/25/2019 |
MSFT | Pound pauses for breath on Brexit limbo dollar stable | By Tom Westbrook
HONG KONG Reuters The British pound stabilized on Thursday as the Brexit project entered a fresh holding pattern while the dollar held firm as traders took a breather from Sino U S trade headlines
Currency markets are also sticking to tight ranges ahead of key central bank meetings this week and next with the euro zone Japan and United States due to review policy
Sterling held at 1 2911 after Britain s parliament backed a withdrawal deal but rejected the government s tight timetable while European Union members delayed deciding whether to grant a three month extension to the Oct 31 leaving date
The pound has soared 6 in two weeks of volatile trade since British Prime Minister Boris Johnson flagged and then clinched a deal with the EU on the terms of Britain s exit from the bloc
Sterling remains at the centre of the focus for forex markets said Michael McCarthy chief market strategist at brokerage CMC Markets in Sydney
It looks like traders are weighing up the current parliamentary shenanigans versus the seeming inevitability of a Brexit he said
Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts reckon the pound will stay rangebound between 1 3000 and 1 2800 until things become clearer McCarthy added that other majors were stable without much news to move the greenback
With trade negotiations now moving out of the headlines there doesn t seem much to spur the dollar in either direction he said
Positive comments from U S and Chinese leaders earlier in the week about progress negotiating a truce in a their trade dispute had rallied trade exposed currencies
That has begun to run out of steam as concerns about the health of the U S economy returned to the fore
Tech industry bellwether Texas Instruments O TXN posted a disappointing earnings outlook on Tuesday followed overnight by signs of a slowdown in Microsoft Corp s O MSFT cloud computing division
The dollar was steady in Asian trade gaining marginally against the Australian and New Zealand dollars slipping marginally against the euro and Japanese yen
Against a basket of currencies DXY the dollar was flat at 97 459
It stood at 108 65 yen and drifted higher from a five week low touched against the kiwi on Tuesday with the New Zealand dollar buying 0 6420 The Australian dollar bought 0 6851
The Chinese yuan was flat at 7 0623 in offshore trade
The euro held at 1 1132 with traders looking to euro zone manufacturing and services data and the outcome of a European Central Bank meeting both due later on Thursday
Small improvements across France Germany and pan Eurozone and for both manufacturing services and composite readings are the consensus expectation National Australia Bank s Head of FX Strategy Ray Attrill said in a note
EUR will be sensitive to deviations one side or the other of this
The ECB is all but certain to leave policy unchanged on Thursday six weeks after unveiling a package including new asset purchases worth 20 billion euros a month a rate cut and a pledge to open the money taps further if needed
Crypto currency bitcoin BTC BTSP plunged as far as 11 overnight to a 5 month low of 7 258 00 after Facebook NASDAQ FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg sounded downbeat about the prospect of Facebook s crypto project Libra | 10/23/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks rise euro holds gains before Draghi s farewell | By Marc Jones
LONDON Reuters Europe s traders were sending European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi off in style on Thursday raising the region s stocks to their highest in more than a year and nudging the euro towards its best month since January 2018
Update earnings from Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Mercedes maker Daimler along with a ceasefire in northern Syria lifted the mood Trade and Brexit uncertainties and some below par German data prevented even bigger gains EU
The list of landmarks was still impressive The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0 3 to its highest since May 2018 Germany s DAX wasn t far behind and the euro was at 1 1140 consolidating its 2 1 October advance
Gains in Asia had included a one year high for Tokyo s Nikkei and saw MSCI All World index which tracks nearly 50 countries reach its highest since late July T
Draghi is in a situation where bond yields are higher and the collapse we saw over the summer is reversing the euro has steadied itself and everything is fine except for the PMIs of course said Societe Generale s Kit Juckes And he s handing over an empty monetary policy toolkit
Euro zone bond yields were steady before Draghi s send off
The Swedish crown rose 0 7 after the country s central bank said it was still planning to raise interest rates in December Its gains pulled the Norwegian crown higher as well despite a relatively dovish message from the Norges Bank as it left rates unchanged
Turkey s central bank was expected to slash its 16 5 rates by another 100 basis points after U S President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Turkey following a ceasefire in northern Syria
ELECTRIC DREAMS
On Wall Street earlier the Dow and the Nasdaq added 0 2 each and the S P 500 gained 0 3 Tesla NASDAQ TSLA shares jumped 21 in after hours trading after the company reported an unexpected third quarter profit
Microsoft posted forecast beating profit and revenue numbers after the closing bell although the outlook was darkened by slower than expected take up of its Azure cloud services
Shares of Boeing NYSE BA Co and Caterpillar Inc NYSE CAT ended about 1 higher each despite big earnings misses
Alarming headlines since the first quarter of 2018 suggested poor Caterpillar earnings seemed to mean a recession was around the corner RBC Capital Markets chief economist Tom Porcelli said but has never managed to arrive
We have been down this road before with CAT Porcelli said in a note titled Still Waiting For Recession If you keep saying a recession is here it is a mathematical certainty that at some point you will be right Maybe try again after CAT s next quarterly earnings report
So far results from about 125 of the S P 500 companies are out with analysts expecting earnings to have declined 2 9 year over year according to IBES data from Refinitiv
BREXIT BATTLE
Sterling paused at 1 2914 after rising 0 3 on Wednesday After more than three years Britain appears closer than ever to resolving its Brexit conundrum but still has hurdles to clear
EU member states on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether to grant Britain a three month Brexit extension Prime Minister Boris Johnson said if the deadline is deferred to the end of January he would call an election
The Brexit battle looks like it will drag on economists at ANZ wrote in a note The UK government will not meet its current timetable of leaving the EU on 31 October and an extension appears likely In the meantime Brexit uncertainty will keep weighing on UK business investment and activity
The euro was flat at 1 1132 The Japanese yen was 0 1 higher at 108 6 per dollar and the Australian dollar was weaker at 0 6842
The dollar index was lower at 97 452 against a basket of six major currencies heading for its worst month since January 2018
In commodity markets U S crude fell 38 cents to 55 59 a barrel Brent slipped 22 cents to 60 95
Gold was treading water at 1 491 51 an ounce | 10/24/2019 |
MSFT | Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Thursday | Investing com Mario Draghi hosts his last press conference as head of the ECB while Tesla NASDAQ TSLA is set to open at its highest in months after a surprise return to profit in the third quarter Tech indexes remain supported by stronger than expected earnings from Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and it ll be Amazon s turn to report after the closing bell Here s what you need to know in financial markets on Thursday 24th October
1 Arriverderci Mario
Mario Draghi presides over his last meeting at the European Central Bank before handing over to Christine Lagarde who has run the International Monetary Fund for the last eight years His press conference starts at 8 30 AM ET 1230 GMT
No policy steps are expected after September s multi faceted easing program Instead the focus is likely to be on the split Draghi created within the bank s governing council in forcing through a resumption of quantitative easing over the objections of the French German and Dutch central banks
The decision to cut the ECB s deposit rate further into negative territory will also be under scrutiny Sweden s Riksbank said earlier Thursday that it expects to end its experiment with negative rates in December by raising its repo rate back to 0 from 0 25 That bucks a global trend of monetary easing which is still largely intact Indonesia cut its key rate again earlier in the day
2 Tesla s return to profit shines in a misfiring auto sector
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA posted a surprise return to profit in the third quarter and CEO Elon Musk said the group s Model Y crossover SUV will be available sooner than the company had predicted The shares rose 20 in after hours trading on Wednesday and are poised to open at an eight month high
That was a sharp contrast with Ford Motor NYSE F whose shares fell 2 6 after the bell in response to another cut to its forecasts Analysts noted that the third quarter results weren t actually that bad though
It s still a rough year for the global auto sector Korea s Hyundai Motor OTC HYMLY missed expectations for its quarterly sales and profits on weak sales in China and higher legal costs
There was better news from Daimler DE DAIGn the maker of Mercedes Benz where revenue rose 8 while Sweden s Volvo more than doubled its net profit and reported a 2 percentage point increase in its operating margin
3 Stocks set for lift from Silicon Valley earnings Amazon s NASDAQ AMZN 3Q follows after the closing bell
U S stock markets are set to open fractionally higher as reaction to this quarter s set of earnings continues to tend to the positive despite high profile misses on Wednesday from Caterpillar NYSE CAT and Boeing NYSE BA
By 6 15 AM ET Dow futures were up 28 points or 0 1 while S P 500 futures were also up 0 1 and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0 4
Tech heavy indexes are due for some support after heavyweight Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT beat expectations for its fiscal first quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday Earnings per share rose to 1 38 well ahead of the 1 24 forecast as the company raised its guidance for cloud bookings in the current quarter
Amazon com heads the roster of companies reporting Thursday with analysts maybe looking more closely than usual at Amazon NASDAQ AMZN Web Services after Microsoft reported slowing growth for its rival service Azure
4 Global manufacturing is still struggling
The world s manufacturing sector is still in a funk according to flash purchasing managers indexes from around the world Japan s PMI fell the most in three years and for the fifth month in a row while Australia s hit an all time low of just over 50
The euro zone meanwhile remained stuck near stagnation level with France s PMI falling and Germany s ticking up only modestly from last month s 10 year low
The PMI for the U S is due out at 9 45 AM ET Before that at 8 30 there will be durable goods orders for September and initial jobless claims for last week while the Kansas City Fed s regional business survey is due at 11 AM ET New home sales data are due at 10 AM ET
Oil holds gains after surprise stock draw
Crude oil prices have held on to most of their gains overnight after a surprise drop in U S inventories sparked a vicious short squeeze on Wednesday that drove prices up over 2
By 6 15 AM ET U S crude futures were down only 0 6 on the day at 55 66 while international benchmark Brent was down 0 4 at 60 91
The data snapped a five week streak of stock builds that had fed fears of a fresh glut on global markets Speculation is still swirling that the OPEC group of producers will announce further cuts to their output when they review their current deal in December However comments out of Russia this week suggest they will resist such a move in the expectation that lower prices will stop the growth in U S shale output instead | 10/24/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft Eyes Record as Results Beat Virtually Every Metric | Bloomberg Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT rose in pre market trading as first quarter results topped estimates and boosted analyst confidence with Jefferies noting the software giant should be able to weather any storm
William Blair wrote that the company continues to fire on virtually all cylinders and praised its broad based product strength Bloomberg Intelligence added that Microsoft is in a stronger position than its peers in the event that IT spending pulls back
Multiple firms tweaked their price targets higher although many of the quarter s themes such as growing demand for Azure cloud computing programs had been anticipated meaning the quarter was viewed more as a confirmation of strength than a positive surprise
Shares rose 1 before the bell suggesting the Dow component would open near an all time high hit earlier this month The stock has gained nearly 15 between a June low and the close of trading on Wednesday
Here s what analysts are saying about the results
Morgan Stanley NYSE MS Keith Weiss
Growth in commercial bookings highlight an impressive start to the year The results also featured a strong second quarter earnings outlook operating margins that significantly outperformed and solid growth with Azure
Microsoft remains the best positioned name in tech for the emerging Hybrid Cloud architecture with improving margins sustaining a durable mid teens total return profile
Overweight rating price target raised to 157 from 155
Bernstein Mark Moerdler
The company beat virtually every metric driven by strength in Cloud Sever Tools and Windows Pro
Outperform rating price target raised to 167 from 162 The analysts remain positive like buying the stock
RBC Capital Markets Alex Zukin
This was a strong start to the year with bookings strength across the board and no macro weakness
The revenue outlook was lower than expected but with stronger margins as gaming is expected to be weak
Outperform rating price target raised to 163 from 160
Jefferies Brent Thill
Results were strong across the board and it looks positioned to weather any storm
Microsoft has excellent visibility and line of sight into double digit rev growth supported by multiple drivers and secular trends for the foreseeable future
Buy rating 160 price target
William Blair Jason Ader
Microsoft continues to fire on virtually all cylinders given broad based product strength
Even with difficult comparisons ahead the company still expects double digit revenue growth for the fiscal year double digit operating income growth and also an expansion in adjusted operating margins
The product portfolio remains well positioned to capitalize on customers digital transformation priorities and it should stay out of the antitrust spotlight
Outperform rating
BMO Capital Markets Keith Bachman
The results support the view that Microsoft is a core holding that has both defensive and offensive attributes
The results did not highlight a slowdown in tech spending which should come as some relief across software in the near term
Outperform rating 165 price target
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
Microsoft is in a stronger position than cloud peers in the event of a pullback in IT spending
No signs of a slowdown across its cloud or legacy offerings highlight Microsoft s well rounded portfolio and resilience in the face of a downturn
Analyst Anurag Rana | 10/24/2019 |
INTC | U S Tech Warns Japan South Korea Spat Could Cause Global Harm | Bloomberg U S technology companies urged Japan and South Korea to negotiate a resolution to a dispute that threatens to up end the global supply chain that the world s top electronics brands rely on make their products
Five of America s largest tech industry groups including the Semiconductor Industry Association which counts Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc and Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC among its members issued a joint letter to Japanese Economy Minister Hiroshige Seko and South Korean Minister of Trade Yoo Myung hee They asked both sides to refrain from escalating their conflict which flared after Japan slapped restrictions this month on exports to South Korea of three materials vital to the production of chips and cutting edge screens
Resurgent tensions between Japan and South Korea threaten to wallop chipmakers from Samsung Electronics KS 005930 Co to SK Hynix Inc upsetting a carefully choreographed global supply chain by smothering the production of memory chips and other components vital to widely used devices
The groups letter is well timed U S National Security Adviser John Bolton is in Seoul Wednesday for wide ranging talks that come on the same day that marks the end of a public consultation period on whether Japan should exclude South Korea from its so called white list of trusted export destinations treated as presenting no risk of weapons proliferation
Japan and South Korea are important players in these global value chains the trade groups which also include the National Association of Manufacturers wrote Non transparent and unilateral changes in export control policies can cause supply chain disruptions delays in shipments and ultimately long term harm to the companies that operate within and beyond your borders and the workers they employ
South Korean suppliers of key materials for chipmakers have surged since Japan unveiled measures targeting its neighbor buoyed by hopes that they may win new business from key players including Samsung and SK Hynix Inc | 7/24/2019 |
MSFT | Saudi Arabia faces reality check as Wall Street heads to Riyadh | By Davide Barbuscia Saeed Azhar and Stephen Kalin DUBAI Reuters Wall Street s heavy hitters are back in Saudi Arabia but the terms of engagement have changed The CEOs of Citigroup N C and Credit Suisse S CSGN as well as the heads of fund managers BlackRock N BLK and BlackStone N BX will be among those gathering in Riyadh next week for a glitzy investment conference an event not attended by top financiers last year after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi SoftBank T 9984 founder and CEO Masayoshi Son will also attend the Oct 29 31 conference two people familiar with the matter said as the Japanese company seeks to raise funds for a second technology fund The Saudi sovereign wealth fund contributed 40 billion to Softbank s first technology fund But the buzz around the Future Investment Initiative FII has faded since the conference was first launched in 2017 when it was heralded as Davos in the desert a nod to the annual gathering of world leaders and corporate bosses in the Swiss Alps Then Saudi Arabia was being feted for its investment opportunities and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was hailed as a force for change Now fallout from Khashoggi s killing and the stop start process towards the long awaited stock market listing of state run energy giant Saudi Aramco have shifted the mood It s not seen as a must do event like Davos said one banker at an international bank The country has struggled to lure foreign investment to fund projects outside the oil sector including manufacturing meant to create millions of jobs for Saudis as investors hesitate over the commercial viability of projects and Riyadh s human rights record Proceeds from Aramco s initial public offering will boost the Saudi wealth fund s ability to back domestic mega projects including the 500 billion futuristic city NEOM announced at FII in 2017 But there has been little progress on NEOM so far other than construction of royal palaces and an airport A NEOM company spokesman said it continues to engage with a wide range of potential foreign and local investors Saudi Arabia has managed to sign some multi billion dollar deals last year at the conference but it was Aramco that clinched most of them Signing commercial agreements is great for PR but what Saudi Arabia really needs is for many of its national development initiatives to move from the conceptual stage to implementation with foreign private sector partners said Robert Mogielnicki resident scholar at Washington based Arab Gulf States Institute ARAMCO S ALLURE Aramco s IPO for which Prince Mohammed is seeking a 2 trillion valuation remains the biggest draw in Saudi Arabia for investors The company was due to announce plans on Oct 20 for an initial 1 2 flotation on the Saudi stock market a listing that could be the biggest ever depending on the valuation But this has been delayed An adviser told participating banks that Aramco wanted to wait until its third quarter results were published to bolster investor confidence following attacks on the company s plants last month which halved Saudi Arabia s crude output Sources also told Reuters more time was needed to lock in cornerstone investors for the listing The country s privatization drive looks far from reaching a target of 35 40 billion riyals 9 33 billion 10 66 billion in non oil state revenues by 2020 based on deals so far A spokesman for Saudi National Center for Privatization PPP said five public private partnership infrastructure deals were closed since last December that involve more than 13 billion riyals in new investment in the next two to three years The opportunities to date are largely in listed equities and direct investment and the privatization or IPOs have been limited to the oil and gas sector said Richard Segal at Manulife Investment Management Prince Mohammed has courted Silicon Valley with visits to companies including Facebook O FB and Microsoft O MSFT in 2016 and 2018 He has not visited a Western capital since Khashoggi was killed Apple O AAPL and Amazon O AMZN were in talks in 2017 to set up a presence in Saudi Arabia sources said at the time but no deals have emerged Asked if they would attend next week s conference Facebook and Apple declined to comment Google O GOOGL and Amazon did not respond to a request to comment The CEO of German conglomerate Siemens DE SIEGn will not attend due to other commitments a company spokesman said South Korea s Samsung KS 005930 will be represented by its CEO and will sign a memorandum of understanding with Saudi entertainment resort Qiddiya at the event Qiddiya said The White House which has resisted pressure to punish Riyadh over human rights abuses citing its strategic importance is sending its U S energy and treasury secretaries Rick Perry and Steven Mnuchin and senior adviser Jared Kushner While last year s event was dominated by leaders from Asian and Arab countries next week s gathering will include Brazil s president Jair Bolsonaro and India s Prime Minister Narendra Modi David Malpass the head of the World Bank which did not attend last year will also be there FII may be an immediate reality check but the real test of investor confidence in Saudi Arabia will involve a longer term assessment of foreign direct investment trends commercial regulations and transparency measures Mogielnicki said | 10/24/2019 |
INTC | Facebook Amazon and Alphabet take center stage on Wall Street | By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO Reuters The so called FANG stocks take center stage on Wall Street this week with Amazon O AMZN Alphabet O GOOGL and Facebook O FB set to report as the S P 500 approaches a record high
The group of high growth stocks that supercharged the S P 500 s decade long rally in recent years has had mixed results in 2019 with Facebook and Amazon dramatically outperforming the broader market while Netflix O NFLX and Google owner Alphabet have lagged
Facebook reports on Wednesday after the bell with Amazon and Alphabet on Thursday all together accounting for 9 of the S P 500 s stock market value Overall companies reporting this week account for about 30 of the S P 500 s value
Investors reactions to those reports could affect broader market sentiment as the S P 500 trades about 1 below its July 12 record high close with investors widely expecting the Fed to cut interest rates later this month The benchmark index was up 0 3 on Monday
I m more concerned about how the reports from the likes of Alphabet and Facebook will affect my other tech stocks because they suck the oxygen out of the room every time something happens to them said Jake Dollarhide chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa Oklahoma which owns shares of Amazon and Alphabet
Also reporting this week are chipmakers Intel O INTC Texas Instruments O TXN and Xilinx O XLNX which will likely give investors fresh information about the impact of the U S China trade war the pace of 5G growth and when a downturn in global semiconductor demand may end
Netflix has tumbled 14 since Wednesday when it reported weaker than expected subscriber growth Facing an approaching wave of competition the video streaming service is up 18 year to date just below the S P 500 s 19 gain Alphabet is up just 8 in 2019 while Amazon has surged 31
When Facebook reports investors will focus on how the leading social network is responding to regulatory scrutiny of its handling of users personal data and how planned measures including a Clear History option may hurt advertising revenue
Reflecting improved expectations Facebook has surged 51 in 2019 and is 7 short of the record high it set a year ago just before it warned of a multi year squeeze on its business margins sending its stock into months of decline
Facebook s June quarter revenue is seen jumping 25 to 16 5 billion with net income up 5 to 5 4 billion equivalent to 1 87 per share according to Refinitiv
Analysts expect Alphabet s quarterly revenue to climb 17 to 38 2 billion with net income falling 4 to 7 9 billion Analysts expect Amazon s quarterly revenue to grow by 18 to 62 5 billion with net income growing 11 to 2 82 billion | 7/22/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Market Manages Small Gains as Everyone Waits for the Fed | Investing com Tech stocks moved higher on Monday but the rest of the stock market seemed to stand still
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN Facebook NASDAQ FB and Apple NASDAQ AAPL were among the big winners along with oil services giant Halliburton NYSE HAL a reaction from an 8 4 drubbing it received last week as volatility roiled oil prices
The S P 500 rose 0 3 The Dow was up 0 07 but the Nasdaq Composite rose 0 7 with the Nasdaq 100 index even stronger up 0 9 The Nasdaq 100 includes the biggest tech stocks
There wasn t much to trade on The Middle East was quiet Federal Reserve officials went into quiet mode a week ahead of the big July 30 31 FOMC meeting when the central bank is expected to cut its key federal funds rate
There could be some volatility if reports on existing home sales and new home sales fail to meet Wall Street expectations The former report is due Tuesday The Commerce Department reports on new home sales on Wednesday In addition Friday brings the first big read of second quarter growth before the bell
Facebook NASDAQ FB up 2 on the day issues second quarter results Wednesday while Amazon NASDAQ AMZN up 1 1 weighs in after Thursday s close Intel NASDAQ INTC also moved up ahead of its Thursday earnings report Apple NASDAQ AAPL climbed 2 3 ahead of its July 30 earnings report for its fiscal third quarter
Apple Intel and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT were the leaders among the 30 Dow stocks
Boeing NYSE BA was 1 lower It reports second quarter results before Wednesday s open and already has said it expects to take a 5 billion charge related to the problems with its 737 Max jetliner The shares are up 2 6 this month and nearly 16 this year
Crude oil futures in New York moved up 56 cents to 56 22 a barrel Brent crude the global benchmark added 79 cents to 63 26 a barrel
Interest rates moved slightly lower overall The 10 Year yield finished unchanged at 2 05
While techs were the market leaders among the losing groups were consumer staples telecommunications and health care stocks Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST dipped 0 5 after hitting new highs on Friday
S P 500 Winners and Losers
Halliburton NYSE HAL chip equipment maker Applied Materials NASDAQ AMAT and data storage manufacturer Western Digital NASDAQ WDC were among the top S P 500 performers on the day
Signet Jewelers NYSE SIG supermarket giant Kroger NYSE KR and Hewlett Packard Enterprise NYSE HPE which concentrates on corporate technology needs were among the worst S P 500 performers on the day | 7/22/2019 |
MSFT | EU data watchdog raises concerns over Microsoft contracts | BRUSSELS Reuters Microsoft s O MSFT contracts with European Union institutions do not fully protect data in line with EU law the European Data Protection Supervisor EDPS said in initial findings published on Monday The EDPS the EU s data watchdog opened an investigation in April to assess whether contracts between Microsoft and EU institutions such as the European Commission fully complied with the bloc s data protection rules Though the investigation is still ongoing preliminary results reveal serious concerns over compliance of the relevant contractual terms with data protection rules and the role of Microsoft as a processor for EU institutions using its products and services the EDPS says in a statement The EU introduced new rules on data protection in 2018 known as GDPR applicable to all companies operating in the bloc and designed to give individuals more control over their personal data and to create a more level playing field for businesses We are committed to helping our customers comply with GDPR Regulation 2018 1725 and other applicable laws a Microsoft spokesman said We are in discussions with our customers in the EU institutions and will soon announce contractual changes that will address concerns such as those raised by the EDPS The EDPS has worked with the Dutch ministry of justice which carried out risk assessments last June and found that public authorities in member states face similar issues The two have since set up a forum designed to set up fair rules for public administrations The EDPS said there is significant scope for improvement of contracts with powerful software developers and that contractual terms and technical safeguards agreed between the Dutch ministry and Microsoft were a positive step forwards
The EDPS said such solutions should be extended to all public and private bodies in the EU and also to individuals | 10/21/2019 |
MSFT | SAP teams up on cloud sales with Microsoft | By Douglas Busvine BERLIN Reuters Business software group SAP said on Monday it had reached a three year deal with Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT to help its large enterprise customers move their business processes into the cloud The partnership called Embrace will help clients to run operations hosted at remote servers supported by SAP s flagship S 4HANA database new Co Chief Executive Jennifer Morgan said as SAP released third quarter results in line with preliminary figures released on Oct 11 We bundled SAP s cloud platform services to support customers around the extension integration and orchestration of SAP systems Morgan told reporters adding that Microsoft would act as a reseller for the product SAP said it expected annual revenues of around 75 million euros 84 million from the deal There s no downside to those numbers only upside she told analysts on a call In the third quarter SAP reported a 10 increase in revenue and a 15 rise in operating profit after adjusting one off items and currencies helping it to achieve an expansion of 1 7 in its operating margins The company reiterated its forecast for the year and through to 2023 Morgan also praised the performance of Qualtrics the customer experience platform that SAP acquired a year ago in an 8 billion deal that some analysts and investors criticized as overpriced She said that Qualtrics had added more than 300 clients since May with customers often buying it together with SAP s human resources product SuccessFactors Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith now an SAP management board member said its deal size had grown by 30 since the takeover UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT Disclosure of the Microsoft partnership comes after long time CEO Bill McDermott stepped down to make way for Morgan the first woman to become CEO of a company in Germany s blue chip DAX index and fellow Co CEO Christian Klein Shares which had rallied strongly on news of the leadership handover added another 2 3 in trading in Frankfurt on Monday The deal which helped SAP double new cloud bookings in the third quarter addresses a complaint from many customers that it is too hard to shift from SAP s traditional on premise model to remotely hosted services The partnership deepens an already close relationship with Microsoft and its Azure cloud division although the Walldorf based company said clients hosted by Google NASDAQ GOOGL and Amazon NASDAQ AMZN Web Services could still buy direct from SAP De emphasizing its own brand cloud offering is turning out to be one factor supporting a pickup in SAP s cloud gross margins These picked up by 5 4 percentage points to 69 in the third quarter compared with a 2023 target of 75
SAP is due to update investors on strategy at a capital markets day in New York on Nov 12 | 10/21/2019 |
MSFT | Trade hopes move S P 500 close to new record high | By April Joyner
NEW YORK Reuters The benchmark S P 500 stock index rose within striking distance of a record high on Monday as further signs of progress toward resolution of the U S China trade war boosted shares in sectors sensitive to trade and the global economy
U S President Donald Trump continued to strike optimistic tones while White House adviser Larry Kudlow said tariffs on Chinese goods scheduled for December could be withdrawn if talks go well
People are continuing to be optimistic that some type of trade truce with China can be pushed forward said Chris Zaccarelli chief investment officer of Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte North Carolina
Trade sensitive technology stocks SPLRCT rose 1 1 adding the most to the S P 500 Semiconductor companies which derive much of their revenue from China especially climbed The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index advanced 1 9
The economically sensitive energy SPNY and financial SPSY sectors led percentage gains on the S P 500 Energy shares gained 1 9 while financials rose 1 4
Stocks have also benefited from the steepening U S Treasury yield curve as well as better than expected corporate earnings thus far said Mona Mahajan U S investment strategist at Allianz DE ALVG Global Investors in New York In Monday s trading the S P 500 rose above 3000 to come within 0 7 of its record closing high
We re watching for a breakout to the upside of that range she said Thus far the early signs we re seeing are favorable
Losses in Boeing Co N BA capped gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Boeing shares shed 3 8 as several brokerages downgraded ratings on the stock following reports that cast doubt on when the 737 MAX jet will return to service
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 57 44 points or 0 21 to 26 827 64 the S P 500 SPX gained 20 52 points or 0 69 to 3 006 72 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC added 73 44 points or 0 91 to 8 162 99
This week s earnings lineup includes high profile companies such as Boeing Microsoft Corp O MSFT Procter Gamble Co N PG United Parcel Service Inc N UPS and Caterpillar Inc N CAT
According to data from Refinitiv analysts have projected the first earnings contraction since 2016 for S P 500 companies But of the 75 companies that have reported results so far only 12 have come short of earnings estimates
Halliburton Co N HAL shares gained 6 4 after the oilfield services provider detailed further planned cost reductions
Coty Inc N COTY shares surged 13 4 after the cosmetics maker said it planned to sell its professional beauty business with brands such as Wella and OPI
U S listed shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd N TEVA TA TEVA jumped 8 7 after the company announced progress toward settling remaining opioid related litigation
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1 95 to 1 ratio on Nasdaq a 2 09 to 1 ratio favored advancers
The S P 500 posted 41 new 52 week highs and two new lows the Nasdaq Composite recorded 93 new highs and 64 new lows
Volume on U S exchanges was 5 92 billion shares which was below the 6 55 billion average for the last 20 trading sessions | 10/21/2019 |
MSFT | Samsung UAE funds lead 55 million investment in quantum computing startup | By Stephen Nellis
Reuters U S quantum computing startup IonQ said on Tuesday it raised 55 million in a funding round that was led by venture funds backed by Samsung Electronics KS 005930 and the government of the United Arab Emirates
With the investments from Samsung Catalyst Fund and Mubadala Capital Maryland based IonQ said its total funds raised to date reached 77 million The company didn t disclose its valuation
Researchers believe quantum computers could operate millions of times faster than today s advanced supercomputers making potential tasks ranging from mapping complex molecular structures and chemical reactions to boosting the power of artificial intelligence possible
Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google International Business Machines NYSE IBM Corp and Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT have all either made investments or launched research projects around quantum computing
IonQ already has 4 quantum computers each the size of four regular refrigerators operating in Maryland and rents out time on them to academics and businesses
Unlike some of its competitors that need to keep the environment around the quantum computer at absolute zero IonQ s computers operate in room temperature said Chief Executive Officer Peter Chapman
Chapman said most of IonQ s quantum computer parts are commonly available off the shelf which helps to keep the cost down
The high costs associated with building quantum computers along with the cold environment they generally need have been a challenge in making them a profitable business
I like to joke that Amazon NASDAQ AMZN delivers most of the parts for us Chapman said
The only custom part of IonQ s machine is a special chip that is made by an outside vendor Chapman declined to name the vendor but said the part is made with commonly available chip making technology
Francis Ho co head of the Samsung Catalyst Fund said Samsung a major chipmaker itself invested in part because it hopes to one day possibly supply parts for quantum computers But Ho said Samsung could also be a large potential customer
Around the world governments are concerned about quantum computing because it could be used to break today s encryption technology
Chapman said although the company does not yet have substantial revenue there are customers and countries it will avoid doing business with including China
Quantum computing is at a nation state level It s really the U S versus other countries who are busily trying to leapfrog the U S and its technical dominance said Chapman | 10/22/2019 |
MSFT | U S defense chief recuses himself from review of 10 billion cloud computing contract | By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters U S Defense Secretary Mark Esper has removed himself from reviewing a disputed 10 billion cloud computing deal because of a possible conflict of interest a move that could further delay the contract award process Esper has delegated decision making on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud JEDI program to Deputy Secretary David Norquist the Pentagon said on Tuesday Although not legally required to he Esper has removed himself from participating in any decision making due to his adult son s employment with one of the original contract applicants chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said in a statement Secretary Esper s son Luke Esper has been a digital strategy consultant with IBM NYSE IBM Services part of IBM Corp since February a company spokeswoman said IBM had bid for the contract but has been eliminated from the competition Esper s son s role is not related to IBM s pursuit of JEDI she added The JEDI contract is part of a broad modernization of the Pentagon s information technology systems and has been mired in conflict of interest allegations involving a former Pentagon employee who worked on the contract and for Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN The Pentagon put the contract on hold in August after President Donald Trump said his administration was examining Amazon s bid following complaints from other technology companies For example Oracle Corp NYSE ORCL lobbied aggressively and expressed concerns about the award process for the contract Oracle has since been eliminated from the competition leaving Amazon and Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT as finalists Some technology companies were also concerned that a single award would give the winner an unfair advantage in follow on work The Pentagon has said it planned to award future cloud deals to multiple contractors
The Pentagon spent around 38 billion on information technology projects in fiscal 2019 and though only 6 5 billion was earmarked for cloud projects the segment has been growing at around 30 a year according to analysts at Jefferies Group LLC | 10/22/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft Earnings Revenue Beat in Q1 | Investing com Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT reported first quarter earnings that beat analysts expectations on Wednesday and revenue that topped forecasts
The firm reported earnings per share of 1 38 on revenue of 33 06B Analysts polled by Investing com forecast EPS of 1 24 on revenue of 32 14B That compared to EPS of 1 14 on revenue of 29 08B in the same period a year earlier The company had reported EPS of 1 37 on revenue of 33 72B in the previous quarter
Microsoft shares lost 0 52 to trade at 136 53 in after hours trade following the report
Microsoft follows other major Technology sector earnings this monthOn October 17 Taiwan Semiconductor reported third quarter EPS of 0 64 on revenue of 9 58B compared to forecasts of EPS of 0 61 on revenue of 9 25B
SAP ADR earnings beat analysts expectations on October 10 with third quarter EPS of 1 43 on revenue of 7 52B Investing com analysts expected EPS of 1 32 on revenue of 7 47B
Stay up to date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing com s earnings calendar | 10/23/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 07 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Monday as gains in the Technology Oil Gas and Financials sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0 07 while the S P 500 index added 0 28 and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0 71
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL which rose 2 29 or 4 63 points to trade at 207 22 at the close Meanwhile Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC added 2 15 or 1 08 points to end at 51 35 and Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ MSFT was up 1 32 or 1 81 points to 138 43 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ which fell 1 93 or 1 09 points to trade at 55 50 at the close Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ declined 1 28 or 1 67 points to end at 128 64 and Dow Inc NYSE DOW was down 1 24 or 0 64 points to 50 88
The top performers on the S P 500 were Halliburton Company NYSE HAL which rose 9 15 to 23 74 Applied Materials Inc NASDAQ AMAT which was up 6 11 to settle at 50 73 and Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ WDC which gained 5 43 to close at 55 31
The worst performers were Signet Jewelers Ltd NYSE SIG which was down 4 35 to 17 82 in late trade Kroger Company NYSE KR which lost 3 83 to settle at 20 86 and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co NYSE HPE which was down 3 64 to 14 30 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Peak Resorts Inc NASDAQ SKIS which rose 112 75 to 10 850 Taronis Technologies Inc NASDAQ TRNX which was up 73 25 to settle at 0 545 and Durect Corporation NASDAQ DRRX which gained 33 64 to close at 0 971
The worst performers were Intec Pharma Ltd NASDAQ NTEC which was down 81 61 to 0 550 in late trade Xenetic Biosciences Inc NASDAQ XBIO which lost 30 72 to settle at 3 360 and Advaxis Inc NASDAQ ADXS which was down 27 56 to 0 9200 at the close
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1558 to 1389 and 138 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1439 fell and 1217 advanced while 98 ended unchanged
Shares in Applied Materials Inc NASDAQ AMAT rose to 52 week highs gaining 6 11 or 2 92 to 50 73 Shares in Kroger Company NYSE KR fell to 52 week lows falling 3 83 or 0 83 to 20 86 Shares in Peak Resorts Inc NASDAQ SKIS rose to all time highs up 112 75 or 5 750 to 10 850 Shares in Intec Pharma Ltd NASDAQ NTEC fell to 3 years lows falling 81 61 or 2 440 to 0 550 Shares in Xenetic Biosciences Inc NASDAQ XBIO fell to 52 week lows losing 30 72 or 1 490 to 3 360 Shares in Advaxis Inc NASDAQ ADXS fell to all time lows falling 27 56 or 0 3500 to 0 9200
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was down 6 37 to 13 53
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0 09 or 1 25 to 1425 45 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1 06 or 0 59 to hit 56 22 a barrel while the September Brent oil contract rose 0 02 or 0 01 to trade at 63 35 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 02 to 1 1210 while USD JPY rose 0 00 to 107 86
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 16 at 96 970 | 7/22/2019 |
INTC | Apple in advanced talks to buy Intel s smartphone modem chip business WSJ | Reuters Apple Inc O AAPL is in advanced talks to buy chipmaker Intel Corp s O INTC smartphone modem chip business the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday citing people familiar with the matter
Assuming talks don t fall apart the deal valued at 1 billion or more could be reached in the next week according to the WSJ
Intel announced it would exit the 5G modem chip business in April hours after Apple settled a longstanding legal dispute with Qualcomm Inc O QCOM a key supplier of iPhone modem chips
The Journal had reported in the same month that Intel was exploring a sale for its modem chip business to Apple or another acquirer
While Apple declined to comment Intel did not respond to a Reuters request for comment
Shares of Intel rose 1 5 to 52 10 while those of Apple were up marginally in extended trading Qualcomm s shares were down about 2 on the report
Intel is expected to report second quarter results on July 25 while Apple is scheduled to report its third quarter earnings on July 30 | 7/22/2019 |
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 23
1 Trump pens deal with Congressional leaders over debt ceiling
U S President Donald Trump reached a deal over the debt ceiling with congressional leaders overnight that paves the way for more government spending through at least 2021
The agreement which still must be ratified by both chambers of Congress would clear the path for hundreds of billions in new spending and avoid the threat of a government shutdown
The increase in the debt ceiling included in the two year budget neuters it as an issue for the 2020 presidential campaign House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted that avoiding a stock market crash was a key consideration behind the agreement
2 Earnings flood from the real economy
With approximately 25 of the S P 500 releasing earnings this week reports will accelerate on Tuesday with a slew of top names
Coca Cola NYSE KO Travelers NYSE TRV and United Technologies NYSE UTX will be the Dow components reporting ahead of the open along with other notable stocks such as Lockheed Martin NYSE LMT Biogen NASDAQ BIIB Harley Davidson NYSE HOG Kimberly Clark NYSE KMB and Fifth Third Bancorp NASDAQ FITB NASDAQ FITB
After the market close Visa NYSE V will take the Dow baton while bellwether Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN Chipotle Mexican Grill NYSE CMG and Snap NYSE SNAP will also release earnings
Out of the 85 S P 500 firms that had reported earnings by Monday 76 had beaten profit forecasts while 65 topped consensus on sales according to The Earnings Scout
3 U S futures point to higher open ahead of earnings
U S futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Tuesday as the debt ceiling deal supported risk appetite averting a possible liquidity squeeze later in the year that could have hit markets unduly
Global stocks in general stayed in positive mood lifted by earnings reports and by expectations that the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank will begin to ease policy
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates at the end of the month while some are expecting the European Central Bank to cut its deposit rate by 10 basis points this Thursday The Bank of England too appears to have backtracked on its previous warnings about a possible need for higher rates Michael Saunders considered one of the BoE s most hawkish policymakers told Bloomberg that he was concerned that the U K might not achieve a smooth exit from the European Union suggesting he may have changed his mind about pushing rates higher
On the U S economic agenda market focus will be on the housing market with the publication of June existing home sales and data on housing prices for May
4 Deal activity revs up with Apple Intel Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX purchase
Corporate dealmaking made morning headlines as The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple NASDAQ AAPL was close to buying Intel s NASDAQ INTC 5G smartphone modem chip unit
The report published after Monday s market close suggested that the deal could be finalized next week and be valued at 1 billion or more
Separately Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX announced that it will license aspects of the software that power its mobile ordering system to restaurant tech firm Brightloom formerly eatsa in return for an equity stake and a seat on the board of directors
5 IMF set to update forecasts amid positive U S China news
The International Monetary Fund will present an update to its World Economic Outlook at 9 00 AM ET 13 00 GMT
The report is expected to provide a forecast of how the IMF sees issues such as the U S China trade dispute and the post Brexit outlook for the U K where Boris Johnson is expected to be confirmed as the new Conservative Party leader today
The report comes as The South China Morning Post reported that U S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He for high level trade talks in Beijing next week supporting hopes for progress on an eventual deal | 7/23/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Lockheed Martin Hasbro Coca Cola Starbucks Rise Premarket | Investing com Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Tuesday
Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX stock ticked up 0 6 after the beverage chain made a licensing deal with restaurant tech company Brightloom The deal will give some of the technology behind the software that powers the coffee giant s mobile ordering system in exchange for an equity stake and a seat on the board of directors of Brightloom Terms weren t disclosed
Biogen NASDAQ BIIB stock rose 0 7 in premarket trade by 8 20 AM ET 12 20GMT after the biotechnology company posted a 72 rise in quarterly profit and lifted its earnings forecast for the year
Lockheed Martin NYSE LMT stock gained 1 5 after it raised its 2019 guidance while its earnings came in higher than expected
Intel NASDAQ INTC stock was up 1 2 after The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple NASDAQ AAPL is close to a deal to buy its smartphone modem chip unit worth roughly 1 billion
Coca Cola NYSE KO stock jumped 3 5 after meeting second quarter estimates while it raised its forecast for 2019 thanks largely to demand for its zero sugar soda
Hasbro NASDAQ HAS stock surged 4 8 after its earnings beat forecasts due to higher demand for Avengers action toys | 7/23/2019 |
MSFT | Wall Street ticks higher but chip stocks tumble | By April Joyner NEW YORK Reuters U S stocks edged higher on Wednesday as investors shrugged off lackluster quarterly reports from industrial bellwethers Boeing Co N BA and Caterpillar Inc N CAT though a lower than expected revenue outlook from Texas Instruments Inc O TXN sent chipmakers shares lower Shares of Boeing and Caterpillar rose more than 1 despite significant earnings misses from both companies Boeing reported a 53 drop in quarterly profit but reaffirmed the timeline for its grounded 737 MAX s return to service Caterpillar s Asian sales tumbled but the company said tariffs stemming from the U S China trade war would have a smaller impact on its business than previously forecast With no new developments in trade relations focus turned to earnings and other announcements from individual companies Boeing and Caterpillar s shares were resilient several analysts said because the companies slide in earnings was expected given the challenges they have faced throughout the year Caterpillar has certainly been beset by trade war impact so it wasn t necessarily all that surprising said Shannon Saccocia chief investment officer at Boston Private Boeing has had its own issues from the perspective of the 737 MAX Texas Instruments shares however tumbled 7 5 after the chipmaker projected fourth quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates The results sent shares of other semiconductor companies including Intel Corp O INTC and Broadcom Inc O AVGO lower as well The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index dropped 1 9 The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 45 85 points or 0 17 to 26 833 95 the S P 500 SPX gained 8 53 points or 0 28 to 3 004 52 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC added 15 50 points or 0 19 to 8 119 79 Advances in Apple Inc O AAPL and Facebook Inc O FB shares helped buoy the major indexes Apple shares rose 1 3 after Morgan Stanley NYSE MS said the iPhone maker s soon to be launched video streaming service Apple TV could boost its services revenue Facebook shares advanced 2 1 after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg sought to reassure U S lawmakers about the company s planned digital currency Libra Nike Inc N NKE shares fell 3 4 after the sportswear company announced late on Tuesday that Mark Parker its long time CEO would step down next year Nike tapped John Donahoe chief executive of ServiceNow Inc N NOW as Parker s successor ServiceNow shares fell 3 6 Shares of medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp N BSX and laboratory equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc N TMO jumped after both companies reported strong results Boston Scientific shares ended 5 0 higher and Thermo Fisher shares closed up 5 7 Eli Lilly and Co N LLY shares however fell 2 2 after the drugmaker missed third quarter revenue estimates Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1 75 to 1 ratio on Nasdaq a 1 17 to 1 ratio favored advancers The S P 500 posted 22 new 52 week highs and one new low the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 61 new lows
Volume on U S exchanges was 6 11 billion shares compared to the 6 46 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days | 10/23/2019 |
INTC | U S court finds business partner of former Trump adviser guilty of secretly lobbying for Turkey | By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON Reuters A jury on Tuesday convicted Bijan Rafiekian who was the business partner of U S President Donald Trump s disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn on charges of secretly lobbying for Turkey Rafiekian co founder of the consultancy firm Flynn Intel NASDAQ INTC Group was accused of conspiring to lobby on Turkey s behalf to try to persuade the U S government to extradite Fetullah Gulen whom Turkey has blamed for orchestrating a failed coup in 2016 Rafiekian was indicted in December along with Ekim Alptekin a Turkish Dutch businessman and was charged on two counts conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and making false statements to the Justice Department and acting as a foreign agent A Justice Department spokesman Joshua Stueve said Rafiekian was found guilty on both counts after a week long trial in U S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Sentencing was set for Oct 18 Flynn a retired U S Army lieutenant general whose brief tenure in 2017 as part of Trump s inner circle is still causing legal aftershocks was not charged with Rafiekian But the case could influence how U S District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan sentences Flynn later this year following Flynn s guilty plea in December 2017 of having lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigators about his contacts with Russian officials Flynn previously agreed to cooperate with U S prosecutors and testify against Rafiekian known as Kian in hopes of getting a lighter sentence But in a reversal earlier this month U S prosecutors canceled plans to call him as a witness While Flynn has not renounced his guilty plea his new lawyers say he did not knowingly submit anything false when retroactively registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act FARA in early 2017 Stueve said Flynn did not testify in court in the Rafiekian case TENSIONS WITH TURKEY The trial which began on July 15 the third anniversary of Turkey s failed coup that killed 251 people and wounded more than 1 500 could have implications for already strained ties between Ankara and Washington Throughout the proceedings U S prosecutors built a case to show Rafiekian and Alptekin acted with direction from the Turkish government and did not disclose their lobbying campaign to return Gulen who lives in a fortified compound in Pennsylvania to Turkey The Turkish government has denied engaging in a conspiracy to evade U S regulations requiring foreign government lobbyists to register with the Justice Department Alptekin who remained abroad throughout the trial had denied the allegations through a representative He was charged with six counts including making false statements and acting as an agent of a foreign government He criticized the jury s decision on Twitter on Tuesday saying that an innocent man was convicted I feel terrible for Bijan Kian and for Gen Flynn They did nothing wrong he added | 7/23/2019 |
INTC | Toshiba Memory sees good chance of M A in push for data center business | By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO Reuters Japan s Toshiba Memory said there was a good chance of acquisitions as it pushes to increase its share of the market for advanced storage products used in data centers Toshiba Memory is the world s No 2 maker of NAND flash memory chips after Samsung Electronics KS 005930 but ranks third after Intel O INTC in flash based solid state drives typically used in data centers according to researcher IHS One of the critical areas where we are focused on is the cloud service providers data center players Toshiba Memory Chairman Stacy Smith told Reuters We are very focused on growing our share in that space There is a good chance that Toshiba Memory will embark on M A over time added Smith former Intel Corp O INTC financial chief who joined the Japanese firm in October Toshiba Memory s previous focus on smartphones and other consumer gadgets has hurt its profits analysts say It posted an operating loss of 28 4 billion yen 263 million for January March versus a 54 billion yen profit in the prior quarter on slow smartphone sales and chip oversupply The company is set to change its name to Kioxia a combination of kioku the Japanese word for memory and axia Greek for value from Oct 1 Toshiba Memory was spun off by Toshiba Corp T 6502 last year in the wake of a crisis due to cost overruns at the latter s U S nuclear power subsidiary U S buyout firm Bain Capital which bought Toshiba Memory for 18 billion was looking to list the business in what would have been among Japan s biggest flotations this year but delayed it by about two months to November a source has said Depending on market conditions the IPO could be postponed to 2020 the source added We re going to be ready when the market conditions are right Smith said declining to comment on the timing He said the memory market would bottom out in the second half of 2019 after being dogged by oversupply for more than a year echoing views from other industry experts In the NAND flash market analysts expect prices to draw support from a recent output disruption at a Toshiba Memory plant While operations have resumed shipments will take several weeks to recover The good news is we had a reasonable amount of inventories that we were able to use to kind of buffer the impact on our customers Smith said | 7/22/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks S P Rises on Brexit Deal Syria Ceasefire | Investing com The S P 500 index nearly closed above 3 000 Thursday for the first time in four weeks on news that a possible deal for the U K to exit the EU has been negotiated and a Turkish agreement for a five day ceasefire in Syria
The S P 500 moved up 0 28 finishing at just under 2 998 and about one percentage point below its all time high reached in July It reached as high as 3 008 during the day
The Dow Jones industrials finished up 0 09 with the Nasdaq Composite up 0 4 The Russell 2000 index was up 1 1
The Brexit deal negotiated by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resolved many issues about about the Northern Ireland Ireland border but it s not clear if Johnson will have the votes to approve the deal in parliament Saturday
Stocks got a lift after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to a five day ceasefire in his attacks on Kurdish strongholds in northern Syria The agreement came after four hours of negotiations with Vice President Mike Pence
The rally was also boosted by a third quarter earnings season that continues to be decent Healthcare real estate communications services and industrial stocks led the market higher Gains for such stocks as Honeywell International NYSE HON Morgan Stanley NYSE MS United Rentals NYSE URI and Humana NYSE HUM offset slumps in IBM NYSE IBM and Boeing NYSE BA
IBM s third quarter results late Wednesday disappointed investors and Big Blue s shares dropped 5 5 trimming its gain for the year to 18 1
Boeing fell 0 9 in part because Southwest Airlines NYSE LUV said it doesn t expect to have Boeing 737 Max airliners in its schedule until Feb 8 Air Canada TSX AC said it doesn t see flying the plane again until Feb 14 The 737 Max has been grounded since two crashes in 2018 and early 2019 killed 346 people
Netflix NASDAQ NFLX meanwhile rose 2 4 after its third quarter report suggested the company is confident it can weather new streaming video from a host of competitors
Apple NASDAQ AAPL up 0 4 overtook Microsoft as the world s most valuable company with a market capitalization of 1 063 trillion Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT down 0 6 saw its market cap drop to 1 058 trillion
The rally lost some steam in the last hour of trading when The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Aramco the state owned oil giant was delaying the launch of its long expected initial public offering again until December or January That kept the indexes in check
All three indexes are still looking at sizable gains for the year The problem is that the market s been stalled since this summer
The S P ended the day 1 below its July peak The Dow is off 1 36 from its mid summer peak The Nasdaq is off 2 2 from its peak
Oil futures had risen before the Saudi Aramco news but were falling in after hours trading West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 57 cents to 53 93 a barrel Brent crude the global benchmark added 49 cents to 59 91
Gold futures rose 4 30 to 1 498 30 an ounce in New York
Packaging company Dover NYSE DOV United Rentals NYSE URI and drug distributors Cardinal Health NYSE CAH and AmerisourceBergen NYSE ABC were among the top S P 500 performers
Defense contractor Textron NYSE TXT IBM NYSE IBM M T Bank Corp NYSE MTB and oil and gas producer Noble Energy NYSE NBL were among the worst S P 500 performers on the day | 10/17/2019 |
MSFT | Raiffeisen Among 18 Banks in First Global Tokenized Collateral Trial | Twenty eight organizations including Raiffeisen and 17 other banks have participated in the successful completion of the Ivno Global Tokenized Collateral Trial This is the first global token trial on the R3 Corda platform hosted on Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Azure as reported on Oct 17
The trial conducted by London based Ivno saw the participating organizations create 18 billion of Trial Tokens and transfer them through the Ivno network This was a live demonstration of how mobile collateral tokens can be used for instant settlement collateral management and effective cash transfer | 10/18/2019 |
MSFT | Crypto Firms Join Azure as Microsoft Fights Amazon for Market Share | Thanks to the high computational flexibility that it offers the influence of cloud computing on the blockchain space continues to grow It s less of a surprise then that cloud computing giants such as Amazon NASDAQ AMZN Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Oracle NYSE ORCL and Google s parent company Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL are leading the charge to merge blockchain especially the enterprise type and the cloud
Microsoft in particular has been actively engaging with blockchain startups that are developing blockchain solutions for the enterprise market working with them to deploy their solutions on the Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure | 10/18/2019 |
INTC | Qualcomm set to face second EU antitrust fine shortly sources | By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS Reuters Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM the world s no 1 chipmaker could be hit with a second EU antitrust fine as soon as Thursday for blocking a rival from the market more than a decade ago people familiar with the matter said The company came under fire in 2015 when the European Commission accused it of predatory pricing between 2009 and 2011 aimed at forcing out British phone software maker Icera now part of Nvidia Corp The Commission says Qualcomm sold certain quantities of its UMTS baseband chipsets to two of its customers at below cost to shut Icera out of the market The EU competition enforcer which can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover could sanction Qualcomm on Thursday one of the people said while another said the decision could be pushed into next week The Commission fined Qualcomm 997 million euros 1 1 billion last year for paying iPhone maker Apple NASDAQ AAPL to use only its chips a tactic aimed at thwarting rivals including Intel NASDAQ INTC The Commission and Qualcomm declined to comment This could be European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager s last sanction against a tech company before her term ends on Oct 31 Hefty fines in particular against U S tech giants have been a hallmark of her five year run as Europe s antitrust enforcer a policy which has earned her the ire of U S President Donald Trump
Qualcomm has also been targeted by other enforcers for its business practices In May it lost an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission with the judge issuing a sweeping antitrust ruling against the company | 7/17/2019 |
INTC | EU Commission fines Qualcomm for second time over market abuse | BRUSSELS Reuters Qualcomm O QCOM the world s no 1 chipmaker was fined 242 million euros 272 million by the European Commission on Thursday for blocking a rival from the market about a decade ago its second EU antitrust penalty The European Commission the EU s competition regulator accused Qualcomm of predatory pricing between 2009 and 2011 aimed at forcing out British phone software maker Icera now part of Nvidia Corp O NVDA Qualcomm s strategic behavior prevented competition and innovation in the market Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement In a news conference she later defended the time it had taken to reach a decision the Commission first accused the company of predatory pricing in 2015 saying it had been a complex case that depended on evidence from Qualcomm The fine amounts to 1 27 of Qualcomm s turnover in 2018 Qualcomm said it would appeal the decision saying it was unsupported by the law economic principles or market facts The Commission also fined Qualcomm 997 million euros 1 1 billion last year for paying iPhone maker Apple O AAPL to use only its chips a tactic aimed at thwarting rivals including Intel O INTC The Commission is investigating another U S chipmaker Broadcom O AVGO over whether it hampers rivals Vestager said the Commission may impose so called interim measures which are typically warnings to change behavior in early autumn Qualcomm has been targeted by other enforcers for its business practices In May it lost an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission with the judge issuing a sweeping antitrust ruling against the company Hefty fines in particular against U S tech giants have been a hallmark of Vestager s five year run as Europe s antitrust enforcer a policy which has earned her the ire of U S President Donald Trump Vestager said she hoped to remain in the post when a new Commission takes office in November but did not rule out another role Her term ends on Oct 31 | 7/18/2019 |
INTC | StockBeat AMD Slumps as Mizuho Warns of Limited Upside | Investing com Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD shares slid on Thursday as Mizuho called time on the chipmaker s dramatic rally citing limited upside ahead
Mizuho downgraded its rating on AMD NASDAQ AMD to neutral from buy sending its shares nearly 2 lower by 2 13 p m ET 18 13 GMT
The downgrade however does little to dent the AMD s growth story given its solid portfolio and product ramps the bank suggested But with the chipmaker s shares boasting gains of more than 80 so far this year well above the 31 rally in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index further upside in the second half of the year could be hard to come by
With the stock past our price target and at a 10 year high we see 2H upside more limited Mizuho said
Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh cited several reasons for its somber outlook on AMD including a slower ramp up of the company s Rome product stack and expectations for a subdued pick up in second half server and spending combined with Intel NASDAQ INTC pricing pressure He did raise his price target on the stock to 37 from 33 That s higher than the 31 07 consensus price target among analysts polled by Investing com
In response to AMD s line up of Ryzen desktop processors released July 7 rival Intel NASDAQ INTC has cut prices of some its processors by as much as 15
AMD has been scooping up new business at the lower end of the market following Intel s decision to de prioritize shipments of low end CPUs after a ramp up in activity in its data center related businesses weighed on its ability to churn out processors
Intel NASDAQ INTC shares are up just 5 this year | 7/18/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 01 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Thursday as gains in the Utilities Financials and Healthcare sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0 01 while the S P 500 index gained 0 36 and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0 27
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines NYSE IBM which rose 4 59 or 6 56 points to trade at 149 63 at the close Meanwhile Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL added 1 14 or 2 31 points to end at 205 66 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC was up 1 11 or 0 55 points to 49 94 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated NYSE UNH which fell 2 33 or 6 21 points to trade at 260 44 at the close Boeing Co NYSE BA declined 2 28 or 8 41 points to end at 361 11 and 3M Company NYSE MMM was down 0 96 or 1 68 points to 172 99
The top performers on the S P 500 were Philip Morris International Inc NYSE PM which rose 8 12 to 87 63 KLA Tencor Corporation NASDAQ KLAC which was up 6 31 to settle at 133 41 and Union Pacific Corporation NYSE UNP which gained 5 82 to close at 174 13
The worst performers were Netflix Inc NASDAQ NFLX which was down 10 27 to 325 21 in late trade United Rentals Inc NYSE URI which lost 7 82 to settle at 121 21 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation NYSE CHK which was down 7 65 to 1 570 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tarena Intl Adr NASDAQ TEDU which rose 49 59 to 1 81 MYnd Analytics Inc NASDAQ EMMA which was up 40 80 to settle at 9 80 and OUTLOOK THERAPEUTICS INC NASDAQ OTLK which gained 34 87 to close at 2 63
The worst performers were American Electric Technologies Inc NASDAQ AETI which was down 35 55 to 0 883 in late trade Eagle Bancorp Inc NASDAQ EGBN which lost 26 75 to settle at 39 15 and Applied DNA Sciences Inc NASDAQ APDN which was down 26 38 to 0 346 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1615 to 1385 and 26 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1451 rose and 1187 declined while 104 ended unchanged
Shares in KLA Tencor Corporation NASDAQ KLAC rose to all time highs gaining 6 31 or 7 92 to 133 41 Shares in Chesapeake Energy Corporation NYSE CHK fell to 5 year lows down 7 65 or 0 130 to 1 570 Shares in Eagle Bancorp Inc NASDAQ EGBN fell to 3 years lows losing 26 75 or 14 30 to 39 15 Shares in Applied DNA Sciences Inc NASDAQ APDN fell to all time lows losing 26 38 or 0 124 to 0 346
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was down 3 15 to 13 53
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1 70 or 24 20 to 1447 50 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1 88 or 1 07 to hit 55 71 a barrel while the September Brent oil contract rose 0 14 or 0 09 to trade at 62 47 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 03 to 1 1278 while USD JPY rose 0 00 to 107 30
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0 53 at 96 343 | 7/18/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Middle East Tensions Sink a Wall Street Rally | Investing com What started as a solid stock market rally Friday was mostly wiped out by rising tensions in the Persian Gulf
The catalyst was a report that Iranian authorities had seized a British tanker passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz which connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is a critical passage for global oil supplies
Crude oil prices surged in New York and London creating worries enough to pull stocks back West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed at 55 63 up 33 cents but was trading higher still in the aftermarket
The S P 500 finished down 0 6 The Nasdaq Composite slid 0 7
The Dow Industrials ended down 0 25 But the performance was worse than it looks A 4 gain in shares of Boeing NYSE BA added nearly 110 points to the blue chip average by itself Investors applauded the aerospace giant s decision to take a 5 billion charge to account for costs from the grounding of its 737 Max airliner
The major averages were down for the week after two weeks of gains The second quarter earnings season has started but many reports failed to impress investors Even Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT which easily beat fiscal fourth quarter estimates and guided higher struggled on the day
Still the S P 500 is up 18 7 on the year The Nasdaq has gained almost 22 8 The Dow is up about 16 4
The Dow was up as many as 117 points early in the day but gave up 186 points between that level and the close Only eight of the Dow stocks were higher with Boeing NYSE BA the leader Boeing was also the fifth best performer among S P 500 stocks
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT McDonald s NYSE MCD and Visa NYSE V hit 52 week highs So too did Adobe Systems NASDAQ ADBE Cintas NASDAQ CTAS Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST Ross Stores NASDAQ ROST and Starbucks NASDAQ SBUX
Interest rates attracted some attention as President Donald Trump called on the Federal Reserve to cut its key rate at its July 30 31 meeting arguing rates have held back the economy this year The U S 10 Year yield was up slightly on the day to 2 051 The yield is down 3 5 on the week and 23 8 this year however
Traders and investors are just about unanimous the Fed will cut its federal funds rate at this month s meeting Investing com s Fed Rate Monitor tool puts the odds at 100 with a second rate cut coming at its Sept 18 meeting
Industrial energy and materials stocks were the strongest sectors on Friday
Real estate utilities and communications services were the weakest sectors
Next week will produce a flood of earnings reports that will be heavy on banks but it will also include some of the biggest tech names Facebook NASDAQ FB on Wednesday and Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL and Intel NASDAQ INTC are all on Thursday
Winners and Losers Among S P 500 Stocks
State Street NYSE STT Citizens Financial Group NYSE CFG and railroad operator Kansas City Southern NYSE KSU were among the top S P 500 performers
Alliance Data Systems NYSE ADS Gilead Sciences NASDAQ GILD and Symantec NASDAQ SYMC were among the worst performers
Netflix NASDAQ NFLX was the fifth worst on the list after a weak earnings report on Wednesday caused investors to flee the stock It fell 3 1 on the day and 15 6 for the week | 7/19/2019 |
MSFT | Oracle co CEO Mark Hurd dies at 62 | By Vibhuti Sharma and Neha Malara Reuters Oracle Corp s N ORCL 62 year old co chief Mark Hurd died on Friday morning the company said an unexpected development that raises pressure on co CEO Safra Catz to lead the business software maker s ongoing transition to cloud computing Last month Hurd went on a medical leave for unspecified health reasons while Catz and founder Larry Ellison took over his responsibilities during the absence The company has not given details about the cause of death Oracle has lost a brilliant and beloved leader who personally touched the lives of so many of us during his decade at Oracle Ellison wrote in an email to company employees Hurd and Catz were named co CEOs in 2014 after Ellison decided to step aside to focus on his role as chief technology officer Under their tenure Oracle has been aggressively pushing into cloud computing to make up for a late entry into the fast growing business dominated by Microsoft Corp O MSFT and Amazon com Inc O AMZN Last month the company missed revenue estimates Wedbush Securities analyst Steve Koenig said he does not see any changes in how the company will be run after Hurd s demise Safra and Larry have been long time collaborators and partners in leading Oracle and the company has a deep bench of sales talent Hurd joined Oracle as co president in September 2010 a month after he was ousted in a controversial fashion from Hewlett Packard Co where he had been chief executive since 2005 Hurd resigned from HP in August 2010 after allegations of sexually harassing an employee An internal probe later cleared him of those charges though it found him guilty of filing inaccurate expense reports Long time friend Ellison stood up for Hurd in an email to New York Times calling Hurd s removal the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple NASDAQ AAPL board fired Steve Jobs many years ago When Hurd and Catz were named co CEOs in 2014 analysts were skeptical about the dual CEO structure However cloud software giants like Salesforce com Inc N CRM have followed suit Catz trained in finance and law was a Wall Street banker from 1986 until she joined Oracle in 1999 and has been a central figure in Oracle s many acquisitions
Sales oriented Hurd spent 25 years at computer and ATM pioneer NCR Corp before joining HP | 10/18/2019 |
MSFT | U S social networks withhold data on spread of livestreamed Germany shooting video | By Katie Paul
SAN FRANCISCO Reuters U S tech companies have declined to release data on the online spread of footage of last week s shooting in Halle Germany despite pledging greater transparency as part of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern s Christchurch Call
Companies including Facebook NASDAQ FB and Twitter committed in May to take transparent specific measures to prevent the amplification of violent content after the killing of 51 people in Christchurch New Zealand was livestreamed on Facebook
Releasing the data would provide an indication of the impact of the new policies
The companies introduced a new system for data sharing around major incidents and agreed to implement regular and transparent public reporting in a way that is measurable and supported by clear methodology
The killings of two people outside a synagogue in Halle by a gunman which were livestreamed on Amazon NASDAQ AMZN com s gaming platform Twitch was the first test of the new Content Incident Protocol
The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism a group founded by Facebook Twitter Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Google s YouTube which facilitates the protocol said on Thursday that content related to the Halle attack was significantly less impactful online than the Christchurch footage
The group said companies shared hashes or digital fingerprints for 36 visually distinct videos linked to the attack fewer than the 800 hashes Facebook said it shared with the group after the Christchurch shooting
But the GIFCT and the companies declined to release data on how many people had seen the footage and how many of the videos were taken down automatically by their systems key metrics in measuring the impact of content online
After the Christchurch attack Facebook said in a statement it had removed about 1 5 million videos of the attack globally more than 1 2 million of which it blocked at upload
Facebook and Microsoft declined to answer questions about how they decide when to disclose data around attacks
Twitter spokesman Ian Plunkett said the company discloses data on terrorist content removals twice a year in a transparency report adding We ve nothing else to share
Google did not respond to requests for comment
The Anti Defamation League said last week the Halle footage appeared to have spread rapidly online after it was posted to white supremacist channels on messaging app Telegram
In order to assess the efficacy of the protocol we urge the GIFCT and member companies to release data on the impact of the protocol on the spread of the video said Daniel Kelley of the ADL s Center for Technology and Society
Twitch said after the Halle shooting that the footage had been viewed live by five people and then seen by 2 200 others before the company took it down | 10/18/2019 |
MSFT | China s propaganda chief says Cold War mentality hindering mutual trust in cyberspace | By Josh Horwitz and Yingzhi Yang WUZHEN China Reuters A Cold War mentality and bully behavior are hindering mutual trust in cyberspace China s propaganda chief said on Sunday at the start of the World Internet Conference in the eastern Chinese town of Wuzhen Huang Kunming head of the publicity department of China s ruling Communist Party also said that under the pretext of national security some countries had launched cyber attacks on countries and enterprises Huang did not specify which countries he was referring to The Cold War thinking and zero sum game this has stopped and hindered exchanges in cyberspace Also bully behavior in cyberspace has had a negative impact on mutual trust he said By using national security as an excuse some countries have attacked some countries and enterprises This has increased the uncertainty opposition and negativity in cyberspace The state run World Internet Conference one of the country s most prominent tech conferences takes place this year against a backdrop of rising U S China tensions that has especially overshadowed the tech sector Washington has barred U S firms from exporting to certain Chinese tech companies through trade blacklists and the two countries have slapped tit for tat tariffs on each other in a intensifying trade war which has also hit tech supply chains China has traditionally used the three day event whose attendees this year include Alibaba Group N BABA Baidu Inc O BIDU Microsoft Corp O MSFT and Qualcomm Inc O QCOM to promote its own ideology for global internet governance and defend its highly policed cyberspace China has been pushing for a bigger role in global internet governance and has called on nations to respect Beijing s cyber sovereignty the idea that countries should be free to control and censor their internet infrastructure as they see fit
The annual conference is organized by internet censorship bureau the Cyberspace Administration of China which is responsible for managing China s tight controls over its cyberspace that prevents users in the country from accessing services from the likes of Facebook O FB and Google NASDAQ GOOGL | 10/20/2019 |
MSFT | Asian shares tick up pound skids on Brexit tumult | By Stanley White
TOKYO Reuters Asian stocks edged up on Monday as Chinese shares reversed early losses supported by hopes for progress in resolving the U S China trade war while sterling slipped after the British parliament delayed a crucial vote on a Brexit withdrawal deal
MSCI s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0 25 Chinese shares CSI300 advanced 0 31 while Japan s Nikkei N225 rose 0 30
The pan region Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 were up 0 22 German DAX futures FDXc1 0 19 and FTSE futures FFIc1 just 0 04
The pound slipped from a five month high against the dollar and the euro after the British parliament forced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to an Oct 31 deadline for Britain s departure from the bloc
The vote for an extension dealt a blow to optimism that a deal agreed last week would ensure Brexit happens with little economic disruption
Oil futures fell as lingering economic growth concerns and excess supplies of crude prompted speculators to trim their long positions
The Chinese stock market appeared to take some encouragement from comments by Chinese vice premier Liu He on Friday that Beijing will work with the United States to address each other s concerns and that stopping the trade war would be good for both sides and the world
Also on Friday U S President Donald Trump said he thinks a trade deal between the United States and China will be signed by the time Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings take place in Chile on Nov 16 17
Shares in Hong Kong also got a lift after Chinese bourses revised rules to allow mainland investors to buy Hong Kong listed dual class shares for the first time
We ve had some positive news from Liu and allowing Chinese investors direct access to dual listed Hong Kong shares is a another positive said Sean Darby global equity strategist at Jefferies in Hong Kong
There is still a lot of money on the sidelines and there are only eight or nine weeks left to put that money to work before we end the year I expect markets to remain bid
U S stock futures ESc1 rose 0 22 in Asia as investors brace for high profile earnings this week from Microsoft Corp O MSFT Amazon com O AMZN and others
The S P 500 fell 0 4 on Friday partly due to worries about fallout from the U S China trade war
The 15 month long dispute over China s trade and industrial policies has shown few signs ending despite several rounds of talks
Financial markets have been whipsawed over this period as a steady increase in tit for tat tariffs have slowed global trade and raised the risk of recession for some countries
Underscoring the damage Japan s exports fell in September for the 10th straight month while South Korea s exports for the first 20 days of October dived 19 5 year on year data on Monday showed
Hong Kong shares HSI erased early losses to rise 0 26
Chinese bourses on Friday revised rules that would allow Hong Kong listed dual class shares to be included in the Stock Connect scheme for the first time which boosted shares of popular tech companies Xiaomi Corp HK 1810 and Meituan Dianping HK 3690 on Monday
The rule change which will take effect on Oct 28 could be a positive for Hong Kong shares which have been battered during months of often violent protest against Chinese rule of the former British colony
Graphic FTSE vs U S and European bourses
The pound fell 0 6 to 1 2907 and was off about 0 4 to 86 47 pence per euro
The British government insists Brexit will take place on Oct 31 but uncertainty over how British lawmakers will respond could weigh on sentiment for sterling
The leader of the House of Commons says the government plans to put the new Brexit deal to a debate and vote on Monday but it is unclear if the speaker of the House will let this happen
Elsewhere in the currency markets the dollar edged 0 1 higher to 1 1158 per euro EUR EBS rose slightly to 108 53 yen
U S crude CLc1 fell 0 22 to 53 66 a barrel Brent crude LCOc1 fell 0 27 to 59 26 per barrel
Money managers cut their net long U S crude futures and options positions in the week to Oct 15 the U S Commodity Futures Trading Commission CFTC said on Friday
Long bets on U S crude have dropped sharply in the last two weeks after a spate of weak economic figures worldwide fanned concerns about global energy demand
Treasury prices fell in Asia The yield on benchmark 10 year Treasury notes US10YT RR rose to 1 7607
Gold often considered safe haven asset was little changed at 1 490 60 per ounce | 10/21/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Flat As Investors Digest Bank Earnings Results | Investing com Wall Street was flat on Wednesday as concerns that lower interest rates will hit corporate bank earnings kept investors in check
The Dow fell 19 points or 0 1 by 9 42 AM ET 13 42 GMT while the S P 500 was down half a point or 0 1 and the Nasdaq composite rose 4 points or 0 1
Bank of America NYSE BAC was the latest to warn that falling interest rates will hit bank profits Earnings from JP Morgan Citigroup NYSE C and Wells Fargo NYSE WFC this week showed that upbeat retail banking results were offset by weak performance in investment banking while lending margins suffered from a drop in long term interest rates
Bank of America NYSE BAC executives warned that growth in net interest income could slow to 1 this year if the Federal Reserve cuts rates twice JPMorgan NYSE JPM said Tuesday that it assumes three rate cuts by the end of the year BofA s stock was up 1 after it posted an 8 rise in net profit for the quarter
Expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates this year have helped push U S stock markets toward record highs
Apple NASDAQ AAPL fell 0 1 while Goldman Sachs NYSE GS slipped 0 5 and Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN dipped 0 3 on news that the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into how it deals with independent retailers
Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM gained 3 7 on news that the U S Department of Justice asked an appeals court to pause an antitrust ruling citing national security concerns Tesla NASDAQ TSLA rose 1 7 while Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD was up 0 4 and Intel NASDAQ INTC inched up 0 5
In commodities crude oil rose 0 8 to 58 08 a barrel Gold futures inched up 0 1 to 1 412 75 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies fell 0 1 to 96 972 | 7/17/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 90 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Friday as gains in the Industrials Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0 90 to hit a new all time high while the S P 500 index gained 0 46 and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0 59
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc NYSE DOW which rose 4 02 or 1 92 points to trade at 49 70 at the close Meanwhile Caterpillar Inc NYSE CAT added 3 28 or 4 39 points to end at 138 35 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC was up 2 72 or 1 32 points to 49 92 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ which fell 4 15 or 5 82 points to trade at 134 29 at the close Merck Company Inc NYSE MRK declined 1 57 or 1 27 points to end at 79 73 and Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE was down 1 37 or 0 59 points to 42 39
The top performers on the S P 500 were JB Hunt Transport Services Inc NASDAQ JBHT which rose 5 90 to 92 94 Signet Jewelers Ltd NYSE SIG which was up 5 11 to settle at 18 51 and L Brands Inc NYSE LB which gained 4 04 to close at 26 50
The worst performers were Illumina Inc NASDAQ ILMN which was down 16 12 to 305 05 in late trade Pacific Gas Electric Co NYSE PCG which lost 5 11 to settle at 19 41 and Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ which was down 4 15 to 134 29 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SG Blocks Inc NASDAQ SGBX which rose 59 38 to 1 02 OHR Pharmaceutical Inc NASDAQ OHRP which was up 30 19 to settle at 5 390 and Synthesis Energy Systems Inc NASDAQ SES which gained 29 87 to close at 0 5000
The worst performers were Revolution Lighting Technologies NASDAQ RVLT which was down 26 78 to 0 4247 in late trade Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ CNAT which lost 23 96 to settle at 0 342 and Hebron Technology Co Ltd NASDAQ HEBT which was down 20 88 to 1 44 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1925 to 1060 and 29 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1480 rose and 1159 declined while 107 ended unchanged
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was down 4 18 to 12 39 a new 1 month low
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0 78 or 10 95 to 1417 65 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0 28 or 0 17 to hit 60 37 a barrel while the September Brent oil contract rose 0 54 or 0 36 to trade at 66 88 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 17 to 1 1271 while USD JPY fell 0 52 to 107 92
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0 25 at 96 428 | 7/12/2019 |
MSFT | Google share of search ad market high but shrinking eMarketer | WASHINGTON Reuters Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google dominates the growing U S search ad market but Amazon com Inc O AMZN is growing fast according to data from the market research company eMarketer released on Tuesday
EMarketer data showed that the U S search ad market will grow by nearly 18 in 2019 and Google will have 73 1 of that market and revenues of 40 33 billion EMarketer said that Google s share would decline to 70 5 by 2021
Google faces investigations by the Justice Department House of Representatives Judiciary Committee based on allegations that it abuses this dominance in ways that violate antitrust law
The data also showed that Amazon which overtook Microsoft Corp O MSFT for the No 2 spot in 2018 and has 12 9 of the market boosting search revenue to 7 09 billion
Polling suggests that most product searches now begin on Amazon causing the No 2 search player to grow rapidly and steal share from its larger rival said eMarketer
Rounding out the top five is Microsoft at 6 5 of the market Verizon Media which includes AOL at 2 and review site Yelp Inc N YELP at 1 8 said eMarketer Verizon Communications Inc N VZ owns Verizon Media | 10/15/2019 |
MSFT | How Amazon com moved into the business of U S elections | By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters Amazon com Inc s O AMZN cloud computing arm is making an aggressive push into one of the most sensitive technology sectors U S elections The expansion by Amazon Web Services into state and local elections has quietly gathered pace since the 2016 U S presidential vote More than 40 states now use one or more of Amazon s election offerings according to a presentation given by an Amazon executive this year and seen by Reuters So do America s two main political parties the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and the U S federal body charged with administering and enforcing federal campaign finance laws While it does not handle voting on election day AWS along with a broad network of partners now runs state and county election websites stores voter registration rolls and ballot data facilitates overseas voting by military personnel and helps provide live election night results according to company documents and interviews For a graphic click In the fullest public picture yet of Amazon s strategic move into U S election infrastructure Reuters reviewed previously unreported company presentations and documents and conducted more than two dozen interviews with lawmakers election administrators and heads of election security and technology in nearly a dozen states and counties that use Amazon s cloud Amazon pitches itself as a low cost provider of secure election technology at a time when local officials and political campaigns are under intense pressure to prevent a repeat of 2016 presidential elections which saw cyber attacks on voting systems and election infrastructure The fact that we have invested heavily in this area it helps to attest to the fact that in over 40 states the Amazon cloud is being trusted to power in some way some aspect of elections Michael Jackson leader Public Health U S Elections at AWS told prospective government clients in February via a presentation on a webinar which was viewed by Reuters The company s efforts are welcomed by election administrators who in interviews said they often struggle with keeping outdated systems up to date at the local level In Oregon for example the state s in house servers that support election services shut down every time there is a power outage an often occurrence as Oregon updates its electric grid according to Peter Threlkel chief information officer at the Oregon Secretary of State A move to the cloud fixes that problem and Oregon ran a pilot with AWS to move its voter registration system to the cloud he said Some security experts like David O Berry co founder Precog Security said moving to AWS is a good option for campaigns who do not have the resources to protect themselves Still Amazon s growing presence in the elections business could undermine what many officials view as a strength of the U S voting system decentralization Most security experts Reuters spoke to said that while Amazon s cloud is likely much harder to hack than systems it is replacing putting data from many jurisdictions on a single system raises the prospect that a single major breach could prove damaging It makes Amazon a bigger target for hackers and also increases the challenge of dealing with an insider attack said Chris Vickery director of cyber risk research at cybersecurity startup Upguard A recent hack into Capital One Financial Corp s N COF data stored on Amazon s cloud service was perpetrated by a former Amazon employee The breach affected more than 100 million customers underscoring how rogue employees or untrained workers can create security risks even if the underlying systems are secure Amazon says its systems are reliable Over time states counties cities and countries will leverage AWS services to ensure modernization of their elections for increased security reliability and analytics for an efficient and more effective use of taxpayer dollars an AWS spokesperson told Reuters Amazon s push into the election business comes as the company faces criticism from politicians labor unions and privacy advocates over its business practices and growing influence President Donald Trump has accused the company of competing unfairly and repeatedly attacked the Washington Post owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for alleged bias a charge Bezos and the paper deny Amazon is forging ahead It now powers the websites for the Federal Election Commission FEC the Republican National Committee RNC and the Democratic National Committee DNC according to a source and election security experts The FEC DNC and RNC declined comment A person familiar with the DNC s plans said the committee has recently moved some data from AWS to Alphabet owned Google O GOOGL cloud but did not explain the reason for the shift Amazon has also won over major individual candidates the executive leading the company s election push said earlier this year Some of the largest presidential congressional and gubernatorial campaigns are also trusted to AWS Amazon s Jackson told clients in the February webinar viewed by Reuters For example Democratic Presidential frontrunner Joe Biden s online fundraising operations rely on AWS a source with knowledge of the matter said The Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment In the past AWS powered the Obama for America campaign in 2012 the source added Reuters could not verify what cloud service the Trump campaign is using It had no comment The privatization of voting infrastructure is part of a broader trend that has swept across nearly every aspect of government activities in America from parking tickets to prisons and continues under the Trump administration Microsoft Corp s O MSFT Azure the biggest rival to AWS has a sizeable government business and offers some election services but it has not focused on them and lags Amazon according to companies who partner with both firms for government contracts Microsoft declined to comment Amazon is also competing with traditional election technology vendors including Elections Systems Software ES S and Dominion Voting Systems Corp which offer some similar services such as election night reporting and data storage according to consultants An ES S spokeswoman said the company has not seen any impact from Amazon s efforts Dominion did not respond to requests for comment LESS THAN 100 TO SECURE ELECTION NIGHT Voting itself does not happen via Amazon Voting machines in most states are not connected to any cloud service But elections require a raft of other technologies to keep track of voters and provide information Amazon often works with specialized partners who actually do the bidding on government contracts and include Amazon as a preferred vendor North Carolina chose Amazon Web Services over Microsoft s Azure to deliver election night results reporting because it was simple to set up and very low in cost the State Board of Elections said Before it worked with Amazon North Carolina spent thousands of dollars on a similar service Amazon charged them less than 100 during elections in 2016 and 2018 for the same service the State Board of Elections said California s Alameda County turned to Amazon s cloud to let citizens view results on election night The cost is less than 100 a year county officials said In his webinar to clients Amazon s Jackson said these services help the company win bigger contracts For example Oklahoma has tied up with an Amazon partner and pays 26 000 for two services on Amazon s servers Pam Slater assistant secretary at the Oklahoma State Election board said Amazon has three categories of election related clients election administrators in states and counties political campaigns and election related non profits the documents presentations and interviews show The company s expansion in the election arena reflects its broader dominance in the fast growing cloud computing business Amazon had 33 percent of the overall cloud market in the second quarter of 2019 followed by Microsoft according to SRG Research For a graphic on market share click AWS officially launched in 2006 generated 25 7 billion in sales in 2018 and is the company s biggest profit generator It was not clear how big the election business is inside AWS and the company declined to provide any details IS IT BULLET PROOF One of the main security concerns with election systems involves voter registration data which Russian hackers breached in at least Arizona and Illinois in 2016 according to the FBI Such databases generally include voter ID information such as partial social security numbers addresses voting history party affiliation whether an early ballot was sent early primary ballots for independent voters provisional ballots and hand written signatures of voters and absentee ballots according to an analysis of RFP s request for proposal from states looking to move such databases to the cloud Vickery the director at Upguard uncovered at least three instances where voter data on Amazon s cloud servers was exposed to the internet which have been reported previously For example in 2017 he found a Republican contractor s database for nearly every registered American voter hosted on AWS exposed on the internet for 12 days In 2016 he found Mexico s entire voter database on AWS servers was leaked Amazon said the breaches were caused by customer errors adding that while AWS secures the cloud infrastructure customers are responsible for security of what goes in the cloud Errors caused by customers could continue experts said as many employees of states and counties who use AWS services lack the skills and training to avoid such errors in the future Greg Miller co founder of the OSET Institute which works with the Department of Homeland Security and Congress on election security also noted many of Amazon s partners such as technology companies also called managed service providers MSP s who are tasked with delivering AWS services to customers do not have the credentials or experience needed in delivering and handling election services Amazon did not comment on the issue None of these risks have failed to deter those that have signed up with AWS We think AWS provides us with the best available level of security said Ron Morgan chief deputy county clerk of Travis County in Texas one of the largest counties in the state which uses Amazon s servers to run its election website Is it bullet proof I don t know he added But is it a very very hard target Absolutely | 10/15/2019 |
MSFT | Time running out to get off Amazon s addictive cloud French minister warns | By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS Reuters Amazon s O AMZN cloud computing is like a soft drug a French minister said on Tuesday warning that time was running out for Europe to wean itself off the U S company s services
Amazon Web Services AWS has become the leading provider of data storage in just a few years raising concerns in Europe that the group could let U S intelligence agencies access corporate data under the U S CLOUD Act of 2018
AWS is a soft drug The more you take it the more you like it so weaning yourself off it seems complicated to me French junior economy minister Agnes Pannier Runacher told Reuters pointing out its global reach and affordable prices
A spokeswoman for AWS had no immediate comment to make on the minister s comments when contacted by Reuters
AWS says on its website that it is aware that its customers care deeply about privacy and data security
We also implement responsible and sophisticated technical and physical controls that are designed to prevent unauthorized access to or disclosure of customer s content AWS adds
AWS is tapping into the fast growing migration of data from in house servers to external data centers and now controls a third of the global market Synergy Research group says
It is followed by Microsoft O MSFT with 16 of the market and Alphabet s Google O GOOGL with 7 8
SOVEREIGN CLOUD
Previous French government supported attempts to build a so called sovereign cloud to store the most sensitive data held by companies and states failed
Pannier Runacher a former executive at auto equipment maker Faurecia PA EPED said that Amazon s potential market dominance could eventually push it to increase its prices
And time is running out to come up with a proper alternative solution to safeguard companies margins and Europe s control over its data Pannier Runacher said
What I m telling my European friends is that if in 24 months time we re not able find alternatives there s real risk of a loss of sovereignty she said
This is what I m hearing from experts including French people in Silicon Valley who underline how worrisome this situation is
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire this year enlisted French tech companies Dassault Systemes PA DAST and OVH to come up with plans to break the dominance of U S cloud computing
Two consortia one led by French telecoms group and former monopoly Orange PA ORAN the other by rival SFR AS ATCA tried to develop an alternative to U S services at a total investment cost of 450 million euros
But they did not gain any significant ground and Orange s solution is poised to cease activity by the end of January 2020
The migration of data shows no sign of abating however with worldwide spending on public cloud services and infrastructure forecast to more than double by 2023 to 500 billion market research firm IDC says | 10/15/2019 |
MSFT | Big tech Twitter bans and Bing U S Democrats spar over Silicon Valley on debate stage | By Elizabeth Culliford SAN FRANCISCO Reuters U S Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren went after big tech during the Democratic debate on Tuesday but brushed off rival Kamala Harris s challenge to join her in calling for President Donald Trump s suspension from Twitter Warren a U S senator who is in a virtual tie with former Vice President Joe Biden in many opinion polls in the Democratic race argued for her proposal to split up major tech firms such as Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc and Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN over antitrust concerns in what was the most wide ranging discussion of big tech in the Democratic debates to date I m not willing to give up and let a handful of monopolists dominate our economy and our democracy It s time to fight back Warren said in the debate in Westerville Ohio But she did not engage with the request by Harris also a U S senator that she join her in calling for Twitter Inc NYSE TWTR to suspend Trump s account Harris has argued that Trump uses the platform to intimidate his opponents and threaten violence It is a matter of safety and corporate accountability Harris pushed while Warren refused to engage instead saying she was focused on beating Trump in the November 2020 election I don t just want to push Donald Trump off Twitter I want to push him out of the White House That s our job Warren responded Warren who said on Tuesday she would not accept campaign contributions of more than 200 from executives at large tech companies or big banks then pivoted to focus on whether candidates were taking money from big tech Social media companies which are under pressure to police their platforms in the run up to the 2020 election have most recently been attacked by Democratic candidates including Warren and Biden for allowing politicians to run ads with false or misleading claims on their platforms This month leaked audio from an internal Facebook meeting in July disclosed Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg telling staff they would go to the mat to defeat Warren s expected effort to break up the company if she is elected president The other Democrats on stage did not explicitly endorse Warren s plan to split up the major tech firms but voiced concerns about competition U S Senator Bernie Sanders another longtime critic of big tech firms and corporate influence said the United States needed a president with the guts to appoint an attorney general who will take on these huge monopolies Former U S Representative Beto O Rourke said he would be unafraid to break up big businesses but that he did not think it was the president s role to designate which companies should be broken up In a moment that swiftly generated memes on Twitter entrepreneur Andrew Yang took a swing at Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Corp s search engine Bing Competition doesn t solve all the problems It s not like any of us wants to use the fourth best navigation app Yang said There is a reason why no one is using Bing today Sorry Microsoft it s true he added Bing just got dunked on feel free to google it tomorrow tweeted comedian Aparna Nancherla Yang also argued that people should receive a share of the economic value generated from their data
How many of you remember getting your data check in the mail asked Yang It got lost It went to Facebook Amazon Google | 10/16/2019 |
MSFT | Exclusive U S carried out secret cyber strike on Iran in wake of Saudi oil attack officials | By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON Reuters The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia s oil facilities which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran two U S officials have told Reuters The officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran s ability to spread propaganda One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware but did not provide further details The attack highlights how President Donald Trump s administration has been trying to counter what it sees as Iranian aggression without spiraling into a broader conflict Asked about Reuters reporting on Wednesday Iran s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said They must have dreamt it Fars news agency reported The U S strike appears more limited than other such operations against Iran this year after the downing of an American drone in June and an alleged attack by Iran s Revolutionary Guards on oil tankers in the Gulf in May The United States Saudi Arabia Britain France and Germany have publicly blamed the Sept 14 attack on Iran which denied involvement in the strike The Iran aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen claimed responsibility Publicly the Pentagon has responded by sending thousands of additional troops and equipment to bolster Saudi defenses the latest U S deployment to the region this year The Pentagon declined to comment about the cyber strike As a matter of policy and for operational security we do not discuss cyberspace operations intelligence or planning said Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith GULF TENSIONS RISE SHARPLY The impact of the attack if any could take months to determine but cyber strikes are seen as a less provocative option below the threshold of war You can do damage without killing people or blowing things up it adds an option to the toolkit that we didn t have before and our willingness to use it is important said James Lewis a cyber expert with the Washington based Center for Strategic and International Studies Lewis added that it may not be possible to deter Iranian behavior with even conventional military strikes Tensions in the Gulf have escalated sharply since May 2018 when Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of sanctions It was unclear whether there have been other U S cyber attacks since the one in late September Iran has used such tactics against the United States This month a hacking group that appears linked to the Iranian government tried to infiltrate email accounts related Trump s re election campaign Over 30 days in August and September the group which Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT dubbed Phosphorous made more than 2 700 attempts to identify consumer accounts then attacked 241 of them Tehran is also thought to be a major player in spreading disinformation Last year a Reuters investigation found more than 70 websites that push Iranian propaganda to 15 countries in an operation that cybersecurity experts social media firms and journalists are only starting to uncover Tensions with Iran have been high since the Sept 14 attack Tehran has said an Iranian tanker was hit by rockets in the Red Sea last week and warned that there would be consequences
On Monday President Hassan Rouhani reiterated his country s policy toward the Trump administration ruling out bilateral talks unless Washington returns to the landmark nuclear deal and lifts crippling U S economic sanctions | 10/16/2019 |
MSFT | S P 500 dips as economic data trade worries offset upbeat earnings | By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK Reuters The benchmark S P 500 stock index edged lower on Wednesday as weak U S economic data and simmering geopolitical tensions spooked buyers away from the equities market despite a string of generally positive third quarter corporate earnings reports
Technology shares led by Microsoft Inc O MSFT weighed on all three major U S stock averages pulling the S P 500 and the Nasdaq into the red The Dow was nominally higher
U S retail sales contracted in September for the first time in seven months according to the Commerce Department in a sign that cracks might be spreading from the manufacturing sector to the broader economy
The retail sales number has surprised people said Peter Tuz president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville Virginia It s bringing up ideas that the economy might be slowing down
Uncertainty over whether the United States and China could resolve their long running trade dispute increased after the U S House of Representatives riled Beijing by passing pro democracy legislation in support of Hong Kong
President Donald Trump said he would probably not sign any trade deal before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC Forum in Chile but said a partial trade deal was being formalized
Part of today s market action concerns whether the tentative trade agreement reached last Friday will move forward or not Tuz said We ve got two months before significant tariffs go into effect
Things haven t worked out the way they usually do when earnings season begins and you focus less on the global macro issues that drive the market so much these days
Analysts currently expect S P 500 third quarter earnings to have fall by 3 which would mark the first year on year contraction since the earnings recession that ended in 2016
However of the 43 S P 500 companies to have posted third quarter results so far 86 have come in better than consensus expectations
Bank of America N BAC rose 2 2 after posting its third quarter profit beat due to growth in advisory fees and loan book expansion
United Airlines O UAL advanced 2 6 after the airline beat quarterly profit estimates and increased its 2019 guidance
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 18 19 points or 0 07 to 27 042 99 the S P 500 SPX lost 3 71 points or 0 12 to 2 991 97 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC dropped 25 20 points or 0 31 to 8 123 51
Of the 11 major sectors in the S P 500 three were trading in negative territory with energy SPNY and tech SPLRCT suffering the largest percentage losses
In other stocks news Eli Lilly Co N LLY dropped 1 5 in the wake of a late stage study which showed its experimental pancreatic cancer treatment failed to meet the overall survival goal
Drug distributors McKesson N MCK AmerisourceBergen N ABC and Cardinal Health N CAH rose between 3 and 6 following a report that they were in talks with state and local governments to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits for 18 billion
General Motors N GM rose 1 5 after the automaker reached a tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers union
Netflix Inc O NFLX shares were up 0 3 in advance of its earnings report expected after the bell
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1 11 to 1 ratio on Nasdaq a 1 09 to 1 ratio favored decliners
The S P 500 posted 12 new 52 week highs and no new lows the Nasdaq Composite recorded 31 new highs and 54 new lows | 10/16/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks S P Drifts Lower on Weak Retail Sales China Worries | Investing com Stocks drifted lower Wednesday on a weaker than expected report on retail sales and growing fears about how firm the Chinese trade deal really is
The trade worries helped push energy stocks lower and weighed on tech stocks
The S P 500 was off 0 2 with the Dow Jones industrials down 0 08 The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 indices dropped 0 3 each in part because Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT moved 0 4 and 0 8 lower respectively
The retail sales report for September showed a 0 3 decline when most economists expected a gain The decline the first since February boosted fears that a slowing global economy is affecting U S consumers
At the same time worries grew about the Chinese trade deal announced last week President Donald Trump said it meant China would be buying 50 billion to 60 billion in U S farm products in less than two years But some analysts told The Wall Street Journal that that s way beyond what China has bought in any one year
The deal ultimately could hinge on the U S suspending imposition of new 15 tariffs on 156 billion in Chinese imports The tariffs are supposed to take effect Dec 15 China may balk at the farm purchases if the tariffs aren t suspended
The uncertainty weighed on futures trading for corn and soybeans with both moving lower Both commodities depend on exports
The trade worries also affected tech stocks especially chip stocks because sales to China have been huge growth drivers The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1 47
In addition there was some disappointment that an agreement on Brexit wasn t announced European stocks were mostly higher Germany s DAX hit a 52 week high
Homebuilders and other consumer discretionary stocks and communications services stocks like Facebook NASDAQ FB Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL were higher Energy technology and financials were the weakest sectors
Builders DR Horton NYSE DHI KB Home NYSE KBH MDC Holdings NYSE MDC and William Lyon Homes NYSE WLH all hit 52 week highs after the National Association of Home Builders reported builder confidence was at a 20 year high The report cited low interest rates and a strong jobs market for the confidence
General Motors NYSE GM moved 1 1 higher after the automaker and the United Auto Workers said they reached a tentative deal that could end a month old strike
Pharmaceutical distributors rallied on news of a settlement of opioid lawsuits brought by states and local governments
Oil prices moved up as did precious metals prices Palladium a metal used in auto emission control systems hit 1 735 an ounce Gold settled up 10 50 to 1 494 in New York
Interest rates were mostly lower The 10 Year Treasury yield fell to 1 747 from Tuesday s 1 769
Drug distributors McKesson NYSE MCK and AmerisourceBergen NYSE ABC trucking giant JB Hunt Transport Services NASDAQ JBHT and fashion company Capri Holdings NYSE CPRI were among the top S P 500 performers on the day
Drug maker Alexion Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ ALXN electric utility giant Exelon NASDAQ EXC information technology company DXC Technology NYSE DXC and Salesforce com NYSE CRM were among the worst S P 500 performers on Tuesday | 10/16/2019 |
INTC | Stocks S P Closes Above 3 000 as Wall Street s Rally on Rate Hopes Continues | Investing com The very merry July stock market rally bubbled along Friday with the major averages all setting new highs and the S P 500 closing above 3 000 for the first time
The S P 500 closed up 0 46 after hitting a new high of 3 013 62 The Dow industrials finished up 0 9 after its second 200 point gain in two days Friday s gain was 244 points The blue chip index hit a new high of 27 333 79 The Nasdaq Composite added 0 6 along with a new high of 8 246
The rally was fueled by the intense belief the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its July 30 31 meeting Lower rates boost the value of stocks and bonds
For several weeks Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has signaled a rate cut is coming He told Congress twice this week the central bank stands ready to act as appropriate to support the economic expansion now in its 10th year Stocks have been rising as a result His concern and the Fed s has been prompted by slowing business investment slow wage growth and the Trump Administration s trade policies particularly its trade battle with China
Interest rates in fact moved slightly lower Friday with the 10 Year Treasury dropping 0 3 to 2 113 The yield has fallen more than 20 this year
Oil prices moved up slightly on Friday despite skepticism that the current rally may not last West Texas Intermediate crude futures ended up 1 cent at 60 21 a barrel Brent Oil Futures settled up 20 cents to 66 72
The stock rally was largely led by non tech stocks especially industrial stocks including Dow NYSE DOW Caterpillar NYSE CAT 3M NYSE MMM and Boeing NYSE BA
Chip stocks moved higher with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 1 9 Chip giant Intel NASDAQ INTC also was a winner up 2 7
Facebook NASDAQ FB rose 1 8 as The Wall Street Journal reported the Federal Trade Commission has approved a 5 billion fine over its investigation into the social media company s handling of user data Shares were up another 0 2 after hours
Pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks were lower with Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ slumping on a report that a federal grand jury is investigating if the company lied about the presence of asbestos in its talcum powder J J Merck NYSE MRK and Pfizer NYSE PFE were the Dow losers
over its investigation into the social media company s handling of user data
over its investigation into the social media company s handling of user data
Facebook NASDAQ FB rose 1 8 as The Wall Street Journal reported the Federal Trade Commission has a approved a 5 billion fine over its investigation into the social media company s handling of user data Shares were up another 0 2 after hours
For the week the Dow finished up 1 52 with the S P 500 up 0 8 and the Nasdaq up 1 For the year the S P 500 is up 20 the Dow 17 2 and the Nasdaq up 24 3
Next week the second quarter earnings season ramps up led by bank and financial stocks JPMorgan Chase NYSE JPM will report before Tuesday s open
Winners and Losers in the S P 500
Trucker JB Hunt Transport Services NASDAQ JBHT Signet Jewelers NYSE SIG and women s apparel maker L Brands NYSE LB were among the top S P 500 stocks on the day
Scientific equipment and services company Illumina NASDAQ ILMN Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ and medical device maker Boston Scientific NYSE BSX were among the S P 500 laggards on the day | 7/12/2019 |
INTC | Trial begins with high stakes for U S Turkey ties ex Trump adviser Flynn | By Humeyra Pamuk and Sarah N Lynch
WASHINGTON Reuters In a court case that could further strain U S relations with Turkey and weigh on the sentencing of former U S national security adviser Michael Flynn a criminal trial began on Monday involving a former Iranian American business partner of Flynn
Bijan Rafiekian s trial in the Eastern District of Virginia turns on whether he conspired with Flynn and others to lobby on Turkey s behalf to try to convince the U S government to extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen blamed by Turkey for a failed coup
Flynn a retired U S Army lieutenant general whose brief tenure in 2017 as part of President Donald Trump s inner circle is still causing legal aftershocks is not charged as a co conspirator with Rafiekian But the case could influence how U S District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan sentences Flynn later this year in Washington
Flynn had previously agreed to cooperate with U S prosecutors and testify against Rafiekian known as Kian in hopes of getting a lighter sentence after he pleaded guilty in December 2017 to having lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigators about his contacts with Russian officials
In a reversal earlier this month Flynn and prosecutors had a falling out and Flynn backed away from earlier admissions of making false statements to the U S Justice Department in paperwork that disclosed his work as a Turkish government lobbyist
Flynn now contends he relied on attorneys advice when filing the lobbying paperwork with the Justice Department and that he did not knowingly file false information
Government lawyers now no longer plan to call Flynn as a star witness in the Rafiekian case although they may end up calling Flynn s son Michael G Flynn who worked for Flynn s lobbying firm known as the Flynn Intel NASDAQ INTC Group Defense lawyers for Rafiekian have listed the elder Flynn as a possible star witness in the case
Rafiekian faces two criminal counts of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government making false statements to the Justice Department and acting as a foreign agent His former client Turkish national Ekim Alptekin is also charged
For already strained ties between Ankara and Washington the trial has implications Jury selection began on Monday which is the third anniversary of a failed coup in Turkey that killed 251 people Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly blamed Gulen and his movement for the coup a charge Gulen denies
In the trial U S prosecutors are expected to portray the Turkish government as being heavily involved in a behind the scenes lobbying campaign to return Gulen a shadowy figure who lives in a fortified compound in Pennsylvania to Turkey
The Turkish government has denied engaging in a conspiracy to evade U S regulations requiring foreign government lobbyists to register with the Justice Department
The idea that we would conspire against the United States is preposterous We categorically reject any accusation of wrongdoing or illegal conduct in the United States Fahrettin Altun spokesman for the Turkish presidency said in a written statement over the weekend
Flynn was among the first people in Trump s inner circle to be charged in Mueller s probe with lying to investigators about his December 2016 conversations with Sergei Kislyak Russia s then ambassador in Washington regarding U S sanctions imposed on Moscow by President Barack Obama
Flynn was due to be sentenced in December 2018 but his sentence was delayed after Judge Sullivan lambasted him for selling his country out to Russia and urged him to complete his cooperation with government prosecutors | 7/15/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Nervous Market Treads Water Ahead of 2nd Quarter Earnings | Investing com Stocks were waiting on Monday for the second quarter earnings season to shift into high gear
That should start Tuesday when financial giants JPMorgan Chase NYSE JPM and Goldman Sachs NYSE GS report results The two stocks off 1 2 and 1 1 respectively were the laggards among the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average today
In the meantime the S P 500 was up 0 02 The Dow was up 0 1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0 17 All three indexes and the Nasdaq 100 Index hit record intraday highs after the open then slipped back and came to finish with small gains and closing records In the S P 500 s case 0 02 was a gain of 0 53 of a point
Monday s market opened with what were described as mixed results from Citigroup Earnings beat estimates but profit margins narrowed Citi opened lower but recovered its losses by noon and slipped to a 0 1 loss on the day
But the damage was done to JPMorgan NYSE JPM and Goldman Sachs NYSE GS Also weighing on the Dow was Boeing NYSE BA off 1 after a Wall Street Journal story Sunday suggested that the 737 Max could remain grounded until after the New Year As it is many airlines are scaling back schedules because they can t use the planes United Technologies NYSE UTX a key Boeing supplier also fell 0 4
Tuesday is a big day for financial company earnings In addition to JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley NYSE MS and Wells Fargo NYSE WFC also report before the open Other reports are due from Domino s Pizza NYSE DPZ and railroad giant CSX NASDAQ CSX
This earnings season is projected to be frustrating Factset is forecasting a 3 decline in earnings for S P 500 companies based on pre announcements of potential earnings misses and possible upside surprises But of the 24 companies that reported by the end of last week 20 had earnings surprises and 17 reported better than forecast revenue
Utilities technology and real estate shares led the market energy financial stocks and industrials were laggards
Apple NASDAQ AAPL Tesla NASDAQ TSLA Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN and Intel NASDAQ INTC moved higher Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT was flat Cybersecurity company Symantec NASDAQ SYMC fell nearly 11 on reports that talks for a potential merger with Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO have collapsed
Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM and Chevron NYSE CVX slipped 0 7 and 0 2 respectively The PHLX Oil Service Index fell 2
Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST and Walmart NYSE WMT hit new intraday highs
Weighing on the market was a higher dollar which depressed a wide array of commodity prices Crude oil and grains fell Gold copper and silver futures were higher Interest rates moved lower The U S 10 Year yield fell 0 7 to 2 09
Winners and Losers in the S P
Fertilizer maker CF Industries NYSE CF chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD and casino operator Wynn Resorts NASDAQ WYNN were the S P 500 s top performers
Symantec NASDAQ SYMC and oil and gas producers Chesapeake Energy NYSE CHK and Cimarex Energy NYSE XEC were among the worst S P 500 performers | 7/15/2019 |
MSFT | U S stocks lower at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0 08 | Investing com U S stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday as losses in the Oil Gas Technology and Telecoms sectors led shares lower
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0 08 while the S P 500 index fell 0 20 and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0 30
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ which rose 1 75 or 2 33 points to trade at 135 17 at the close Meanwhile Cisco Systems Inc NASDAQ CSCO added 0 93 or 0 43 points to end at 46 79 and Walt Disney Company NYSE DIS was up 0 85 or 1 10 points to 130 86 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM which fell 1 71 or 1 19 points to trade at 68 23 at the close Chevron Corp NYSE CVX declined 1 03 or 1 20 points to end at 115 11 and Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ MSFT was down 0 82 or 1 17 points to 140 41
The top performers on the S P 500 were McKesson Corporation NYSE MCK which rose 4 83 to 144 84 JB Hunt Transport Services Inc NASDAQ JBHT which was up 3 63 to settle at 115 65 and AmerisourceBergen NYSE ABC which gained 3 43 to close at 86 05
The worst performers were Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ ALXN which was down 5 06 to 99 51 in late trade Exelon Corporation NASDAQ EXC which lost 4 57 to settle at 44 91 and DXC Technology Co NYSE DXC which was down 3 90 to 27 87 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bionano Genomics Inc NASDAQ BNGO which rose 417 62 to 2 85 Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ ACHN which was up 72 04 to settle at 6 28 and Viveve Medical Inc NASDAQ VIVE which gained 39 47 to close at 5 3000
The worst performers were Titan Medical Inc NASDAQ TMDI which was down 51 83 to 0 5250 in late trade Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ TTNP which lost 51 02 to settle at 0 1800 and Golden Bull Ltd NASDAQ DNJR which was down 31 57 to 0 48 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1480 to 1376 and 108 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1351 rose and 1259 declined while 103 ended unchanged
Shares in Titan Medical Inc NASDAQ TMDI fell to 5 year lows falling 51 83 or 0 5650 to 0 5250 Shares in Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ ACHN rose to 52 week highs gaining 72 04 or 2 63 to 6 28 Shares in Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ TTNP fell to 5 year lows falling 51 02 or 0 1875 to 0 1800
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 1 03 to 13 68
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0 70 or 10 45 to 1493 95 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0 32 or 0 17 to hit 52 98 a barrel while the December Brent oil contract fell 0 03 or 0 02 to trade at 59 08 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 02 to 1 1073 while USD JPY rose 0 00 to 108 75
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0 27 at 97 738 | 10/16/2019 |
INTC | U S judge blocks Qualcomm effort to put antitrust ruling on hold | By Stephen Nellis
Reuters A U S judge on Wednesday ruled against Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc s effort to block the implementation of a sweeping antitrust ruling against it as the mobile chip supplier pursues an appeal that could take more than a year to wind through the courts
Qualcomm has argued in court that the ruling could hamper critical negotiations with phone makers over 5G technology forcing it to rework license agreements and even offer deals to rival chip suppliers scrambling its business in a way that would be impossible to unwind if it wins on appeal
A Qualcomm spokeswoman told Reuters the company plans to immediately ask the 9th U S Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the lower court s decision
Shares in Qualcomm were down 0 5 percent to 76 73 after the ruling which had been widely expected
U S District Judge Lucy Koh did not give a specific reason for denying Qualcomm s motion but she did strike from the record several pieces of evidence that Qualcomm had tried to use to make its case including a slide deck from internal Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL documents that Qualcomm alleged was evidence of a coordinated effort inside the iPhone maker to harm Qualcomm financially Government regulators had objected to including the slide deck which would have become part of the official record for higher courts to review
Qualcomm which supplies modem chips to connect phones to wireless data networks is fighting a May 21 decision by Koh in a case brought by the U S Federal Trade Commission Koh ruled that Qualcomm s patent licensing practices had strangled competition and directed the company to renegotiate licensing agreements with customers
Among other things the ruling would drastically alter Qualcomm s business model by forcing it to license its patents to rival chip makers instead of phone makers which could potentially slice its patent royalties from several dollars per phone to pennies Those patents generate most of Qualcomm s profits
Qualcomm on May 28 asked Koh to set aside her decision while it pursues an appeal It argued that Koh s ruling raised serious legal questions because among other things Koh blocked market evidence showing that Apple dropped Qualcomm in favor of rival chip supplier Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC
Smartphone maker LG Electronics Inc opposed Qualcomm s efforts to freeze the ruling The phone maker said it is negotiating chip supply and patent license agreements with Qualcomm and could be forced into signing another unfair deal unless Koh s protections remain in place The FTC had also opposed Qualcomm s move
Koh s ruling on Wednesday only related to whether to put the provisions on hold temporarily as any appeal plays out Analysts expect many phone makers to be negotiating critical 5G contracts with Qualcomm while the appeal runs its course | 7/4/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Falls After Job Surge Hits Chance of Fed Rate Cut | Investing com Wall Street opened lower on Friday after news that the U S economy created more jobs than expected dampening hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut rates aggressively at the end of the month
The S P 500 was down 19 points or 0 7 by 9 57 AM ET 13 57 GMT The Dow lost 152 points or 0 6 and the Nasdaq composite slipped 55 points or 0 7
It is still more likely than not that the Fed will cut rates but the odds have decreased somewhat said Scott Brown chief economist at Raymond James in St Petersburg Florida
The 50 basis point cut should be priced out completely at this point
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 224 000 in June well above consensus expectations for 160 000 and a sharp rebound from a downwardly revised 72 000 in May
Markets expect the central bank to ease monetary policy this year due to concerns over the damage caused by the U S China trade war
Banking stocks were higher on the prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer with Bank of America NYSE BAC up 1 2 JP Morgan rising 0 6 and Goldman Sachs NYSE GS gained 1
Semiconductor companies struggled after Korean giant Samsung KS 005930 said it expects second quarter profit to have fallen dramatically Intel NASDAQ INTC fell 2 0 while Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM slipped 1 4 and Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA lost 1 9
Meanwhile Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN was down 0 6 after the U K s Competition and Markets Authority told the e commerce giant to pause its integration with meal delivery service Deliveroo while it decides whether or not to launch an investigation into a possible competition breach
In commodities crude oil gained 0 5 to 57 62 a barrel Gold futures slumped 2 1 to 1 391 25 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies surged 0 6 to 96 930 its highest in over three weeks
Reuters contributed to this report | 7/5/2019 |
INTC | Walmart s Supplier Says Chinese Factories in Desperate State | Bloomberg The world s largest supplier of consumer goods says China s factories are getting urgent and desperate as worried U S retailers accelerate a move out of the country amid heightened trade tensions
China will see more factory shutdowns as the trade war that s roiled the global supply chain exacerbates an exodus said Spencer Fung chief executive officer of Li Fung Ltd The company which designs sources and transports consumer goods from Asia for some of the world s biggest retailers including Walmart NYSE WMT and Nike NYSE NKE is being pushed by American clients to shift production out of China
U S clients are definitely very very worried Fung said in an interview with Bloomberg Everyone is making razor thin margins already and most people have a huge percentage in China So if the biggest source increases the price by 25 they are worried he said referring to the scale of tariffs threatened on all Chinese imports to the U S by President Donald Trump
Though Fung didn t specify Walmart by name the U S retailer is the company s second biggest customer after Kohl s accounting for 7 6 of revenue according to Bloomberg data A spokeswoman for Walmart declined to comment
Seismic Shift
Because of its position as middleman connecting American retail giants to low cost Asian factories Li Fung has a unique ground level perspective of the seismic shifts taking place around the world due to the trade war Although the U S and China have resumed talks on a deal there are growing signs that the global supply chain long reliant on China as the factory to the world is being permanently transformed Intel NASDAQ INTC has said it s reviewing its global supply chain while others including Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Amazon NASDAQ AMZN are reportedly doing the same
Nobody s investing nobody s buying The trade war is causing people to stop investment because they don t know where to put the money the Silicon Valley trained CEO said Many people put the money into Vietnam with one tweet he said referring to Trump s habit of announcing American trade policy over the social media tool
The Hong Kong based supply chain and logistics provider which relies heavily on trade between the world s two biggest economies to make its fortune will see China s contribution to its total sourcing fall from 59 in 2015 to less than half this year for the first time
Completely Full
While Chinese factories suffer manufacturers in other Asian hubs become beneficiaries up to a point American retailers have already taken up all the manufacturing capacity in Vietnam in their rush out of China said Fung highlighting the lack of scale that prevents other destinations from fully substituting for China s manufacturing might
Vietnam for example is full completely full he said There s no extra capacity for the U S companies to get in
Chinese factories meanwhile are lowering asking prices in their desperation creating an opportunity for European and Japanese consumer brands Li Fung is advising its non U S clients to move in and take advantage of the mature supply chain and lower costs
It is a buying opportunity for European and non U S retailers Fung said In China there are a lot of factories with less and less orders They re offering actually pretty good prices to anybody
Li Fung which started its trading business 113 years ago has seen a steep profit decline in the last five years as the rise of e commerce platforms like Alibaba NYSE BABA and Amazon cut out the middleman and its retail clients faced waves of store closures Fung said that core operating profit will continue to decline this year but he stressed that he s seeing the bottom
The company s shares which fell 71 last year climbed 2 7 in Hong Kong trading Wednesday breaking a six day losing streak
Fung whose great grandfather Fung Pak Liu established the company in 1906 sees the havoc currently being wreaked in the established global supply chain as an opportunity for Li Fung s re emergence Its 50 country sourcing network means it can nimbly shift out of China as clients desire and its investment in technology like 3D virtual sampling will cut costs and save time he said
The company is at the tail end of a three year restructuring plan that simplified its structure through divesting non core businesses and streamlining operations
It s like you re flying a plane you re losing altitude said Fung But now one after another I see the indicators turning green I can actually see that the altitude loss is reducing and we re actually pulling that plane back up | 7/10/2019 |
INTC | Justice Department trying to quash Mueller team testimony report | By David Morgan and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON Reuters The Justice Department is trying to prevent two former members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller s team from testifying behind closed doors in Congress next week when Mueller will testify before lawmakers according to people familiar with the matter The department is opposing testimony by Aaron Zebley and James Quarles before the Democratic led Judiciary and Intelligence committees in the House of Representatives two sources said The men were expected to testify on July 17 the same day that Mueller is due as a witness before the two panels Democrats said they still expect Zebley and Quarles to appear arguing that the Justice Department has no authority over the behavior of former employees But a third source told Reuters that the former Mueller team members were still negotiating with the committees We expect them to appear Representative Zoe Lofgren a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee told reporters We ve got two hours with the Judiciary and Mr Mueller and two hours for the Intel NASDAQ INTC committee with Mr Mueller and then some time afterwards with his staff Justice Department officials had no immediate comment and Zebley and Quarles could not be reached for comment The episode is the latest example of Trump administration efforts to stymie congressional investigations by directing current and former officials not to cooperate with investigators who are seeking evidence of corruption obstruction of justice and abuse of power in the Trump presidency House Judiciary Democrats who are poised to expand their probe of Trump his family and associates with a slew of new subpoenas say Mueller s testimony will focus public attention on some of the more disturbing findings of his two year investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election In a 448 page report Mueller said the Trump campaign had numerous contacts with Moscow though the investigation did not find sufficient evidence to show conspiracy He did not conclude that Trump obstructed justice by trying to impede the Russia probe but also did not exonerate the president of doing so The House Judiciary Committee is also investigating alleged hush payments during the 2016 campaign to two women who claimed to have affairs with Trump including porn star Stormy Daniels The Dems Witch Hunt continues Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday He has regularly denounced the Mueller investigation while also claiming that the probe found no collusion with Russia and no obstruction Judiciary Committee Democrats privately met on Wednesday to discuss details of conducting the Mueller hearing and his aides testimony Democrats on the panel said Representative Adam Schiff who leads the intelligence committee said he expects the special counsel s office to live up to the agreements for Mueller and his aides to testify Mueller in his first public comments since starting his investigation said on May 29 that Justice Department policies meant the probe was never going to end with criminal charges against Trump and indicated it was up to Congress to decide whether he should be impeached
If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so Mueller said | 7/10/2019 |
MSFT | Wall Street gets tech boost as reports bolster hopes of trade deal | By Arjun Panchadar
Reuters Wall Street rose on Wednesday on the back of gains in technology stocks as investor sentiment was boosted by reports indicating an ease in trade tensions between the United States and China ahead of pivotal talks on Thursday
China was still open to agreeing to a partial trade deal with the United States despite the inclusion of top Chinese artificial intelligence startups in a trade blacklist according to a Bloomberg report
Separately the Financial Times said Beijing was offering to increase its annual purchases of U S agricultural products
Shares in Microsoft Corp O MSFT and Apple Inc O AAPL rose about 1 and were among the biggest boosts to the S P 500 SPX The technology sector SPLRCT rose 1 08
Chipmakers with a sizable exposure to China also gained with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index SOX up 1 45
The reality of what we can actually expect from these talks is for both sides to come to a truce If they just called a time out a detente then the markets would celebrate that said Art Hogan chief market strategist at National Securities in New York
Trade tensions intensifying efforts to impeach President Donald Trump and signs of slowing economic growth rocked equity markets in October with the S P 500 and Dow Jones indexes off more than 2 since the end of September
Rising geopolitical risks have also not offered investors any respite Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said a military operation targeting Kurdish fighters in northeast Syrian had begun
A sharp contraction in U S manufacturing data as well as a dismal reading on business activity last week has raised bets of a third interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year
Fed Chair Jerome Powell flagged openness to further rate cuts on Tuesday repeating that the central bank would act as appropriate amid an economy that he said was likely to continue to expand
At 2 p m ET on Wednesday the central bank is due to release minutes from its September meeting
The session s gains were broad based with all the major S P 500 sectors trading higher and 27 of the 30 components of the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average index DJI in positive territory
Johnson Johnson s N JNJ shares fell 2 2 after a jury awarded 8 billion in punitive damages to a man who accused it of failing to warn that young men using its antipsychotic drug Risperdal could grow breasts
Energy stocks SPNY also gained 1 3 tracking an increase in oil prices
Investors will now turn their eye to the third quarter earnings season which begins next week with U S banks reporting to gauge the health of the domestic economy
Analysts expect the worst quarterly profit performance since 2016 with earnings for S P 500 companies estimated to fall 3 1 from a year earlier based on IBES data from Refinitiv
At 11 25 a m ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI was up 126 91 points or 0 49 at 26 290 95 the S P 500 SPX was up 18 97 points or 0 66 at 2 912 03 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC was up 62 32 points or 0 80 at 7 886 10
Shares in Netflix Inc O NFLX fell 1 21 after two brokerages cut price targets on the video streaming service provider s shares
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2 21 to 1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1 71 to 1 ratio on the Nasdaq
The S P index recorded seven new 52 week highs and nine new lows while the Nasdaq recorded four new highs and 76 new lows | 10/9/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Wall Street Gains as Trade Tensions Ease a Little | Investing com U S stocks surged Wednesday as investors hoped for good news ahead of a resumption of U S China trade talks
There was a little good news as Bloomberg reported China was open to a partial deal
The S P 500 was up 0 91 thanks in part to gains for its two biggest components Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Apple NASDAQ AAPL and strength in tech and energy stocks overall
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1 02 and the Dow Jones industrials rose 0 7 or 182 points At one point the blue chips were up more than about 260 points before profit taking set in The Dow s finish was off about 30 from its peak The S P 500 s close was about 26 below its peak
Activity was light on Wall Street as many traders had taken the day off for Yom Kippur
The rally was set off by a report China was open to a number of trade measures including boosting purchases of U S farm products But the report suggested a resolution to disputes over intellectual property and market access for industrial products could come later
Like the S P 500 the Dow was pushed higher by Microsoft and Apple The duo plus Visa NYSE V contributed more than 60 points to the Dow s gain
Apple moved up on an upgrade from Canaccord Genuity Microsoft was lifted by Tuesday s upgrade from Jefferies
The biggest loser among the three Dow stocks that ended lower was Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ which fell nearly 2 after a Philadelphia jury awarded a man 8 billion in damages over side effects from using the anti psychotic drug Risperdal
The other Dow decliners were investment bank Goldman Sachs NYSE GS off 0 26 and pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance NASDAQ WBA down 0 03
Meanwhile all 11 sectors of the S P 500 were higher led by technology up 1 45 and energy up 1 07
But the rally left the S P 500 under 3 000 for a 14th straight day The index is 3 59 below its 52 week high and 0 7 below its high in the fall of 2018
That s a signal of deep uncertainty about the trade fight and its impact on the economy
The Dow is off 3 84 below its 52 week high with the Nasdaq off 4 95 from its peak and the Nasdaq 100 down 4 2 from its peak
The market anticipated minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting that officials are increasingly worried about the trade fight s impact on business spending and expansion Fed Chairman Jerome Powell repeated the concern in speeches this week
Oil prices were little changed West Texas Intermediate crude was off 4 cents to 52 59 Global benchmark Brent crude gained 8 cents to 58 32
Metal prices moved higher Gold futures added 8 90 to 1 512 80 an ounce in New York
Interest rates moved up thanks to the stock rally The 10 Year Treasury yield was at 1 587 up from 1 539 on Tuesday
Oil producer Hess NYSE HES test equipment maker Keysight Technologies NYSE KEYS heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences NYSE EW and chip equipment maker Applied Materials Inc NASDAQ AMAT were among the S P 500 top performers
Apparel maker L Brands NYSE LB Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ Cabot Oil Gas NYSE COG and electric utility Evergy NYSE EVRG were the among S P 500 laggards | 10/9/2019 |
MSFT | Livestreamed killings test social media measures to block extremist content | By Katie Paul SAN FRANCISCO Reuters Social media companies scrambled on Wednesday to scrub footage of a shooting outside a German synagogue from their platforms in the first major test of their systems since a massacre in the New Zealand city of Christchurch prompted a global outcry The attacker in Germany who livestreamed his rampage on Amazon s gaming subsidiary Twitch shot dead two people after failing to gain entry to the synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish year The nearly 36 minute long video closely resembled footage livestreamed in March in Christchurch where the gunman also wore a camera to capture a first person perspective as he killed 51 people at two mosques As with Christchurch full copies and portions of the German video quickly began appearing elsewhere online shared both by supporters of the gunman s anti Semitic ideology and critics condemning his actions Reuters viewed copies and links to the footage posted on Twitter 4chan and message boards focused on trolling and harassment as well as multiple white supremacist channels on messaging app Telegram The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism whose members include Facebook NASDAQ FB Google NASDAQ GOOGL Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Twitter said they were collaborating to take down the videos using hashing technology which reduces content to code so it can be spotted and removed automatically We are in close contact with each other and remain committed to disrupting the online spread of violent and extremist content the group said in a statement In statements posted to its official Twitter account Twitch said the footage was viewed live by five people and then seen by 2 200 before the company took it down 30 minutes later It said the suspect s account had attempted to stream only once before and its investigation suggested that people were coordinating and sharing the video via other online messaging services but did not elaborate Facebook said it did not yet have details of how many times the video had been posted on its platforms or how many users saw it while Twitter referred Reuters to the Forum s statement Google and Telegram did not respond to requests for comment Silicon Valley tech giants have endorsed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern s Christchurch Call which aims to establish ethical standards for tech companies and media outlets to avoid amplifying violent extremist content online The companies which face intense scrutiny over hate speech and are trying to avert more strenuous action by regulators pledged to tighten rules and share more information around abusive content The call came after years of spotty enforcement of companies policies around hateful and violent content often reposted millions of times between fringe and mainstream sites Attackers began accompanying assaults with highly orchestrated digital announcements spurring followers to capture the content and post it to different platforms before it could be taken down In 2018 a gunman who killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue posted his manifesto on social network Gab saying a non profit that helped refugees relocate to the United States was hurting my people Online message board 8chan was used by mass shooters to announce attacks three times in 2019 including the posting of a four page statement by the gunman behind the attack at a Walmart NYSE WMT store in El Paso Texas Oren Segal who heads the Center on Extremism at the Anti Defamation League said violent imagery spreads across the internet and cannot be stopped by individual firms
A couple of months ago the conversation was about 8chan Now it s about Twitch and Telegram The names will change but the threat remains the same and is one that affects the entire online ecosystem he said | 10/9/2019 |
MSFT | NewsBreak Stocks Soar as Hopes Grow for a Trade Deal | Investing com Markets rallied strongly for a third straight day Friday after President Donald Trump tweeted that he had confidence a trade deal with China was close although the market fell back slightly in the early afternoon
The S P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials were both up more than 1 4 at 12 52 p m ET The Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 Index had risen 1 7 The Dow was up as many as 499 points in the late morning
Apple NASDAQ AAPL was a big winner hitting a new all time high of 235 16 before dropping back to 234 54 a 1 9 gain Its market cap was at 1 06 trillion close to Microsoft s NASDAQ MSFT 1 07 trillion
Other stocks hitting new highs included Walmart NYSE WMT Home Depot NYSE HD Target NYSE TGT and biotech giant Celgene NASDAQ CELG
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He was due to visit the White House Friday afternoon The trade deal reportedly won t be as comprehensive as Trump has demanded but it will include China buying more U S agricultural products and an expectation that new tariffs may not be imposed | 10/11/2019 |
MSFT | Space firm founded by billionaire Paul Allen sold to new owner | By Eric M Johnson SEATTLE Reuters Stratolaunch Systems Corp the space company founded by late billionaire and Microsoft Corp O MSFT co founder Paul Allen said on Friday it was continuing operations after transitioning ownership but did not name the new owner The company a unit of Allen s privately held investment vehicle Vulcan Inc had been developing a fleet of launch vehicles including the world s largest airplane by wingspan to send satellites and eventually humans into space Allen who founded Seattle based Stratolaunch in 2011 died at age 65 in October Reuters reported in May that the company was exploring the sale of its assets and intellectual property while in the process of closing operations It had slashed headcount Stratolaunch LLC has transitioned ownership and is continuing regular operations a spokeswoman said by e mail It declined to provide details beyond the short announcement which also said its near term launch vehicle development strategy focuses on testing reusable rocket powered vehicles and associated flight services It said the company would continue operations under the new owner with a mission that will bring the carrier aircraft test and operations program fully in house Allen s Stratolaunch had been compared to other space ventures backed by billionaires including Richard Branson s Virgin Orbit which is developing a similar but smaller high altitude launch system to cash in on growing demand for ferrying small satellites into orbit While Virgin Orbit Chief Executive Dan Hart told Reuters in July his company had discussions in the past with Stratolaunch about their desire to sell Virgin Orbit was not the buyer a person with direct knowledge of the matter said The centerpiece of Stratolaunch s strategy was its carbon composite carrier plane with a 117 meter 384 foot wingspan and powered by six engines The plane flew for the first time in April The decision to set an exit strategy was made late last year by Allen s sister Jody Allen chair of Vulcan Inc and trustee of the Paul G Allen Trust industry sources told Reuters Jody Allen decided to let the carrier aircraft fly to honor her brother s wishes and also to prove the vehicle and concept worked the sources said | 10/11/2019 |
MSFT | NewsBreak Apple Is Once Again World s Most Valuable Company | Investing com Apple NASDAQ AAPL is once again the world s most value company ahead of Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT as shares rose Monday
Apple NASDAQ AAPL up 0 14 had a market capitalization of 1 069 trillion overtaking Microsoft s market cap of 1 068 trillion Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT was up 0 15
Apple NASDAQ AAPL was the world s most valuable company until the fourth quarter 2018 slump knocked its stock price down 30 amid worries about slumping sales of its iPhone by far its biggest revenue source
The shares are up 50 this year thanks to big gains in the first and third quarters and a 5 7 gain so far this month The gains have been fueled by the positive reception of its newest iPhone models and strong results from other products including its Apple NASDAQ AAPL store It s also planning to start a streaming service
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT is up nearly 38 this year building on the success of its cloud computing offerings and related back office software its Surface family of notebooks and tablets and the popularity of its Office programs | 10/14/2019 |
MSFT | Keeping tabs on millennials equity index style | By Karin Strohecker
LONDON Reuters Want to invest in the habits of thirtysomethings You ve now got an index to track
Index provider MSCI has launched a new set of thematic indexes for investors looking to focus their exposure on major trends such as millennials or disruptive technology which it expects to shape society and the economy for decades to come
Equity indexing is big business with providers such as MSCI FTSE Russell Nasdaq S P and Dow Jones jostling for market share in an investment landscape where replicating lists of securities compiled along certain criteria has become increasingly popular and a benchmark for active investors
Traditionally index providers have sliced and diced stocks along sectors size or geographic lines but thematic indexing has emerged as a theme in recent years
MSCI launched its first four thematic indexes with little fanfare as a test balloon late last year However those themes ranging from robotics to ageing society were not very original and addressing mostly already well established trends said Stephane Mattatia head of index products EMEA at MSCI
Now MSCI is ready to push out the boat a bit identifying five new ones in a pun to help investors catch an upside from a demographic and technological shift
Apart from disruptive technology and millennials referring to those born between 1980 and mid 1990s the new batch of indexes includes smart cities digital economy and future mobility
We are partnering up with external experts which are not from the financial sphere but experts in their own fields said Mattatia adding MSCI had worked with author and strategic advisor Lukas Neckermann on the mobility and smart cities index
It is difficult for us to make sure that the theme is relevant for the economy and secondly it is difficult for us to find the right parameters for the theme
MSCI isn t the only index provider trying to ride the thematic indexing wave Nasdaq launched a number of artificial intelligence and robotics indexes in recent years Indexes for clean energy and ESG indexes are proliferating
For MSCI choosing index components is a language based process
Once a trend has been singled out MSCI will identify half a dozen defining seed words for the millennials benchmark the list contained the likes of new generation or new technology
Using those seed words MSCI derives a list of around 50 keywords which in this case contains the likes of shared economy organic food or sport
The number of word matches in company results filings plus other filters provide a score which helps decide index membership Mattatia explained
MSCI s millennial index contains 601 constituents and among the top ones are Apple NASDAQ AAPL Microsoft O MSFT Facebook O FB Amazon O AMZN Netflix NASDAQ NFLX and Paypal O PYPL | 10/8/2019 |
INTC | EU nations vote against a wifi based car standard EU official | By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS Reuters European Union states opened the way to competing technologies for internet connected cars on Thursday rejecting a European Commission push for a wifi based standard backed by Volkswagen DE VOWG p The result represents a win for BMW DE BMWG and Qualcomm O QCOM which support a rival 5G telecoms system Germany France and Italy with powerful car industries were among 21 countries to vote against the EC proposal at a Brussels meeting of EU representatives an EU official said This contrasted with EU lawmakers in April who endorsed the wifi plan over 5G technology The auto and tech industries have been split over which technology works better and is safer The European Commision which wants to set benchmarks for a market that could generate billions of euros in revenues for carmakers telecoms operators and equipment makers has said wifi is available now unlike 5G and would help road safety We will therefore continue to work together with member states to address their concerns and find a suitable way forward European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said in a statement on Thursday following the vote TECH NEUTRAL Other supporters of wifi technology which primarily connects cars with other cars include Renault PA RENA Toyota T 7203 NXP Autotalks and Kapsch TrafficCom VI KTCG Meanwhile the backers of fifth generation 5G standard which will hook up to both cars and devices in the surrounding environment include Daimler DE BMWG Ford N F PSA Group PA PEUP Deutsche Telekom DE DTEGn Ericsson ST ERICb Huawei Intel O INTC and Samsung KS 005930 Supporters of 5G say it has a wider range of applications in areas such as entertainment traffic data and navigation The vote was welcomed by telecoms lobbying group ETNO whose members have spent billions investing in 5G Mobile solutions and 5G are back in the road safety picture The automotive industry is now free to choose the best technology to protect road users and drivers ETNO director general Lise Fuhr said 5G supporter 5GAA said the vote represented a strong signal to the Commission that technology neutrality should prevail Chief Technology Officer Maxime Flament said Only a level playing field between existing technologies will allow safer more efficient mobility on European roads
EU ministers are due to meet on July 8 when they are expected to formally reject the wifi proposal | 7/4/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Market Sees Biggest Rally Since Early September | Investing com Stocks enjoyed their best day since early September Friday as Wall Street was cheered by a solid jobs report that saw the unemployment rate hit a milestone low
The S P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials jumped 1 42 each The Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 indices added 1 4 and 1 5 respectively
The S P 500 s point gain was its best since Aug 13 The gains for the Dow about 372 points and Nasdaq were their best since Sept 5 The rally cut the Dow s and S P 500 s losses for the week to 0 9 and 0 3 respectively The Nasdaq finished up 0 5 for the week
The market managed to weather selloffs on Tuesday and Wednesday that saw the Dow fall more than 838 points From a low on Thursday as the market reacted to a weaker than expected report on the services report the Dow gained more than 847 points at its Friday peak
The rally was largely computer driven The uniformity of the gains and the speed with which they occurred was a clear signal of across the board blanket buying
The rally was set off by the jobs report that showed payrolls increasing by 136 000 last month and the unemployment rate falling to 3 5 the lowest in at least 50 years Bullish as the report sounds the employment gain was smaller than expected and wage growth fell back slightly
Still the jobs report was a big relief after early reports this past week suggested a stagnating economy getting close to a recession
The Dow was led by a 2 8 gain for Apple NASDAQ AAPL and a 2 73 gain for pharmaceutical giant Merck NYSE MRK Chemical maker Dow Inc NYSE DOW was the one decliner for most of the day but finally finished up slightly
Among the Nasdaq 100 stocks Apple NASDAQ AAPL and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT along with Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL and Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN contributed more than 47 points to the index s 116 point gain
Interest rates fell even as stocks climbed in part because Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he is looking for ways to boost inflation The 10 Year Treasury yield fell to 1 531 from Thursday s 1 536
Crude oil moved higher West Texas Intermediate was up 36 cents to 52 81 Brent futures the global benchmark rose 66 cents to 58 37 They were off 5 5 and 4 4 respectively for the week
Gold futures were down slightly at 1 512 90 but up 0 4 on the week
Chip maker Skyworks Solutions NASDAQ SWKS insurance giant Chubb NYSE CB biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific NYSE TMO and ConAgra Foods NYSE CAG were among the top S P 500 performers
Computer maker HP Inc NYSE HPQ oil and gas producer Apache NYSE APA seed producer Corteva Inc NYSE CTVA and beauty products retailer Ulta Beauty NASDAQ ULTA were among the worst S P 500 performers | 10/4/2019 |
MSFT | Trump re election campaign targeted by Iran linked hackers sources | By Christopher Bing and Raphael Satter
Reuters A hacking group that appears to be linked to the Iranian government attempted to break into U S President Donald Trump s re election campaign but were unsuccessful sources familiar with the operation told Reuters on Friday
Microsoft Corp O MSFT said earlier on Friday in a blog post that it saw significant cyber activity by the group which also targeted current and former U S government officials journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside Iran
Trump s official campaign website is the only one of the remaining major contenders sites that is linked to Microsoft s cloud email service according to an inspection of publicly available mail exchanger records
We have no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted said Trump campaign Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh
In a 30 day period between August and September the group dubbed Phosphorous by Microsoft made more than 2 700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific customers and then attacked 241 of those accounts
Four accounts were compromised as a result of these attempts these four accounts were not associated with the U S presidential campaign or current and former U S government officials the blog post said
Nineteen Democrats are seeking their party s nomination to run for president in the November 2020 election Three Republicans have announced their candidacy to challenge Trump in the party s nominating contest
Microsoft s blog post did not identify the election campaign whose network was targeted by Phosphorous hackers but sources told Reuters the target was Trump s re election effort
The FBI did declined to comment
Chris Krebs director of the Homeland Security Department s election security division known as CISA said he was aware of the Microsoft report In a statement Krebs called it yet more evidence that our adversaries are looking to undermine our democratic institutions
Hacking to interfere in elections has become a concern for governments especially since U S intelligence agencies concluded that Russia ran a hacking and propaganda operation to disrupt the American democratic process in 2016 to help then candidate Trump become president Moscow has denied any meddling
Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen since May 2018 when Trump withdrew from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for easing of sanctions Trump has since reinstated U S sanctions increasing pressure on the Iranian economy including its oil trade
The Iranian government did not issue any immediate comment through state run media on Microsoft s statement
John Hultquist director of intelligence at cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc said the particular Iranian group named in the attempts had been conducting high volume operations aimed at harvesting credentials for online accounts
Phosphorus is also known by APT 35 Charming Kitten and Ajax Security Team
Redmond Washington based Microsoft said Phosphorous used information gathered from researching their targets or other means to game password reset or account recovery features and attempt to take over some targeted accounts
The attacks were not technically sophisticated Microsoft said
This effort suggests Phosphorous is highly motivated and willing to invest significant time and resources engaging in research and other means of information gathering the blog said
Federal Election Commission records show that the Trump campaign has spent tens of thousands of dollars on Microsoft products and software
Microsoft has been tracking Phosphorus since 2013 and said in March that it had received a court order to take control of 99 websites the group used to execute attacks https
A computer network used by 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton s campaign was hacked in a cyberattack on Democratic Party political organizations
Big tech companies are under pressure to ramp up security for next year s U S elections and others around the world
Companies including Facebook Inc O FB Alphabet Inc s Google O GOOGL Microsoft and Twitter Inc N TWTR met with U S intelligence agencies earlier in September to discuss security strategies | 10/4/2019 |
MSFT | Trump re election campaign targeted by Iran linked hackers sources | By Christopher Bing and Raphael Satter Reuters A hacking group that appears to be linked to the Iranian government attempted to break into U S President Donald Trump s re election campaign but were unsuccessful sources familiar with the operation told Reuters on Friday Microsoft Corp O MSFT said earlier on Friday in a blog post that it saw significant cyber activity by the group which also targeted current and former U S government officials journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside Iran Trump s official campaign website is the only one of the remaining major contenders sites that is linked to Microsoft s cloud email service according to an inspection of publicly available mail exchanger records We have no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted said Trump campaign Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh In a 30 day period between August and September the group dubbed Phosphorous by Microsoft made more than 2 700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific customers and then attacked 241 of those accounts Four accounts were compromised as a result of these attempts these four accounts were not associated with the U S presidential campaign or current and former U S government officials the blog post said Nineteen Democrats are seeking their party s nomination to run for president in the November 2020 election Three Republicans have announced their candidacy to challenge Trump in the party s nominating contest Microsoft s blog post did not identify the election campaign whose network was targeted by Phosphorous hackers but sources told Reuters the target was Trump s re election effort The FBI did declined to comment Chris Krebs director of the Homeland Security Department s election security division known as CISA said he was aware of the Microsoft report In a statement Krebs called it yet more evidence that our adversaries are looking to undermine our democratic institutions Hacking to interfere in elections has become a concern for governments especially since U S intelligence agencies concluded that Russia ran a hacking and propaganda operation to disrupt the American democratic process in 2016 to help then candidate Trump become president Moscow has denied any meddling Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen since May 2018 when Trump withdrew from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for easing of sanctions Trump has since reinstated U S sanctions increasing pressure on the Iranian economy including its oil trade The Iranian government did not issue any immediate comment through state run media on Microsoft s statement John Hultquist director of intelligence at cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc said the particular Iranian group named in the attempts had been conducting high volume operations aimed at harvesting credentials for online accounts Phosphorus is also known by APT 35 Charming Kitten and Ajax Security Team Redmond Washington based Microsoft said Phosphorous used information gathered from researching their targets or other means to game password reset or account recovery features and attempt to take over some targeted accounts The attacks were not technically sophisticated Microsoft said This effort suggests Phosphorous is highly motivated and willing to invest significant time and resources engaging in research and other means of information gathering the blog said Federal Election Commission records show that the Trump campaign has spent tens of thousands of dollars on Microsoft products and software Microsoft has been tracking Phosphorus since 2013 and said in March that it had received a court order to take control of 99 websites the group used to execute attacks https A computer network used by 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton s campaign was hacked in a cyberattack on Democratic Party political organizations Big tech companies are under pressure to ramp up security for next year s U S elections and others around the world
Companies including Facebook Inc O FB Alphabet Inc s Google O GOOGL Microsoft and Twitter Inc N TWTR met with U S intelligence agencies earlier in September to discuss security strategies | 10/5/2019 |
MSFT | Trump re election campaign targeted by Iran linked hackers sources | By Christopher Bing and Raphael Satter
Reuters A hacking group that appears to be linked to the Iranian government attempted to break into U S President Donald Trump s re election campaign but were unsuccessful sources familiar with the operation told Reuters on Friday
Microsoft Corp O MSFT said earlier on Friday in a blog post that it saw significant cyber activity by the group which also targeted current and former U S government officials journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside Iran
Trump s official campaign website is the only one of the remaining major contenders sites that is linked to Microsoft s cloud email service according to an inspection of publicly available mail exchanger records
We have no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted said Trump campaign Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh
In a 30 day period between August and September the group dubbed Phosphorous by Microsoft made more than 2 700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific customers and then attacked 241 of those accounts
Four accounts were compromised as a result of these attempts these four accounts were not associated with the U S presidential campaign or current and former U S government officials the blog post said
Nineteen Democrats are seeking their party s nomination to run for president in the November 2020 election Three Republicans have announced their candidacy to challenge Trump in the party s nominating contest
Microsoft s blog post did not identify the election campaign whose network was targeted by Phosphorous hackers but sources told Reuters the target was Trump s re election effort
The FBI did declined to comment
Chris Krebs director of the Homeland Security Department s election security division known as CISA said he was aware of the Microsoft report In a statement Krebs called it yet more evidence that our adversaries are looking to undermine our democratic institutions
Hacking to interfere in elections has become a concern for governments especially since U S intelligence agencies concluded that Russia ran a hacking and propaganda operation to disrupt the American democratic process in 2016 to help then candidate Trump become president Moscow has denied any meddling
Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen since May 2018 when Trump withdrew from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for easing of sanctions Trump has since reinstated U S sanctions increasing pressure on the Iranian economy including its oil trade
The Iranian government did not issue any immediate comment through state run media on Microsoft s statement
John Hultquist director of intelligence at cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc said the particular Iranian group named in the attempts had been conducting high volume operations aimed at harvesting credentials for online accounts
Phosphorus is also known by APT 35 Charming Kitten and Ajax Security Team
Redmond Washington based Microsoft said Phosphorous used information gathered from researching their targets or other means to game password reset or account recovery features and attempt to take over some targeted accounts
The attacks were not technically sophisticated Microsoft said
This effort suggests Phosphorous is highly motivated and willing to invest significant time and resources engaging in research and other means of information gathering the blog said
Federal Election Commission records show that the Trump campaign has spent tens of thousands of dollars on Microsoft products and software
Microsoft has been tracking Phosphorus since 2013 and said in March that it had received a court order to take control of 99 websites the group used to execute attacks https
A computer network used by 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton s campaign was hacked in a cyberattack on Democratic Party political organizations
Big tech companies are under pressure to ramp up security for next year s U S elections and others around the world
Companies including Facebook Inc O FB Alphabet Inc s Google O GOOGL Microsoft and Twitter Inc N TWTR met with U S intelligence agencies earlier in September to discuss security strategies | 10/6/2019 |
MSFT | Lyles future union leader or face of sport or both | By Steve Keating
DOHA Reuters Noah Lyles was talking more like a labor organizer than the next Usain Bolt following his 200 meters win at the world championships the American sprinter hinting he might be as likely to lead an athletes union as be the face of the sport
I would love that to lead an athletes union I think about that constantly Lyles told Reuters I talk to a lot of people about that
It s very hard to start now since I m just trying to build my career but it is always in the back of my head
I have ideas
Unable to break free of its doping past and no obvious candidate to fill the void left by the retirement of charismatic Jamaican Usain Bolt athletics is sorely in need of ideas and fresh thinking if it is to remain relevant
Unionising is not a revolutionary concept It pops up into the discussion at almost every world championships or Olympic Games
However the International Association of Athletics Federations IAAF with help from the sportswear giants like Nike NYSE NKE and Adidas DE ADSGN who bankroll many areas of the sport have managed to maintain the status quo
As for the athletes almost everyone agrees organizing is a great idea but no one quite seems to know how to get it done
Track and field athletes are not alone in their hopes of earning liveable wages and gaining a bigger say in how their sport works
In North America some of the world s best women s ice hockey players have unionized Professional Women s Hockey Players Association and are effectively on strike pledging not to join any professional league until an economically viable option emerges
The U S women s soccer team has filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation alleging they are consistently paid less than their male counterparts California last week signed a bill that cleared the way for college athletes to profit from brand sponsorships and endorsement deals
With sponsorship deals appearance money and other income spinning ventures including rapping and modeling the 22 year old Lyles will not have to wonder where his next meal and rent cheque is coming from
But for many of his fellow athletes competing in Doha like Norwegian discus thrower Ola Stunes Isene who moved back to his parents home because he could not make a living from the sport the situation is much more challenging
I would definitely favor having more than one sponsor not necessarily Nike Jamaican 100 meters champion Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce told Reuters I believe the athletes should be paid more
The IAAF definitely makes a lot of money from these games and there are a lot of athletes that are here and not everybody goes away with something so I think we can do more to benefit the athletes
CONTRASTING INCOMES
The main source of income for many is the Diamond League a series of 14 meetings with stops around the globe
Winners of Diamond League events receive 10 000 down to 1 000 for the eighth place finishers
Gold medal winners in Doha will pocket 60 000 silver 30 000 and bronze 10 000 Eighth place finishers walk away with 4 000
In contrast just for stepping on the court for the opening round of the U S Open tennis players were guaranteed 58 000
Track and field athletes have long sought to benefit from additional sponsorship opportunities that big events like world championships and Olympics can provide
The IAAF council voted to permit national teams to display the logo of a national sponsor on their kit at the Doha world championships But only 13 of more than 200 IAAF member federations have taken advantage of the opportunity
Athletes are still prevented from negotiating their own sponsorships with many restricted by IAAF rules and contracts they sign with sportswear companies
Now shoe company brands bring in a lot of money but Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Apple NASDAQ AAPL Coca Cola those some big hitters said Lyles Verizon NYSE VZ what if Verizon wanted to sponsor you
What if Verizon said we want to be known as the fastest internet company and we want the fastest person to represent us
We are going to give you the suit shoes get it plastered on what you are wearing already that would be great | 10/6/2019 |
MSFT | Yes Bank in talks with Microsoft other tech firms to sell up to 15 stake Mint | BENGALURU Reuters Indian private sector lender Yes Bank NS YESB is in talks with Microsoft Corp O MSFT and two other technology companies as it looks to bring in a strategic shareholder as part of a strategy to rake in fresh capital the Mint newspaper reported on Sunday
Shares of the bank were up 4 in early morning trade after opening up 9
The talks began three weeks ago and could see the bank selling as much as 15 through a fresh equity issue the newspaper reported https citing two people aware of the discussions
The bank s chief executive officer Ravneet Gill had said last week that the lender was in talks with private equity firms strategic investors and family offices to raise additional capital
The stake sale may fetch the bank around 20 billion rupees 281 61 million and could help it work on its digital banking and payment system plans one of the sources told the newspaper
Yes Bank and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report | 10/7/2019 |
MSFT | Oracle to hire 2 000 workers to expand cloud business to more countries | By Stephen Nellis
Reuters Oracle Corp N ORCL plans to hire nearly 2 000 additional workers as part of an aggressive plan to roll out its cloud computing services to more locations around the world its cloud chief told Reuters on Monday
Seeking to better compete with bigger rivals Amazon Web Services O AMZN and Microsoft Corp O MSFT the move will also help transition Oracle s business software for finance sales and other functions to new systems over the next year
Jobs will be added in Oracle s software development hubs in Seattle the San Francisco Bay Area and India as well as near new data centers said Don Johnson executive vice president of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure unit
By the end of next year Oracle plans to open 20 more cloud regions places where Oracle operates data centers so customers can safely stash data for disaster recovery or to comply with local data storage laws
The company currently has 16 such regions a dozen of which it opened in the past year New locations will be built out in Chile Japan South Africa and United Arab Emirates as well as elsewhere in Asia and Europe
As of May 31 Oracle had some 136 000 full time staff of which 18 000 were employed in cloud services and license support operations
The fiercely competitive market where big businesses pay a cloud provider to handle their computing and storage tasks instead of building out their own data centers is estimated by Gartner to be worth 38 9 billion in 2019
Amazon is the largest player but Microsoft has staked its turnaround strategy on the services Alphabet Inc s O GOOGL Google and International Business Machines Corp N IBM are also pouring resources into the fight
Under Johnson who joined Oracle in 2015 after seven years in Amazon s cloud unit Oracle has built out its second generation of cloud infrastructure after a rocky first attempt
This time Oracle will run its cloud software applications which compete with the likes of N CRM and SAP SE DE SAPG on the same cloud system it offers outside customers a strategy long employed by firms such as Amazon and Google
We re driving this very very aggressively Johnson said We are very rapidly converting what s a complex footprint to be a very simple footprint Everything everywhere runs on our generation two cloud infrastructure
Oracle is also aiming for a piece of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud or JEDI a 10 billion contract with the U S Department of Defense The award of that contract was put on hold for review after Oracle expressed concerns about the process which left Amazon and Microsoft finalists
Johnson said the job additions were not related to the JEDI project but added that Oracle is continuing to build out data centers for potential government customers | 10/7/2019 |
MSFT | GameStop Falls Midday as Sony Releases PlayStation 5 Details | Investing com GameStop NYSE GME was lower in midday trade on Tuesday after Sony NYSE SNE said it would release its latest PlayStation model during the 2020 holiday season
The release date was slightly later than expected which is likely to be bad news for the struggling game retailer Microsoft s NASDAQ MSFT new Xbox is also expected to come out around the same time
Meanwhile Target NYSE TGT announced it is planning to help TRU Kids relaunch its Toys R Us website which would provide another avenue for customers to buy video games
GameStop NYSE GME was down 4 6 in midday trade | 10/8/2019 |
INTC | Intel Co Sponsors New Hyperledger Transact Project | Global tech giant Intel NASDAQ INTC has co sponsored a new blockchain programming project by major blockchain tech firm Hyperledger according to a Forbes report on July 3
Officially released on June 27 Hyperledger Transact is a new tool that aims to boost the compatibility of blockchain networks by providing a standard interface or a shared software library for smart contracts execution | 7/3/2019 |
INTC | U S judge blocks Qualcomm effort to put antitrust ruling on hold | By Stephen Nellis Reuters A U S judge on Wednesday ruled against Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc s effort to block the implementation of a sweeping antitrust ruling against it as the mobile chip supplier pursues an appeal that could take more than a year to wind through the courts Qualcomm has argued in court that the ruling could hamper critical negotiations with phone makers over 5G technology forcing it to rework license agreements and even offer deals to rival chip suppliers scrambling its business in a way that would be impossible to unwind if it wins on appeal A Qualcomm spokeswoman told Reuters the company plans to immediately ask the 9th U S Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the lower court s decision Shares in Qualcomm were down 0 5 percent to 76 73 after the ruling which had been widely expected U S District Judge Lucy Koh did not give a specific reason for denying Qualcomm s motion but she did strike from the record several pieces of evidence that Qualcomm had tried to use to make its case including a slide deck from internal Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL documents that Qualcomm alleged was evidence of a coordinated effort inside the iPhone maker to harm Qualcomm financially Government regulators had objected to including the slide deck which would have become part of the official record for higher courts to review Qualcomm which supplies modem chips to connect phones to wireless data networks is fighting a May 21 decision by Koh in a case brought by the U S Federal Trade Commission Koh ruled that Qualcomm s patent licensing practices had strangled competition and directed the company to renegotiate licensing agreements with customers Among other things the ruling would drastically alter Qualcomm s business model by forcing it to license its patents to rival chip makers instead of phone makers which could potentially slice its patent royalties from several dollars per phone to pennies Those patents generate most of Qualcomm s profits Qualcomm on May 28 asked Koh to set aside her decision while it pursues an appeal It argued that Koh s ruling raised serious legal questions because among other things Koh blocked market evidence showing that Apple dropped Qualcomm in favor of rival chip supplier Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC Smartphone maker LG Electronics Inc opposed Qualcomm s efforts to freeze the ruling The phone maker said it is negotiating chip supply and patent license agreements with Qualcomm and could be forced into signing another unfair deal unless Koh s protections remain in place The FTC had also opposed Qualcomm s move
Koh s ruling on Wednesday only related to whether to put the provisions on hold temporarily as any appeal plays out Analysts expect many phone makers to be negotiating critical 5G contracts with Qualcomm while the appeal runs its course | 7/4/2019 |
MSFT | Exclusive Hackers apparently linked to Iran tried to intrude in Trump 2020 campaign sources | By Christopher Bing and Raphael Satter
Reuters A hacking group that appears to be linked to the Iranian government attempted to break into U S President Donald Trump s re election campaign but were unsuccessful sources familiar with the operation told Reuters on Friday
Microsoft Corp O MSFT said earlier on Friday that it saw significant cyber activity by the group which also targeted current and former U S government officials journalists covering global politics and prominent Iranians living outside Iran the company said in a blog post Republican Trump s official campaign website is the only one of the remaining major contenders sites that is linked to Microsoft s cloud email service according to an inspection of publicly available mail exchanger records
The Trump campaign s Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh said We have no indication that any of our campaign infrastructure was targeted
In a 30 day period between August and September the group dubbed Phosphorous by the company made more than 2 700 attempts to identify consumer email accounts belonging to specific customers and then attacked 241 of those accounts
Four accounts were compromised as a result of these attempts these four accounts were not associated with the U S presidential campaign or current and former U S government officials the blog post said Microsoft has notified the customers related to these investigations and threats and has worked as requested with those whose accounts were compromised to secure them
Microsoft s blog post did not identify the election campaign whose network was targeted by Phosphorous hackers Nineteen Democrats are seeking their party s nomination to run for president in the November 2020 election Three Republicans have announced their candidacy to challenge Trump in the party s nominating contest
Hacking to interfere in elections has become a concern for governments especially since U S intelligence agencies concluded that Russia ran a hacking and propaganda operation to disrupt the American democratic process in 2016 to help then candidate Trump become president Moscow has denied any meddling
Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen since May 2018 when Trump withdrew from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for easing of sanctions Trump has since reinstated U S sanctions putting increased pressure on the Iranian economy including its oil trade
The Iranian government did not issue any immediate comment through state run media on Microsoft s statement
Phosphorus is also known as APT 35 Charming Kitten and Ajax Security Team according to Microsoft
The Redmond Washington based company said Phosphorous used information gathered from researching their targets or other means to game password reset or account recovery features and attempt to take over some targeted accounts
The attacks were not technically sophisticated the blog said Hackers tried to use a significant amount of personal information to attack targets it said
This effort suggests Phosphorous is highly motivated and willing to invest significant time and resources engaging in research and other means of information gathering the blog post said
Microsoft has been tracking Phosphorus since 2013 and said in March that it had received a court order to take control of 99 websites the group used to execute attacks https
A computer network used by 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton s campaign was hacked in a cyberattack on Democratic Party political organizations in that U S election
Big tech companies are under pressure to ramp up security for next year s U S elections and others around the world
Companies including Facebook Inc O FB Alphabet Inc s Google O GOOGL Microsoft and Twitter Inc N TWTR met with U S intelligence agencies earlier in September to discuss security strategies
Microsoft had said in a blog post in July that about 10 000 customers were targeted or compromised by nation state attacks in the past year Most of the activity originated from hackers in three countries Iran North Korea and Russia the company said | 10/4/2019 |
MSFT | Wall Street gains as weak services data raises rate cut expectations | By Noel Randewich Reuters Wall Street stocks climbed on Thursday after data showing U S services sector activity at a three year low fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates to stem a wider economic downturn Microsoft O MSFT rose 1 2 and Facebook O FB added 2 7 with the two contributing more than any other companies to the S P 500 s gain The market dropped after the Institute for Supply Management ISM said its non manufacturing activity index fell to a reading of 52 6 in September the lowest since August 2016 That added to fears sparked on Tuesday when a report showed U S factory activity contracted to its lowest level in more than a decade as well as data on Wednesday showing private payrolls growth in August was not as strong as previously estimated Stock prices bounced back from the dour economic data as bets on a third U S rate cut this year at Fed s October policy meeting surged to 90 from 40 according to CME Group s Fed Watch tool The degradation of the data especially the non manufacturing data kind of pushes the Fed to another cut said Kim Forrest chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh Traders are again expecting at least two more rate reductions by the end of 2019 which they had abandoned after the central bank described each of its last two rate cuts as a mid cycle adjustment MMT We are at a critical point Global growth is slowing and U S growth is decelerating because of trade disputes and uncertainty caused by trade policy said Ben Phillips chief investment officer at EventShares But the market loves easy money and when it gets a whiff of it it gets high A pivotal jobs report on Friday may contribute more evidence of whether the U S China trade war is pushing the world s largest economy toward a recession The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 0 47 to end at 26 201 04 while the S P 500 SPX gained 0 80 to 2 910 63 The Nasdaq Composite IXIC added 1 12 to end the session at 7 872 27 Over the past 12 months the S P 500 is down about 0 5 PepsiCo Inc O PEP on Thursday rose 3 after beating quarterly expectations as higher advertising and new low calorie versions of Gatorade boosted demand for its beverages in North America Its shares pushed the S P consumer staples index SPLRCS 0 7 higher All of the 11 major sectors rose led by a 1 3 rise in the energy index SPNY Corona maker Constellation Brands Inc N STZ fell 6 1 after it took an 839 million markdown in the value of its investment in pot firm Canopy Growth TO WEED during the quarter Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1 80 to 1 ratio on Nasdaq a 1 56 to 1 ratio favored advancers The S P 500 posted 9 new 52 week highs and 20 new lows the Nasdaq Composite recorded 6 new highs and 109 new lows
Volume on U S exchanges was 7 1 billion shares compared with the 7 3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days | 10/3/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Wall Street Sees a Modest Rally After Heavy Losses | Investing com Late buying gave stocks a decent finish on Thursday after getting crushed in the last two days
The S P 500 advanced 0 8 The Dow Jones industrials added 0 47 and the Nasdaq Composite won a relatively strong 1 12 gain The gains were welcome after the Dow lost 838 points in the prior two days with the S P 500 giving up 89 points and the Nasdaq 214
The S P 500 and Dow finished just below their highs of the day The Nasdaq closed at its high
The upside of the rally was heavy buying in the last half hour of the day The Dow moved up more than 100 points to finish with a 122 point gain
The rally was powered by big technology stocks including Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Facebook NASDAQ FB Apple NASDAQ AAPL Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL
The five combined to contribute nearly 40 of the Nasdaq 100 index s gain of nearly 88 points
In addition Costco Wholesale NASDAQ COST due to report earnings after the close was up 1 4 But the shares were 1 1 lower after hours after the company reported lower than expected earnings per share and sales growth on a comparable store basis was lower than expected
Boeing NYSE BA McDonald s NYSE MCD Apple Visa NYSE V and Microsoft were responsible for 101 points of the Dow s 122 point gain
The market seemed to weather weakness in Tesla NASDAQ TSLA whose September deliveries missed expectations
As welcome as Thursday s rally was Friday s jobs report from the Labor Department could scuttle things quickly if the numbers are weak Solid job growth will probably set off a big day
Uncertainty in the market came early in the day from the Institute for Supply Management whose September report for the non manufacturing economy showed the slowest growth in three years
The ISM report set off a selloff with the Dow down as many as 335 points before recovering in a big way The report also expanded speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut its key rate at its meeting at the end of October Investing com s Fed Rate Monitor Tool gives a rate cut a 91 chance of happening
Oil prices were mostly flat but interest rates dropped The 10 Year Treasury yield fell to 1 536 from Wednesday s 1 597 sought safety Safety also helped gold move higher Gold futures in New York were up 5 90 an ounce to 1 509 80 an ounce
S P 500 leaders included Lamb Weston Holdings NYSE LW one of the biggest french fry processors market platform operator MarketAxesss Holdings and chipmaker Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA
Wine merchant Constellation Brands NYSE STZ Charles Schwab NYSE SCHW and Delta Air Lines NYSE DAL were among the weakest S P 500 stocks | 10/3/2019 |