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Daily Crunch: Twitter vs. Trump

Tensions escalate between President Trump and his favorite social media platform, Google and Microsoft considering investing in the Indian telecom market and the Raspberry Pi foundation announces a new Raspberry Pi. After Twitter flagged a pair of President Trump’s tweets with a fact-checking label on Tuesday, White House officials denounced a specific Twitter employee and said that the president will soon sign an executive order "pertaining to social media."

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  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responds to criticism after dustup over adding fact-check labels to Trump's tweets

  Business Insider
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  Trump threatens to crack down on social media after Twitter posts a fact check of his tweets on voting by mail

  Yahoo News

Google and Microsoft reportedly considering stakes in telecom firms in India after Facebook deal

Weeks after Facebook acquired a 9.9% stake in India's Reliance Jio Platforms, two more American firms are reportedly interested in the Indian telecom market. Google is considering buying a stake of about 5% in Vodafone Idea, the second largest telecom operator in India, according to Financial Times. Separately, Microsoft is in talks to invest up to $2 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms, Indian newspaper Mint reported Friday.

• Google explores Vodafone Idea stake as part of India push

  Financial Times
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  Google Eyes Indian Expansion With Potential Vodafone Unit Investment

  Motley Fool

Coronavirus: UK car production plummets to lowest level since World War II

UK car production fell by almost 100% in April, with just 197 cars produced in the entire month.

Coronavirus: Over 100 MPs call on Chancellor to extend support for self-employed

The government's self-employed income support scheme is set to end over the weekend, leaving millions facing uncertain incomes.

Halliburton (HAL) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Halliburton (HAL) closed the most recent trading day at $12.11, moving -0.66% from the previous trading session.

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  Canadian Imperial Bank (CM) Misses Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates

  Zacks
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  Marvell Technology (MRVL) Surpasses Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates

  Zacks

Microsoft (MSFT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Microsoft (MSFT) closed at $181.40 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.23% move from the prior day.

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  Facebook (FB) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

  Zacks
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  Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

  Zacks

Buffet, Bezos And Blackrock Are Betting Big On This $30 Trillion Mega-Trend

There’s a brand-new $30 trillion investment trend that has investors across the globe giving on up old way of doing things, and focusing more on sustainable investments

Iovance Biotherapeutics Couples Data Release With Stock Offering

The biotech company is looking to raise up to $575 million ahead of its transition to commercial-stage operations.

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  Did Northwest Biotherapeutics Just Check Off 1 Box Needed for Its Stock to Double?

  Motley Fool
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  Seneca Biopharma Announces the Closing of its $5 Million Registered Direct Offering

  PR Newswire

GE CEO Sees Cash Burn of as Much as $4.5 Billion This Quarter

(Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. said its second-quarter cash burn will worsen to as much as $4.5 billion as the troubled manufacturer struggles to keep its turnaround efforts on pace amid disruptions from Covid-19.The company’s jet-engine business faces a “slow grind” as travel demand collapses, Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said at a Bernstein conference Thursday. The company’s forecast that it will consume $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion of its cash reserves compares with the $2.98 billion average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.“Losing that much money adds meaningfully to GE’s elevated net leverage burden and comes at a time when other multi-industry companies are generating substantial amounts of free cash flow,” John Inch, an analyst at Gordon Haskett, said in a note to clients.The novel coronavirus pandemic is complicating Culp’s efforts to turn around GE after one of the deepest slumps in the company’s 118-year history. While the company’s medical-scanner business is showing signs of a rebound, the jet-engine division faces weaker demand and the power-equipment unit will take longer than expected to recover, Culp said.GE fell 3% to $7.07 at 12:56 p.m. in New York. Shares had declined 35% this year through Wednesday.Earlier this month, GE said it would cut about 13,000 jobs from the jet-engine operation, saying the “deep contraction of commercial aviation is unprecedented.” On Thursday, the company offered more detail on its plan to save more than $2 billion of cash in its aviation unit through measures including job cuts, furloughs and reductions in capital spending.However, the CEO also struck a resolute note. While Covid-19 has delayed GE’s plan for a return to growth, it hasn’t thrown it off course, Culp said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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  General Electric Surges 8% Amid Sale Of Lighting Unit To Savant

  SmarterAnalyst
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  Savant Systems, Inc. to Acquire GE Lighting

  Business Wire

Volkswagen board formally okays Ford alliance projects

Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> said on Thursday its supervisory board had approved several projects in a multibillion-dollar alliance with Ford Motor <F.N> that was first announced last July. Among the shared projects specified by VW are a midsize pickup to be developed by Ford; a city delivery van to be developed by VW; a larger commercial van to be developed by Ford, and a new electric vehicle for Ford of Europe, to be built on VW's electric vehicle architecture. Regarding official approval of the agreements, a Ford spokesman on Thursday said, "We look forward to jointly providing an update soon."

How to possibly make easy money from Trump's battle with Twitter and Facebook

Try this trade on for size amidst the brewing battle between President Trump and social media companies.

$1 Trillion of Corporate Bonds Today, Downgrades Tomorrow

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The amount of new debt issued this year in the U.S. investment-grade corporate bond market will reach $1 trillion today, by far the fastest pace in history. The implications of that milestone depend on how you look at it.For businesses that had been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing nationwide lockdowns, access to capital markets was a lifeline to get through the worst of the economic collapse. Sure, Carnival Corp. had to offer interest rates like a junk-rated borrower and Boeing Co. needed to include a so-called coupon step-up provision to offset jitters that it could lose its investment grades. But, in the words of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, these deals avoided turning “liquidity problems into solvency problems” for brand-name American companies.It’s worth remembering that until the Fed stepped in with extraordinary support for credit markets, averting widespread failures was far from guaranteed. Investors pulled a staggering $35.6 billion and $38 billion from investment-grade funds in the weeks ended March 18 and March 25, respectively. Before 2020, the previous record was $5.1 billion of outflows. I wrote on March 19 that bond markets were veering into a vicious cycle that could get ugly in a hurry — four days later, the Fed announced what would end up becoming a $750 billion backstop for corporate America.Now, the Fed hasn’t actually had to buy any individual bonds yet, a fact that Powell seems proud to share. “We may have to be lending money to those companies, but even better, they can borrow themselves now, and a lot of that has been happening and that’s a really good thing,” he said during May 19 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.Most people would probably agree with that assessment, at least for the immediate future as the country grapples with restarting the world’s largest economy. But what about the longer-term view?Here, the rampant borrowing paints a more sobering picture. As of late April, 1,287 issuers worldwide rated between AAA and B- by S&P Global Ratings were considered at risk of a potential downgrade, up from 860 in March and 649 in February. That surpasses the previous all-time high set in 2009. “Generally, we expect heavy credit erosion in coming months as issuers, especially those in the lower-rated spectrum come under heavy fire from poor earnings, continued difficulties in managing cost structures, and market volatility creating limited funding opportunities,” said Sudeep Kesh, head of S&P’s credit markets research.That’s bad enough, but doesn’t even strike at the heart of the issue. Last year was supposed to be the beginning of a broad “debt diet” among companies that borrowed huge sums to finance mergers and acquisitions during the longest expansion in U.S. history. That didn’t end up taking place on a wide scale. Even a success story like AT&T Inc., which made headway in trimming its debt stack, still found itself back in the bond market recently, borrowing $12.5 billion on May 21 in what was the biggest deal since Boeing’s $25 billion blockbuster offering.When it comes to companies directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic or structural changes to their industries, the “big three” of S&P, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings haven’t shied away from taking action. Ford Motor Co., Kraft Heinz Co., Macy’s Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. are just a few of the “fallen angels” that lost their investment grades earlier this year.The rating companies haven’t been quite as keen to react to high leverage metrics. I frequently refer back to this feature from Bloomberg News’s Molly Smith and Christopher Cannon, which found that of the 50 biggest corporate acquisitions in the five years through October 2018, more than half of the acquiring companies increased their leverage to a level that would seemingly merit a junk rating but remained investment grade on the assumption that they’d take that leverage down in the coming years. Those expectations seemed ambitious in 2018, when the economy was seemingly invincible. Now, no one can truly expect companies to focus on right-sizing their debt. Corporate leaders are rightfully eager to raise cash to get to the other side of the pandemic, especially with all-in yields not far off from record lows. The vast majority of the $1 trillion in borrowing so far this year was by no means imprudent.In the years ahead, however, the overhang from this issuance spree will inevitably weigh down credit ratings. A company with more debt presents a greater risk of missed interest payments than if it had fewer fixed obligations. Fortunately, for much of the previous expansion, firms had no issue finding investors willing to buy their long-term securities. That practice of rolling over debt and extending maturities might very well be the norm in the months and years ahead, too. Still, if the first five months of 2020 are any indication, investment-grade bondholders will have to get comfortable with even more bloated balance sheets and the prospect of further credit downgrades. For better or worse, with the confidence that the Fed has their back, that seems like a risk investors are willing to take.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Brian Chappatta is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering debt markets. He previously covered bonds for Bloomberg News. He is also a CFA charterholder.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Why Is Sirius XM (SIRI) Down 2.4% Since Last Earnings Report?

Sirius XM (SIRI) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

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  Why Is UMB (UMBF) Up 5% Since Last Earnings Report?

  Zacks
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  Why You Should Add York Water (YORW) to Your Portfolio Now

  Zacks

The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: JPMorgan, American Express, Boeing and Virgin Galactic

The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: JPMorgan, American Express, Boeing and Virgin Galactic

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  The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, Exxon Mobil, Cisco System and Chevron

  Zacks
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  The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Brookdale Senior Living, The Ensign Group, Amedysis and Chemed

  Zacks

WeWork Board Factions Head for Clash Over New Directors

(Bloomberg) -- WeWork’s board is scheduled to vote on appointing two new directors on Friday, a critical step in a clash between shareholder SoftBank Group Corp. and a rival faction at the troubled co-working startup.A lawyer for WeWork told Delaware Chancery Court Judge Andre Bouchard in a letter that the company plans a May 29 meeting to fill two empty independent director seats. The nominees are Alex Dimitrief, General Electric Co.’s ex-top lawyer, and Frederick Arnold, the former chief financial officer for Convergex Group.SoftBank and the rival board faction are feuding over the Japanese conglomerate’s decision to scrap a $3 billion deal to buy stock from WeWork’s former Chief Executive Officer Adam Neumann and other shareholders. SoftBank agreed to the purchase last year as it bailed out the struggling startup, but then notified stockholders in March that some of the deal’s conditions hadn’t been met.Two independent WeWork directors then sued SoftBank for not following through on the transaction. One of them, Bruce Dunlevie, is a partner at the venture firm Benchmark Capital, which had planned on selling WeWork shares to SoftBank as part of the agreement.The new directors, who are expected to butt heads with the pair who filed the suit, will be on a special board committee tasked with deciding whether Dunlevie and another board member, Lew Frankfort, can properly represent the company in the SoftBank suit.In a court hearing Wednesday, Bouchard rejected bids by Dunlevie and Frankfort to block WeWork from adding new directors. Dunlevie and Frankfort were the only members of the earlier special committee that made the decision to sue. They had sought a so-called “status quo” order to maintain the company’s operations during the SoftBank litigation.“We believe SoftBank has no basis to question the special committee’s authority to bring this action and we are pleased by the court’s recognition that any effort by SoftBank to challenge that authority must be presented” to Bouchard, a spokesman for Dunlevie and Frankfort said Wednesday.SoftBank-backed WeWork officials said they are acting in the best interest of the company.“WeWork is pursuing best practices of corporate governance to determine what role if any WeWork should have in this contractual dispute among its shareholders,” Sarah Lubman, a SoftBank spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. “The court’s decision today allows that process to go forward.”In their suit, Dunlevie and Frankfort contend SoftBank had “buyer’s remorse” and reneged on promises to “use its reasonable best efforts to consummate” the stock-purchase agreement.They also noted the agreement doesn’t contain a so-called “material adverse effect” provision or similar termination right that is common in such deals. Two years ago, a Delaware judge found such a provision permitted Germany’s Fresenius SE to walk away from its takeover of U.S. rival generic drugmaker Akorn Inc.In a message to shareholders in March, Softbank cited nearly a half-dozen conditions for the deal that WeWork officials hadn’t met, including a failure to renegotiate some leases in the wake of the economic havoc caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Neumann -- who would have reaped the biggest windfall from the deal -- filed his own suit earlier this month claiming SoftBank is relying on legally faulty pretexts to scuttle the deal.The dispute is among several busted-deal cases tied to Covid-19 that landed in Delaware’s business court. The state is the corporate home to more than half of U.S. public companies and more than 60% of Fortune 500 firms. Chancery judges hear cases without juries and can’t award punitive damages.Dunlevie’s and Frankfort’s suit is The We Company v. SoftBank Group Corp, No. 2020-0258, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington). Neumann’s case is Neumann v. SoftBank Group Corp, Delaware Chancery Court.(Updates with judge’s denial of status-quo order in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Autodesk (ADSK) Q1 Earnings Top Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y

Autodesk (ADSK) first-quarter fiscal 2021 results reflect higher subscription revenues, gross margin expansion and lower operating expenses despite softness in software spending.

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  Dollar General (DG) Q1 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates

  Zacks
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  Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) Reports Q1 Loss, Lags Revenue Estimates

  Zacks

Coronavirus: Bupa on why office space spending should be re-invested into mental health

Speakers look at how COVID-19 has sharpened our focus on physical and mental health and brought this to the top of the agenda.

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  Coronavirus: How the crisis is unlocking a completely new available workforce

  Yahoo Finance UK
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  DIAL Global Virtual Summit: Google, Amazon, Unilever execs talk about diversity and inclusion

  Yahoo Finance UK

Add These 4 GARP Stocks to Your Portfolio for Maximum Returns

Growth at a reasonable price or GARP strategy helps investors gain exposure to stocks that have impressive prospects and are trading at a discount.

U.S. firms shield CEO pay as pandemic hits workers, investors

Sonic Automotive Inc, which operates 95 U.S. car dealerships, started laying off and furloughing about a third of its workforce as the coronavirus pandemic crushed its sales. Then it changed its executives' pay packages - handing them a multimillion-dollar windfall. On April 10, Sonic's board gave its top executives stock options to replace performance-based share awards, regulatory filings show.

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  CEOs Call in the Coaches as Covid-19 Tests Their Companies

  The Wall Street Journal
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  Boeing Cuts 6,770 Jobs In U.S.; CFRA Upgrades Stock To Buy

  SmarterAnalyst

Coronavirus lockdown drains $225 billion and counting from US nightlife industry: trade group

Nightclubs have now lost more than $225 billion due to the coronavirus lockdown, according to one trade group.

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  M&S shares easy recipe for Percy Pig crispy bars for people to make in lockdown

  The Independent
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  Dow Touches 25,000 in More Than 2 Months: 4 Blue-Chip Picks

  Zacks

GBP/USD Recovery Rally Hindered By BoE Easing Expectations

GBP/USD is attempting to recover higher this week on the back of a weaker dollar, however, expectations of further monetary policy easing are weighing on the pair.

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  GBP/USD Holds Near Two-Week Highs as the Dollar Continues to Weaken

  FX Empire
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  GBP/USD Daily Forecast – A Pause After The Recent Rally

  FX Empire

Coronavirus: 46% of businesses don't know when they'll reopen

A survey by the Office for National Statistics found almost half of businesses still don't know when they'll reopen.

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  Forget Stay-At-Home Stocks & ETFs, Bet on Easing Lockdown

  Zacks
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  Horse racing returns in New Zealand as lockdown eases

  The Associated Press

What to watch: Regus owner IWG raises £320m, Boohoo buys PrettyLittleThing stake, stocks rise

A daily overview of the top business, market, and economic stories to watch in the UK, Europe, and abroad.

Coronavirus: Home Office gave just 100 visas to come to the UK last month

Before the crisis the UK was issuing more than 258,000 visas a month for travel, work and study in Britain.

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  Trump administration to crack down on Chinese student visas: report

  Fox Business
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  Top Stock Reports for Alphabet, Visa & Bank of America

  Zacks