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The company forecast revenue in its main segments for the current quarter would match or top Wall Street targets. Those results and Microsoft's helped boost shares of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), another major cloud operator, 4.8% in after hours trading. Microsoft revenue rose 7% to $52.9 billion in the quarter ended March, inching past analyst estimates of $51.02 billion, according to Refinitiv. The bulk of Microsoft sales still come from selling software and cloud computing services to customers. The sales drop in the segment was less severe than analysts expected, with Microsoft reporting revenue of $13.3 billion versus analyst estimates of $12.19 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ China Drops Covid P.C.R. Test Rule for Inbound Travelers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The United States and China have not yet lifted tit-for-tat caps that they imposed on routes between their two countries during the pandemic. In January, as the coronavirus spread widely across China, several countries, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, announced mandatory tests for inbound travelers from China. (South Korea had also suspended some visas for Chinese travelers.) The United States, Japan and South Korea no longer require any predeparture tests for travelers arriving from China, but China had not changed its rule until Tuesday. Travelers from other countries to China, meanwhile, had been allowed to take antigen tests.

☆ Is it a bull market or a bear market? Stocks churning in same spot for weeks frustrates investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Stocks have been churning in a narrow channel on low volume for weeks, the S & P 500 about flat on Friday, flat for the week and barely changed this month. Yet rather than finding comfort in the gentle action anchored to familiar price levels, investors are generally frustrated or confused by it. As Bespoke Investment Group summed it up after Friday's close, "For all the talk about whether we're in a new bull market or still stuck in a bear, at this point it seems like neither. All but one of the prior 13 instances saw the S & P 500 higher six and 12 months later (beyond the initial six-month period). This is an organic insulator of S & P 500 volatility.

☆ The stock market rally has run its course as earnings highlight weakening consumer demand, strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The S&P 500 has risen 19% from its bear-market low. The S&P 500 has gained 8% this year and is up 19% from its bear-market low of 3,491.58 logged in October. That "suggests that the stock market rally so far this year may have run its course," said Schein, whose firm his based in Palm Desert, California. The S&P 500 has sagged in recent sessions as earnings reports roll out from Corporate America. "The main takeaway from earnings season so far is that consumer demand is weakening," said Schein.

☆ Stocks slip as focus turns back to Fed and inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"With those stresses easing away, markets are now back to focusing on the Fed." A slew of Federal Reserve speakers are in the frame over the rest of this week ahead of the pre-meeting blackout period that begins on the weekend. The Fed's "beige book" of economic conditions is published on Wednesday and appearances are due from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and New York Fed President John Williams. "Lower rate volatility and reduced expectations for Fed rate hikes should put the broad U.S. dollar in a weaker position," HSBC analysts said in a currency outlook note. This held down real yields, propped up equity multiples, and tightened credit spreads in the face of falling earnings expectations.

☆ Goldman has its fingers in the wrong pies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Rising interest rates have been a gift to big U.S. banks – except Goldman Sachs (GS.N). Boss David Solomon is reshaping the firm, but for now Goldman has to earn its money the hard way. Goldman, with interest just 15% of its revenue compared with roughly half at its banking peers, missed out. Solomon wants to remold Goldman as a bank for all seasons, but he isn’t there yet. Goldman’s fixed-income trading revenue fell 17% year-on-year, with “significantly lower” revenue in currencies and commodities.

☆ Jittery Arsenal losing their grip with summit in sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Perhaps then the enormity of what was looming on the horizon -- a first league title since 2004 -- began to sink in. Liverpool roared back to draw 2-2 and were unlucky not to claim all three points as Arsenal visibly shrank. But Arsenal have offered up the sort of gifts that Pep Guardiola's ruthless side are unlikely to reciprocate as they seek a fifth Premier League title in six seasons. GAME MANAGEMENTArteta's face at the final whistle said it all and he knows that Arsenal have lost control of the title race. "There is a moment where you could go 3-1 up after 50 minutes and probably the game is over.

☆ PC Shipments Fall 29%, Led by Drop in Apple Devices
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Will Feuer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Inventories have come down in the past few months but are still elevated, according to market research firm International Data Corp.PC shipments sagged on weaker demand, with Apple Inc. leading the decline as the industry grapples with a pandemic-driven glut in inventory, according to market research firm International Data Corp. Global PC shipments tumbled to 56.9 million in the first quarter, down 29% from the same period a year earlier and below the 59.2 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2019, before the pandemic drove a surge in demand, IDC said.

☆ Asian stocks slide, bond yields depressed as recession worries weigh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Asia-wide index had surged more than 5% since mid-March to close at a 1 1/2-month high on Tuesday. E-mini futures for the broader S&P 500 indicated a 0.24% decline at the reopen, extending Wednesday's 0.25% slide. As signs have built this week for a sharp U.S. slowdown, traders have been pricing for a more dovish Fed. That helped the yen, which is highly sensitive to U.S. yields, gain against fellow safe haven the greenback. The dollar index rose 0.12% to 101.99, continuing its bounce from a two-month low.

☆ Morning Bid: Weary markets wary of recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Asian stocks sagged, while the dollar was on the front foot as investors kept their risk-off hat ahead of the long weekend. Oil prices eased after the shock at the start of the week from OPEC+ to cut production. Futures hint at a muted open in Europe, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index aiming to break its losing streak this week. European equities had a stellar start to the year but the March madness due to the banking turmoil has weighed. Meanwhile, UBS executives sought to assure investors on Wednesday that Switzerland's largest bank can make its shotgun takeover of Swiss rival Credit Suisse work.

☆ Bitcoin edges higher after dismal February for risk assets as investors assess rate outlook and new China data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bitcoin and other risk assets rose after strong Chinese manufacturing activity data. The coin on Wednesday was gaining ground on notably strong manufacturing data out of China. China's National Bureau of Statistics said its manufacturing activity index rose to 52.46 in February, the highest reading since April 2012, according to Bloomberg. Chinese stocks bounced higher, with the Hang Seng Index soaring more than 4%. Copper was another risk-on asset gaining ground, up 1.2% at $4.14 per pound on prospects of higher Chinese demand for the metal used for construction projects.

☆ Robinhood’s stock awards tell a cautionary fable
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The now-abandoned payouts to Tenev and Bhatt were a slab of “market-based restricted stock units” distributed ahead of Robinhood’s initial public offering in July 2021. The system works in reverse, too, however: When executives give back stock awards, the company gains nothing in cash terms. U.S. accounting rules treat stock awards geared to a company’s stock price as a gift that cannot be returned. In short, by handing back their awards, Robinhood’s founders have neither robbed from themselves, nor given to anyone else. Even without this unhappy effect on earnings, shareholders should be wary of the kinds of awards Robinhood doled out at its public company debut.

☆ Dollar drops vs yen, near 9-month low to euro on central bank bets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The dollar also sagged close to a nine-month low versus the euro, amid market expectations the European Central Bank next week will implement a rate hike twice as big as the Federal Reserve's. However, that was still well away from the 7-1/2-month trough of 127.215 reached last week as expectation built then for the central bank to tweak policy. When BOJ officials voted unanimously on Jan. 18 to keep stimulus settings unchanged, the currency pair bounced as high as 131.58. "If there are any bouts of yen weakness, I think the topside will continue to be capped by those expectations," Kadota said. For the week, the dollar is about flat against the yen, after swinging between gains and losses.

☆ ‘Dinner With the President’ Review: Bread-and-Butter Issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Moira Hodgson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In 2019 Donald Trump held a much-publicized banquet for the Clemson Tigers football team in the State Dining Room of the White House. He posed before a large table piled high with Quarter Pounders, a portrait of Lincoln behind him. But Mr. Trump had made a shrewd political move. As Mr. Prud’homme writes: “The critics’ howls . Bush (who was such a WASP that he sometimes ate cereal for dinner) claimed to be a fan of pork rinds splashed with Tabasco sauce.

☆ J.B. Hunt Expects Freight-Demand Volatility to Ease This Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Paul Page | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Trucking and logistics giant J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. expects freight demand to regain traction in the coming months as the pandemic-driven upheaval in supply chains fades and companies return to more conventional ordering cycles. “We have had good signals from our customers about Q2 starting up back to a more normalized or having a more normal environment,” J.B. Hunt President Shelley Simpson said in an earnings conference call Wednesday. “Demand for intermodal capacity was seasonally weaker than normal, as peak season activity leading up to the holidays was absent this year,” Darren Field, president of intermodal at J.B. Hunt, said in the earnings call. He said volumes weakened sequentially during the fourth quarter, with volumes up 4% in October before falling 3% in November and 5% in December. The steepest revenue decline came in J.B. Hunt’s Integrated Capacity Solutions unit, which matches freight loads to trucks.

☆ Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up CEO role
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Netflix’s Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role but will remain on as chairman, the company announced along side its earnings report Thursday. Greg Peters, most recently Chief Operating Officer, will assume the post of co-CEO in Hastings’ place. Sarandos was promoted to co-CEO alongside Hastings in July 2020, the same time that Peters was appointed to his COO role. The succession announcement comes alongside the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. The succession announcement comes alongside the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report.

☆ Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, is in Sydney to meet with executives of other subscription streaming services, February 25, 2022. Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role but will remain on as chairman, the company announced alongside its earnings report Thursday. Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997. Sarandos was promoted to co-CEO alongside Hastings in July 2020, the same time that Peters was appointed to his COO role. Scott Stuber, who was previously the head of global film, will step in as chairman of Netflix Film.

☆ New Year, new rally: Why bitcoin is up 26% this month after a tumultuous 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"The most important macro data investors are focussing on is the weak services PMI and the trending down of employment and wage data. 'Whales' buying BTCLarger purchasers of digital coins known as "whales" may be leading the latest rally in bitcoin, according to Kaiko. Several bitcoin miners have been flushed out by the drop in prices. Bitcoin miners, who use power-intensive machines to verify transactions and mint new tokens, have been squeezed by the slump in prices and rising energy costs. That's historically a good sign for bitcoin, according to Ayyar.

☆ Car buying is never going back to normal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Supply-chain snarls revealed buyers are willing to wait for the car they want. Changing dynamics mean we're not going backThat doesn't mean everything's going back to normal. Execs at Ford and Stellantis (the Detroit-based parent company of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group) have expressed similar views in the past few months. Even if they could revert to pre-pandemic inventory and wipe away supply chain issues, car-buyers have adapted to pandemic-induced trends. "The customer orders a vehicle, and then we ship the vehicle to the customer," Farley said in a Q2 earnings call.

☆ Asian stocks sag with dollar as hawkish Fed spurs recession fears
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TOKYO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Asian stocks sagged on Thursday, tracking declines on Wall Street, after the U.S. Federal Reserve projected higher interest rates for a longer period. U.S. Treasury yields remained depressed and the curve deeply inverted as traders continued to fret that tighter policy will trigger a recession. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) eased 0.17%, while South Korea's Kospi (.KS11) dropped 0.92% and Australia's stock benchmark (.AXJO) fell 0.4%. "The weakening in risk assets and the flattening of the curve suggest that recession fears may be the dominant driver of market price action." The IEA raised its 2023 oil demand growth estimate to 1.7 million bpd for a total of 101.6 million bpd.

☆ FTSE 100 tracks glum global sentiment ahead of BoE rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Johann M Cherian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies FTSE 100 down 0.7%, FTSE 250 off 0.6%Currys drops to bottom of FTMCHSBC slumps on shareholder's campaign for spinoffDec 15 (Reuters) - UK's export-driven FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, tracking glum global sentiment, while traders avoided bets on risky assets ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy decision. The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) fell 0.7%, while the FTSE 250 (.FTMC) shed 0.6% by 9:29 GMT. After the Fed's hawkish commentary on Wednesday, traders now await the BoE's monetary policy meeting at 1200 GMT. "The split within the Monetary Policy Committee could give a hawkish edge to the meeting. Besides the 50 basis point hike on Thursday, Koopman expects BoE's terminal rate to be 4.75% by mid-2023.

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Investors caught off-guard by China's dramatic COVID policy pivot are betting on both greed and fear as the economy starts to gradually reopen, snapping up shares in businesses from travel agencies and casinos to funeral companies. Providers of death care services, including Hong Kong-listed Fu Shou Yuan International Group (1448.HK), China's biggest cemetery operator and funeral service provider, have also drawn investors. The positioning for both the bright and dark side of China's COVID pivot reflects growing concerns from investors surprised by the rapid policy change, especially as COVID vaccination rates among the elderly remain relatively low. "But we still think that the way China can flatten the curve of new COVID cases without doubling down on tightening looks quite challenging." Morgan Stanley Chief China economist Robin Xing said China's economy may remain sluggish for another quarter or two, but growth will pick up after Spring.

The economic pain has intensified the pressure to ease pandemic restrictions to salvage the flagging economy and restore some semblance of normal life. The current Covid outbreak, the most widespread since the start of the pandemic in 2020, has painted Xi Jinping, China’s president, into a corner. He has refused to budge on the government’s strict Covid approach. If he loosens restrictions and infections skyrocket, there is the risk of mass casualties and an overwhelmed health care system. But keeping the current policies in place and limiting infections with widespread lockdowns would inflict further damage to an already slowing economy.

Many were especially wary of Penguin Random House — already by far the largest publisher in the United States — getting even bigger by absorbing a rival. Penguin Random House has about 100 imprints; together they publish more than 2,000 titles a year. The merger would have given it Simon & Schuster’s approximately 50 imprints, as well as the company’s vast and valuable backlist of older titles. “The market is already too consolidated,” said Mary Rasenberger, chief executive of the Authors Guild, an advocacy group for writers that opposed the purchase. The company’s recent performance has been strong, even as the results have sagged at other major publishers.

Persons: Simon, Schuster —, United States —, Schuster’s, ”, Mary Rasenberger, Simon & Schuster Organizations: Random, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Hachette, Penguin, United States, Justice Department, Guild, Simon & Locations: United

☆ China's JD.com says worst is over for consumer demand
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Research house TH Data Capital noted in a report that sales growth at JD.com in September was better than that in July and August, driven mainly by consumer electronics, home appliance and FMCG. Revenue grew to 243.5 billion yuan ($34.21 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a Refinitiv consensus estimate from 22 analysts of 242.81 billion yuan. Rival Alibaba reported 3% revenue growth in the three months ended Sept. 30. JD.com's quarterly net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 6 billion yuan, compared with a net loss of 2.8 billion yuan a year earlier. Excluding one-off items, JD.com earned 6.27 yuan per American Depository Share, beating expectations of a 4.44 yuan profit per ADS.

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