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☆ India's Wipro forecasts weak Q1 IT services rev
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 27 (Reuters) - Indian IT services provider Wipro Ltd (WIPR.NS) said on Thursday revenue from its mainstay IT Services unit would fall in the current quarter, after posting a marginal dip in profit for the three months ended March. The Bengaluru-based company forecast revenue from IT Services business to fall between 1% and 3% on constant currency terms, in the range of $2,753 million to $2,811 million for the first quarter. Bigger rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and Infosys (INFY.NS) have also reported lower than expected quarterly earnings and gave weak forecasts. Net profit for Wipro fell for fell 0.4% to 30.75 billion rupees for the quarter ending March, while revenue rose 11.2%. Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Dropbox to cut workforce by 16%, hire new talent for AI-powered products
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 27 (Reuters) - Cloud storage provider Dropbox Inc (DBX.O) said on Thursday it would reduce its global workforce by 16% to cut costs amid slowing cloud growth, and instead hire new talent to build its AI offerings. San Francisco, California-based Dropbox is the latest tech company to tap AI as Big Tech players from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) battle for a slice of the fast-growing market with new products and offerings. At the end of 2022, the company had 3,118 full-time employees, of which 2,583 were located in the United States. "We've been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we'll need even more," Houston said in a memo to staff. Houston is also on the board of Meta Platforms, which said on Wednesday AI was helping it boost traffic to Facebook and Instagram and earn more in ad sales.

☆ 'AI All-Star' Microsoft's rosy earnings spark rally in tech stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant was set to add nearly $160 billion to its market value and replace Saudi Aramco (2223.SE) as the world's second-most valuable company, if premarket gains hold. Microsoft's results bode well for an industry that has laid off tens of thousands of workers recently as demand fades in the face of a sagging economy. The Windows maker's earnings call on Wednesday underscored the growing importance of AI, with CEO Satya Nadella referring to 50 times in a 60-minute event. "Given the significant head start OpenAI has over other generative AI engines and Microsoft has over its hyperscaler (large-scale data center) competitors, we believe that Azure may gain share as generative AI continues to proliferate into many more corners of software and the economy," D A Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

April 25 (Reuters) - Star host Tucker Carlson's abrupt exit from Fox News is likely to hit short-term ratings but could nudge more mainstream advertisers to consider a network they have snubbed for being too partisan, investors and analysts said. News of his departure on Monday wiped nearly $1 billion from the market valuation of the network's parent company, Rupert Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp (FOXA.O). "It's a huge deal," said Matthew Tuttle, head of Tuttle Capital Management, an investment firm that is betting against Fox shares. The conservative-leaning Carlson's prime-time show was the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on Fox News - the most-watched U.S. cable news network. It's likely that advertisers who were seeking that audience may have limited other options for conservative news viewership without skewing too conservative."

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationApril 24 (Reuters) - A quarter into record layoffs, investors in U.S. tech giants will scrutinize if the cost cuts boosted profits to their satisfaction, while the companies emphasize how artificial intelligence will be their next growth driver. Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Instagram owner Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) all report quarterly results this week. From a year earlier, profit is expected to slump nearly 16%, on average, with Microsoft expected to perform the least poorly with a 0.5% slip. These three companies, along with Amazon, said between November and March they would slash 70,000 jobs in a rapidly weakening economy, following a pandemic-led hiring boom. "There are expectations that companies could create or do even more with AI ... every tech investor is expecting those companies to be in the frontier."

☆ Indian cos sometimes face delays in paying for Russian oil above $60/bbl - oil secretary
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, April 24 (Reuters) - Indian companies "sometimes" face delays in paying for Russian oil priced above the $60 cap per barrel fixed by the Western nations, India's oil secretary Pankaj Jain said on Monday. "Nobody stops us from buying Russian oil at above the price cap level provided. In case of Russian oil priced above the cap, the companies on their own manage to find alternative mechanisms to settle payments, he said, adding most Russian oil supplies to India are made at below the price cap level. He also said India is seeking to buy oil at discounts from other countries depending on grades. India has significantly increased oil imports from Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.

The steep drop in fresh capital has left many companies in a vulnerable state, while the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, a leading provider of venture debt, has added to the challenge, a report by venture capital (VC) firm Space Capital said on Thursday. Space Capital's report, coming on the heels of a Chapter 11 filing from Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc, tracked 89 companies active in the sector. The risk threshold to invest in space companies was much higher earlier, but given recent market uncertainty, investors may not be as risk-loving and space being a nascent sector, many are dialing back, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu told Reuters separately. However, Space Capital added that companies in emerging industries, like those associated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Artemis mission to the Moon are seeing an increased interest. Reuters GraphicsReporting by Akash Sriram and Tanya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"The Tesla bull case has centered around the company's growth goals, which it is failing to meet." Tesla's stock is trading at about 43 times expected earnings, down from astronomical levels above 200 times in 2021, according to Refinitiv data. Tesla on Wednesday doubled down on the price war it started at the end of last year, as Musk said the company would prioritize sales growth ahead of profit. In the first quarter, Tesla posted its lowest quarterly gross profit margin in two years. You're investing in Elon Musk," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer of Bokeh Capital Partners.

☆ Branson's Virgin Orbit files Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, poses for a photograph on board of his new cruise liner, the Scarlet Lady at Dover Port in Dover, Britain, February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Simon DawsonApril 19 (Reuters) - Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc and its subsidiaries in the United States filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the satellite launch company struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed launch in January. "We expect the filing of the plan and disclosure statement will help us to efficiently conclude the Chapter 11 process once we have completed the sale of the company," Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit said in the statement. The company is seeking the sale of its assets, after laying off roughly 85% of its 750 employees.

☆ Short positions on Canada's TD Bank rise to $6.1 billion, ORTEX data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Maiya Keidan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TORONTO, April 19 (Reuters) - Hedge fund bets against Canada's TD Bank Group (TD.TO) hit $6.1 billion on Wednesday, a 45% increase from 14 days ago, according to data provider ORTEX's calculations, one day ahead of the Canadian lender's annual general meeting. So-called 'arbitrage investors', many of which are event-driven hedge funds, bet on mergers and acquisitions by buying shares of the target and shorting the acquirer's stock. TD, which is awaiting regulatory approval of its takeover of First Horizon, is expected to address the $13.4 billion deal at its AGM on Thursday in Toronto. Hedge funds profit when they borrow a stock from an institutional investor and sell it back when the price falls, pocketing the difference, a practice known as short-selling. TD shares are down 0.1% since the U.S. regional banking crisis began, and up 3.4% this week.

April 19 (Reuters) - Netflix Inc's (NFLX.O) shares fell nearly 3% on Wednesday after the streaming pioneer forecast current-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates, hit by a delay in the wider roll-out of its solution to password sharing. The company will now launch paid sharing widely, including in the U.S., between April and June. It reported a rise in subscriber growth in the first quarter in Canada - one of the markets where it has cracked down on password sharing. The move is expected to result in some knee-jerk churn and near-term earnings risks but should ultimately pay off, analysts said. "The next few months will likely be noisy as paid sharing headline risk grows louder, but we'd be buyers of related pullbacks," J.P.Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth said.

☆ European shares edge higher ahead of more Wall St earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Shubham Batra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Rate-sensitive technology shares <.SX8P> fell 1.2% tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, while banking shares (.SX7P), which were the biggest gainers on Friday, fell 0.3% . Investors will closely monitor a slew of earnings reports led by Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) due later in the week. Last week, Citigroup Inc (C.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) beat earnings expectations, benefiting from rising interest rates and easing fears of stress in the banking system. "Cautious optimism is the Monday motivation mantra, as stronger U.S. corporate news and signs of consumer resilience help to mask ongoing worries about the knock-on effect of higher interest rates," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown. Shares of Rovio (ROVIO.HE) rose 17.8% after Japan's Sega (6460.T) agreed to launch a 706 million euro offer for Angry Birds maker.

☆ Apple to use only recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 13 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Thursday it would use only recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025 as a part of its efforts to make all its products carbon neutral by the end of the decade. Magnets in Apple devices will use recycled rare earth elements, and in-house designed printed circuit boards will use recycled tin soldering and gold plating, the company said. Apple is pushing to become carbon neutral through its entire supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030. A quarter of all cobalt used in Apple products came from recycled material in 2022, up from 13% a year earlier, Apple said. It now sources over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95% of all tungsten in its products from recycled material.

☆ Apple now makes almost 7% of its iPhones in India - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 13 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has significantly increased its production of iPhones in India, accounting for almost 7% of its total iPhone production, up from 1% in 2021, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The company assembled more than $7 billion worth of iPhones in the country in the last fiscal year, the report said. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Apple in talks with suppliers to make MacBooks in Thailand - Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 13 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is in talks with suppliers to make MacBooks in Thailand as the company continues to expand its manufacturing footprint outside of China, Nikkei reported on Thursday. Suppliers who are participating in these talks have existing manufacturing complexes in Thailand for other clients and are discussing possible assembly and production of components and modules for MacBooks, sources from three suppliers directly involved in the conversations with Apple told Nikkei. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Apple and its key suppliers have been shifting production away from China as they seek to avoid a potential hit to business from mounting Sino-U.S. trade frictions. Reporting by Akriti Sharma and Yana Gaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NPR to stop using Twitter, says account's new label misleading
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 12 (Reuters) - National Public Radio (NPR) will no longer post content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a label by the social media platform that implies government involvement in the U.S. organization's editorial content. NPR said on Wednesday Twitter refused its repeated requests to remove the inaccurate label of "state-affiliated media", now changed to "government-funded media," which did not accurately capture its public media governance structure. British broadcaster BBC has also objected to the latest label, saying it's misleading. "If we continued tweeting, every post would carry that misleading label," NPR said. NPR said it would remain on other social media platforms, and was reviewing whether it should expand to include emerging third-party platforms.

☆ Musk says unaware why Twitter India pulled posts on BBC documentary critical of Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In January, India ordered the blocking of a BBC documentary which questioned Modi's leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying that even sharing of any clips via social media was barred. The government had issued orders to Twitter to block over 50 tweets linking to the video of the documentary, Kanchan Gupta, an adviser to the government, had said. While the BBC had not aired the documentary in India, the video was uploaded on some YouTube channels, Gupta had said. "The rules in India for what can appear on social media are quite strict and we can't go beyond the laws of the country," he said. "If we have a choice of either our people go to prison or we comply with the laws, we will comply with the laws..." Musk said.

☆ INDIA RUPEE Rupee falls past 82/USD despite dollar weakness; outflows likely
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Anushka Trivedi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, April 11 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee declined past the key psychological mark of 82 per dollar on Tuesday on likely corporate outflows and importer demand for the greenback, traders said. The rupee finished at 82.1250 to the dollar, having declined up to 82.15 during the session. They also cited importer demand through the session. So far, companies and bankers have had a bias towards rupee appreciation on improving macro economic fundamentals and carry trade appeal. "A sharp pick-up in services exports, increased smartphone exports and savings in the oil import bill... have likely altered India's CAD permanently."

☆ British EV startup Arrival announces reverse stock split
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 11 (Reuters) - British EV startup Arrival SA said on Tuesday its shareholders, on April 6, approved a reverse stock split at a ratio of one-for-fifty to gain compliance with Nasdaq's listing regulations. Arrival's stock fell about 8% to $0.13 in trading before the bell. The reverse stock split will be effective on April 14. Last week Arrival said it would merge with blank-check firm Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp V (KCGI.N). The special purpose acquisition company had about $283 million in cash held in trust, that will contribute to the business, Arrival had said.

☆ Auto, realty stocks power Indian shares ahead of March quarter earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Bharath Rajeswaran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, April 10 (Reuters) - Indian shares advanced on Monday, aided by auto and realty stocks following strong quarterly business updates, but rising odds of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike in May capped gains. The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) rose 0.28% at 17,647.70, as of 9:51 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.24% to 59,975.11. Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with auto stocks (.NIFTYAUTO) rising over 1%. Wall Street equities rose on Thursday in a truncated week, ahead of U.S. jobs data, which was released on Friday. The market is pricing in 68.3% chance of a 25 basis point rate hike in May, up from 49.2% on Thursday, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

☆ India likely to get "below normal" monsoon rains in 2023 - Skymet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 10 (Reuters) - India is likely to get "below normal" monsoon rains in 2023 with an increasing likelihood of El-Nino, which typically brings dry weather to Asia, private weather forecasting agency Skymet said on Monday. "Likelihood of El Nino is increasing and its probability to become a dominant category during the monsoon is growing large. El Nino return may presage a weaker monsoon," Jatin Singh, managing director, Skymet said in a statement. Monsoon rains in India are expected to be 94% of the long-term average, said Skymet, retaining its previous view of sub-par monsoon. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, known as the agriculture bowl of North India, are likely to observe less than normal rains during the 2nd half of the season, the weather forecaster said.

☆ London's FTSE 100 climbs ahead of Easter break
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Sruthi Shankar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.5% and is on course to end the holiday-shortened week about 1% higher, with gains in oil & gas and healthcare stocks offering support. Shell (SHEL.L) rose 1.7% as the energy giant forecast higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) output in the first quarter. The midcap FTSE 250 index (.FTMC) rose 0.2%, with London-listed shares of travel firm TUI jumping 7.2% after sharp losses this week. "The report noted mortgage rates have continued to trend downwards, housing transactions have picked up slightly and the employment market remains robust. We still see challenges ahead as affordability remains under pressure," said Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown.

S&P 500's busiest tradesThe S&P 500 declined 0.25% to end the session at 4,090.38 points. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsOf the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven declined, led lower by consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD), down 2.04%, followed by a 1.3% loss in industrials (.SPLRCI). Analysts on average expect aggregate S&P 500 company earnings for the first quarter to have fallen 5% year-over-year, according to Refinitiv I/B/E/S. Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) by a 1.2-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 11 new highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 39 new highs and 269 new lows.

Driving the recession fears, the ADP National Employment report showed U.S. private employers hired far fewer workers than expected in March. S&P 500's busiest tradesThe S&P 500 was down 0.52% at 4,079.37 points. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six declined, led lower by consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD), down 1.93%, followed by a 1.65% loss in information technology (.SPLRCT). Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) by a 1.5-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted eight new highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 25 new highs and 218 new lows.

Earlier this week data showed falling factory orders and soft manufacturing activity. Traders' bets of a pause by the Fed in May stood at 60.5%, while odds of a 25-basis point interest rate hike was at 39.5%, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool. Defensive stocks such as consumer staples (.SPLRCS) were in the green among major S&P 500 sectors, with healthcare (.SPXHC) and utilities (.SPLRCU) hitting their highest in close to two months. The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq are now on track for their first weekly declines in four in the holiday-shortened week. The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 185 new lows.

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