- S&P 5003,004.52+0.28%
- Dow 3026,833.95+0.17%
- Nasdaq8,119.79+0.19%
- Russell 20001,552.86+0.13%
- Crude Oil55.49-0.86%
- Gold1,494.70-0.07%
- Silver17.52-0.31%
- EUR/USD1.1140+0.0446%
- 10-Yr Bond1.7590-0.51%
- Vix14.01-3.11%
- GBP/USD1.2915+0.0052%
- USD/JPY108.6160-0.0515%
- BTC-USD7,504.07-0.13%
- FTSE 1007,260.74+0.67%
- Nikkei 22522,734.63+0.48%
- American City Business Journals
Less expensive homes drive M/I Homes to record revenue
On an earnings call after trading closed, CEO Bob Schottenstein said the quarter was "outstanding" and cited the company's Smart Series line – homes in the upper $200,000 range and at 1,500 square feet and up – which it introduced a few years ago and has been quickly rolling out nationwide. "Clearly housing conditions are generally good and have been aided by a very favorable interest rate environment," Schottenstein said. "That said ... we are outperforming in a number of our markets." Of $1.8 billion in construction activity now, Smart Series homes are being sold in 50 of its 221 communities.
- Associated Press
Workers at large GM plant in Michigan approve contract
Workers at one of the largest General Motors factories have voted to ratify a new contract with the company, an indication that a five-week strike could be coming to an end. United Auto Workers Local 598 at a pickup truck plant in Flint, Michigan, approved the contract Wednesday. The Flint local is the second-largest in the nation, so its approval is a strong sign the contract will be ratified.
- FX Empire
Gold Price Prediction – Gold Consolidates as Hedgefunds Sell Long Positions
Trade gold with FXTM [fx-broker slug=fxtm] Technical Analysis Gold prices moved higher but continue to remain rangebound with support near an upward sloping trend line that comes in near 1,480. Additional support is seen near the 100-day moving average at 1,459. Resistance is seen near the 10-day moving average at 1,489, and then a downward sloping trend line that comes in near 1,506.
- Reuters
Malaysia’s Najib clueless about millions banked in his account, lawyers say
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak did not know that millions of dollars transferred into his personal accounts came from scandal-linked state fund 1MDB, his lawyers said on Wednesday as prosecutors wrapped up their first case against the ex-premier. Najib, who lost a general election last year, is facing dozens of criminal charges over allegations that $4.5 billion was stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund he co-founded in 2009. In the first case against him, Najib has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power over allegations that he illegally received transfers totaling 42 million ringgit ($10 million) from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit.
- Bloomberg
Hong Kong Fashion Store Operator Says Situation Is 'Really Bad'
Douglas Young, co-founder and chief executive officer of Goods of Desire, or G.O.D., a lifestyle and fashion store-chain operator in Hong Kong, discusses how the protests are affecting his business. Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled a range of relief measures worth about HK$2 billion ($255 million) targeting tourism and the transportation industry in a renewed effort to help businesses grappling with the economic fallout of ongoing turmoil. Young speaks on "Bloomberg Markets: Asia."
- MarketWatch
Charles Schwab’s move to sell fractions of shares could be a ‘game-changer’ for investors
If you're still a small-bucks investor and you want to put, say, $100 every month into the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund, you're out of luck. At most brokerage houses there's no way to buy less of it at a time than one share. Online broker Charles Schwab is planning to launch “fractional stock” ownership in a bid to woo younger investors, the company's founder and president Charles R. Schwab said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.
- Reuters
Tesla shares soar 21% as surprise profit answers sceptics
Tesla Inc on Wednesday surprised investors with a quarterly profit that sent its shares soaring, as Chief Executive Elon Musk promised a 2020 rollout of a cheaper SUV and more self-driving technology to stay ahead of larger rivals rushing into the premium electric vehicle market he created. Shares rose nearly 21% to $307.12 after hours on the unexpected news, crossing $300 for the first time since March 1 after record deliveries and cost cuts ensured a profitable third quarter. Tesla on Wednesday posted a cash balance increase to $5.3 billion (£4.11 billion) and reported a profit of $1.86 per share, shattering analyst expectations for a loss of 42 cents per share.
- TheStreet.com
Uber and Lyft are Driving in Opposite Directions
If you bought shares of Uber Technologies when the stock debuted on the market on May 10, you've lost about 25% of your initial investment. This bullish pattern projects the stock to the $36 area. Another reason to believe this stock is about to turn around is its moving average convergence divergence indicator, or MACD.
- Bloomberg
China Is Struggling to Offload Foreign Acquisitions, From Yachts to Pizza
In just a few weeks, companies from yacht makers to luxury clothing and pizza outlets -- acquired by Chinese firms in recent years -- have either scrapped planned initial public offerings or sought alternatives to reduce their debt piles. Ferretti SpA, the Italian superyacht maker controlled by China's SHIG–Weichai Group, shelved its planned Milan listing last week, citing weak market conditions. Shandong Ruyi Technology Group Co., which spent over $4 billion on purchases including U.K. trench coat maker Aquascutum, introduced a local state-owned firm as its second-largest shareholder amid rising pressure to repay debt.
- MarketWatch
Tesla is profitable again. How long will it last this time?
After producing more than $300 million in profits in that quarter, Tesla earnings fell to $100 million in the next quarter before diving to a loss of more than $1 billion in the first half of this year. Chief Executive Elon Musk blamed that quick decline on logistical issues, growing pains and more, but now promises (again) that Tesla will be profitable moving forward, even as he heads into yet another frantic ramp. The question Tesla investors are left with is if the company will be able to sustain the current profitability — which was mostly derived from cost-cutting and emissions credits— at the same time it is building out the new Model Y and a brand-new gigafactory in China.
- MarketWatch
GE freezes its pension plans and offers former employees lump sum buyouts
1. Freeze its pension plan for about 20,000 salaried employees and for about 700 employees in a supplementary plan. 2. Offer lump-sums to about 100,000 former employees who have not started benefits. Freezing GE's plan means that 20,000 salaried employees will not be able to accrue any new benefits under the plan beginning in 2021.
- Quartz
Tesla shocks the market and turns a profit
“It's cost, cost, cost,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors in January just before losing $1.1 billion in the following months. It was also unexpected: Analysts polled by FactSet expected Tesla to lose $253 million this quarter. The company has only posted four profitable quarters before now, and never recorded an annual profit.
- Bloomberg
Naspers Offshoot Orders Up $6.3 Billion of Takeout Food
The assailant, the European offshoot of South African tech giant Naspers Ltd, is throwing the prospect of cash at Just Eat's shareholders to persuade them to ditch an all-share merger deal with Dutch rival Takeaway.com NV. Naspers listed the bid vehicle, Prosus NV, in Amsterdam last month and analysts had expected it to gatecrash. The latter deal would give Just Eat shareholders just over half the combined company, roughly in line with the duo's average relative market values in the three months before discussions leaked.
- MarketWatch
Microsoft earnings trounce expectations, but Azure growth rate continues to shrink
Microsoft Corp. easily trumped expectations with an earnings report Wednesday afternoon that displayed double-digit percentage gains in profit and sales, but the Azure cloud business's growth rate continued to decline. The most valuable public company in the U.S. reported fiscal first-quarter profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.38 a share, on revenue of $33.1 billion, up from $1.14 a share on sales of $29.08 billion a year ago. Microsoft (MSFT) stock closed with a 0.6% gain at $137.24, giving the company a market capitalization of $1.056 trillion, declined less than 1% in after-hours trading following the release of the results, then rose to a gain of 0.5% after Microsoft gave a slightly more optimistic full-year forecast.
- Reuters
Tesla shares soar 21% as surprise profit answers skeptics
Tesla Inc on Wednesday surprised investors with a quarterly profit that sent its shares soaring, as Chief Executive Elon Musk promised a 2020 rollout of a cheaper SUV and more self-driving technology to stay ahead of larger rivals rushing into the premium electric vehicle market he created. Shares rose nearly 21% to $307.12 after hours on the unexpected news, crossing $300 for the first time since March 1 after record deliveries and cost cuts ensured a profitable third quarter. Tesla on Wednesday posted a cash balance increase to $5.3 billion and reported a profit of $1.86 per share, shattering analyst expectations for a loss of 42 cents per share.
- Investor's Business Daily Video
Solar Stocks On Fire: Will They Get Even Hotter?
The solar energy industry has been on fire this year, with that group gaining a collective 30% year to date as measured by the Invesco Solar ETF, TAN. Jason Bloom, Senior Director of Global Macro Strategy at Invesco, discusses the ins and outs of the hot group and why solar stocks could be positioned for an even bigger move.
- Investor's Business Daily
GE Delivers Flight-Ready Version Of World's Biggest Engine To Boeing
General Electric delivered the first flight-compliant GE9X engine to Dow Jones aviation giant Boeing, reports said, paving the way for Boeing 777-9 flight tests to resume. GE stock reversed higher, and Boeing stock gained despite a big earnings miss. GE's GE9X engine arrived at Boeing's Everett, Wash.
- Investor's Business Daily
What Is A Dividend? Plus The 5 Best Dividend-Paying Stocks Now
In the simplest terms, a dividend is your share of a company's profits. Some companies, such as those in the U.K., pay a semiannual dividend to shareholders. The best dividend-paying stocks tend to be older, more established companies.
- Bloomberg
Tesla Packs Profit Report With Positivity as Musk Breaks Mold
On top of that, Musk peppered investors with positive updates: Tesla's new factory in China is already starting production, the Model Y crossover will launch months earlier than expected next year and the long languishing energy business is showing signs of life. Tesla still faces challenges: quarterly revenue fell for the first time since 2012, and the company has posted the occasional profit in the past that it's been unable to sustain. “If you look at the margins and the profitability, that's the major feather in the cap for the bulls,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said on Bloomberg Television.
- Bloomberg
Ford Cuts Profit Outlook on Higher Incentive, Warranty Costs
The profit warning comes after a rocky quarter for the automaker, with North American profit margins edging down due in part to plunging sales of its cash cow Explorer sport-utility vehicle following a bungled launch. Higher warranty costs, elevated incentive spending in North America and lower China sales prompted Ford to slash its outlook for 2019 earnings before interest and taxes to a range between $6.5 billion and $7 billion, down from an earlier estimate of $7 billion to $7.5 billion. Ford's shares pared a drop of as much as 6% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, trading down 2.6% to $8.97 as of 7:33 p.m. in New York.
- Yahoo Finance
Tesla posts surprise 3Q profit, stock surges
Tesla (TSLA) unexpectedly turned a profit in the third quarter, sending shares soaring in after-hours trading. As is typical with Tesla's quarterly expectations, the range of the Street's estimates for the company's bottom-line results ran a wide gamut, ranging from a loss of as much of $1.25 per share to earnings of as much as 34 cents per share, according to Bloomberg data. Shares of Tesla jumped more than 18% to $301.46 each as of 5:36 p.m. ET after the estimates-topping earnings results were released.
- Yahoo Finance
Microsoft beats on revenue, earnings on strength of cloud business
Microsoft (MSFT) reported its Q1 2020 earnings on Wednesday, beating analysts' expectations on the top and bottom line. Here are the most important numbers from the quarter, as well as what analysts were expecting based on consensus estimates from Bloomberg: Revenue: $33.1 billion versus $32.2 billion expected Adjusted earnings per share: $1.38 versus $1.24 expected Intelligent cloud division: $10.85 billion versus $10.44 billion expected The company's stock was down 0.54% following the announcement. Microsoft has seen incredible growth in the last few years due in large part to its investments in its Azure cloud services.
- Oilprice.com
Goldman: A Major Oil Price Rally Is On The Horizon
The investment bank says that slowing U.S. shale production growth combined with a shortage of investment in long-term projects will lead to a new boom. Goldman lowered its forecast for U.S. oil production growth to 0.7 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2020, down sharply from its 1 mb/d forecast previously. Interestingly, Goldman attributed the downward revision not just to a slowdown in drilling, but also to “updated longer-term decline rates to be consistent with play-to-date results,” which is a complicated way of saying shale wells are not performing as well as previously anticipated.
- Barrons.com
Slack CEO Says He Has No Regrets Choosing Direct Listing to Go Public, Has Harsh Words for Microsoft
(WORK) CEO Stewart Butterfield said Wednesday he has no regrets about the company's decision to choose a direct listing rather than an initial public offering to go public, despite the nearly 45% slide in the company's shares since it started trading in June. Butterfield made the comments Wednesday in the final session of this week's Wall Street Journal technology conference in Laguna Beach, California. Slack's (ticker: WORK) direct listing has triggered a widespread discussion in Silicon Valley about whether direct listings are a better option for companies looking to go public than traditional initial offerings.
- TheStreet.com
Don't Buy Boeing Until It Nears $300 a Share. Here's Why.
Boeing's third-quarter results, reported before the opening bell this morning, missed earnings-per-share estimates. The stock dipped to $330.86 premarket, then recovered to open at $345, up from Tuesday's close of $337. Given all the uncertainties explained below, do not buy the stock unless it declines to its annual value level at $302.60.
