Written by Gary
US stock futures down fractionally (SPY -0.2%) as investors parse latest round of earnings.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are lower today with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 is down 0.27% while London’s FTSE 100 is off 0.16% and Germany’s DAX is lower by 0.07%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Trade war and sagging prices push U.S. family farmers to leave the fieldShuffling across his frozen fields, farmer Jim Taphorn hunched his shoulders against the wind and squinted at the auctioneer standing next to his tractors.After a fifth harvest with low grain prices, made worse last fall by the U.S.-China trade war, the 68-year-old and his family were calling it quits. Farming also was taking a physical toll on him, he said; he’d suffered a heart attack 15 months before. |
| Why Airbus isn’t pouncing on Boeing’s 737 MAX turmoilWhen Boeing launched its 737 MAX jetliner in response to Airbus’s record-selling A320neo, a wave of poker-faced satisfaction spread through Airbus headquarters in France. |
| Mastercard profit rises 27 percent as it processes more paymentsMastercard Inc reported a 26.7 percent rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday, as a strong U.S. job market and a boom in online shopping boosted transaction volumes on the company’s payment network. |
| McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales beat on popular bacon-loaded menuMcDonald’s Corp reported a better-than-expected rise in sales at established U.S. restaurants on Tuesday, as the world’s largest burger chain benefited from price increases and launch of donut sticks and an add-bacon option on burgers. |
| Eli Lilly misses estimates for diabetes drug Trulicity, cuts revenue forecastEli Lilly and Co reported lower-than-expected sales for its top-selling diabetes drug Trulicity and cut its full-year revenue forecast as it sees further hits from price declines in the United States, sending its shares down 3 percent. |
| GE profit rises, cash outflow slows, shares jump 10 percentGeneral Electric Co said on Tuesday first-quarter profit from its continuing operations more than tripled, helped by higher sales in its aviation, oil and gas, and healthcare units, and its shares rose more than 10 percent in premarket trading. |
| GM first-quarter profit beats estimate, lifted by pickups, LyftGeneral Motors Co on Tuesday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, driven mostly by highly lucrative pickup truck sales in the U.S. market and lifted in part by revaluations of shares it holds in ride-hailing company Lyft Inc and Peugeot SA. |
| Stock futures flat as investors parse latest round of earningsU.S. stock index futures were muted on Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq set intraday records, with investors going through the latest batch of earnings and weak data from China. |
| Vodafone found security flaws in Huawei equipment in 2011, 2012Telecoms group Vodafone found security flaws in equipment supplied by China’s Huawei to its Italian business in 2011 and 2012, the two companies said on Tuesday. |
| “More Questions Than Answers”: Wall Street Stunned By Google’s Dismal EarningsWith the market recently digesting Microsoft’s stronger than expected earnings, pushing its market cap north of $1 trillion and making it the most valuable company in the world for however long, while patiently awaiting today’s Apple earnings after the close, yesterday’s report by the third largest company, Google parent Alphabet, left a decidedly bitter aftertaste in investors’ mouths after it missed across the board while reporting a sharp slowdown in ad revenue growth. Making matters worse, analysts were left puzzled over the reasons behind Alphabet’sfirst-quarter revenue miss: as Bloomberg explains, a particular source of confusion was product changes in advertising that the Google-parent said led to a slowdown in revenue growth. A lack of answers on the earnings call led to “frustration” for investors, Jefferies analysts wrote in a note. One concern is whether other online businesses are taking advertising share away from Google, given that paid clicks on Google ads rose at the slowest pace since 2016. Alphabet’s shares are down 7.8% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. The stock had climbed 24% this year and closed on Monday at an all-time high before tumbling. Courtesy of Bloomberg, here’s what what analysts were saying this morning about Alphabet’s results: JEFFERIES (Brent Thill); buy rating on Alphabet with a PT of $1,450 1Q results raise “more questions than answers”, with continued lack of transparency “troubling” to investors While valuation is undemanding, Alphabet will need to rebound in 2Q to show 1Q was not a trend Otherwise investors may be resigned to the view that Alphabet is a lower growth story, potentially losing share, though Jefferies doesn’t believe that is the case MORGAN STANLEY (Brian Nowak); overweight recommendation, though lowers PT to $1,425 from $1,500 1Q Websites deceleration and uncertai … |
| A Hacker Just Found A Way To Turn Off Your Car’s Engine While You’re DrivingA hacker going by the name L&M says he has hacked into more than thousands of accounts belonging to users of GPS tracking apps, giving him the ability to monitor tens of thousands of vehicles – and even turn off the engines for some of them, while they’re in motion, according to Motherboard. He has admitted to hacking into more than 7,000 iTrack accounts and more than 20,000 ProTrack accounts, two apps that companies use to monitor and manage fleets of vehicles through GPS tracking devices. He has tracked vehicles worldwide, even in countries like South Africa, Morocco, India, and the Philippines. The software on some cars can be used to turn off the engines of vehicles moving at 12 miles per hour or less. |
| Heavily Armed Soldiers Surround Guaido As Coup Attempt Underwayupdate: Reuters journalists have confirmed US-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is just outside a military base in Caracas surrounded by armed uniformed soldiers — this as he’s claimed to have gathered more defectors. Per Reuters:
However, the Maduro government is claiming to be in “full control” over the country and its armed forces. Guaido issued a video message hours prior saying he was in the “final phase” of his plan to oust strongman Nicolas Maduro, calling for an end to the recently reelected Maduro’s “usurpation.”
The US-recognized “Interim President” told CNN, “We have the support of a big sector of the armed forces and in the coming hours we’ll be consolidating all thei … |
| Stocks Slump On Poor Google, Samsung Earnings; China Slowdown Fears ReturnUS futures were flat, while European equity markets and Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday as weak Chinese business surveys dampened appetite for risk, while a disappointing outlook and earnings at Samsung, the world’s biggest phone maker, and an ad revenue slowdown at Google sent tech stocks lower. |
| Need to Know: Fed and tech stocks could crack the market rally, warns Wall Street strategistOur call of the day, from Miller Tabak strategist, Matt Maley, warns that any shift in the Fed’s dovish stance this week could cause this stock market rally to crack, as another fissure — soaring tech stocks — deepens. |
| Economic Report: Worker pay, benefits climb steadily in early 2019, ECI shows, but they’re not soaringPay and benefits for American workers rose at a brisk pace in the first three months of 2019, but they still growing less than 3% a year and not rising fast enough to stoke much inflation, fresh government figures showed. The employment cost index climbed 0.7% in the first quarter. |
| Disney’s stock rockets toward best month in 30 years as ‘Avengers’ adds to buying frenzyShares of Walt Disney Co. were rocketing toward their best monthly performance in over 30 years, fueled by a record-smashing performance by “Avengers: Endgame” and the unveiling of a new streaming service. |
Earnings Summary for Today
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