Written by Gary
US main indexes to open lower (SPY -0.6%). 3.8 million U.S. workers file new unemployment-benefits claims.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
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What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Wall Street sidesteps Musk lockdown rant as Tesla numbers improveWall Street brokerages gave a resounding thumbs-up to Tesla Inc’s first-quarter numbers on Thursday, lauding the electric carmaker’s improved gross margins and sending its shares 8% higher in trading before the opening bell. |
| Exclusive: Nissan shakes off virus woes in China sales with rebound in April – sourcesNissan Motor Co’s vehicle sales in China this month almost recovered to the prior year’s level after a coronavirus-related 45% plunge in March, two sources with knowledge of the Japanese automaker’s preliminary data said. |
| U.S. weekly jobless claims remain elevated as millions more seek benefitsMillions more Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, suggesting that layoffs were spreading to industries that were not initially directly impacted by business closures and disruptions related to the coronavirus. |
| JPMorgan received almost $18 billion in PPP loan applications: bankJPMorgan Chase & Co said in an email to small business clients late on Wednesday that it had submitted roughly 220,000 applications this week to the Small Business Administration for the Paycheck Protection Program. |
| Thyssenkrupp taps 1 billion euro in state aid amid cash squeeze before elevator saleThyssenkrupp has secured about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of state aid to tide it over until it receives the money from the sale of its elevator division, two sources said on Thursday, the latest German company to tap government funding. |
| Pringles maker Kellogg says profit jumps 23% on virus-led stockpilingBreakfast cereal maker Kellogg Co on Thursday reported a 23% rise in quarterly profit as consumers in North America and Europe stocked up on its packaged foods amid coronavirus-driven lockdowns. |
| Shell cuts dividend for first time since World War TwoRoyal Dutch Shell cut its dividend for the first time since World War Two on Thursday in a drastic step to preserve cash as it prepares for a protracted slump in demand for oil because of the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Cut us some slack, German travel start-ups tell GoogleA group of leading German travel start-ups appealed to U.S. tech giant Google on Thursday to offer them easier terms on paying for advertising to help them ride out the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated their business. |
| Exclusive: Thai Airways to seek $1.8 billion emergency loan to navigate virus impact – documentThai Airways International PCL plans to seek a 58.1 billion baht ($1.80 billion) emergency loan to maintain liquidity and see it through a coronavirus-induced drop in demand, showed a document from the airline detailing the plan. |
| It’s Gold-Smashing Time…It’s Gold-Smashing Time… For the fifth day in a row, gold has been clubbed like a baby seal on heavy volume in the pre-US-equity-market-open… |
| US Consumer Spending Collapses By Record, Worse Annual Drop Than Peak Of Lehman CrisisUS Consumer Spending Collapses By Record, Worse Annual Drop Than Peak Of Lehman Crisis Given the headline data from yesterday’s GDP print, this should not be a total surprise but Americans’ spending crashed in March. After adjusting for inflation, spending slumped 7.3%, also the most ever and underscoring data out Wednesday that showed the sharpest drop in consumer spending since 1980 during the first quarter. The report also showed nominal incomes dropped the most since January 2013. reflecting a 3.1% decrease in wages and salaries as a result of the pandemic. |
| Over 30 Million Americans Have Lost Their Jobs In The Last Six WeeksOver 30 Million Americans Have Lost Their Jobs In The Last Six Weeks In the last week 3.839 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. |
| Watch Live: ECB President Lagarde Explain How More Of The Same Is Different This TimeWatch Live: ECB President Lagarde Explain How More Of The Same Is Different This Time Full Einsteinian insane-tard-ness… The European economy is collapsing faster than the Obama administration’s case against General Flynn… but ECB chief Lagarde is suggesting more of the same as the fix for what has not worked at all until now – keep the negative rates, maintain the asset-purchases, add more “focused lending”, and most of all the promise of more of all of this when this “more” doesn’t work. |
| The first sign of how bad Covid is going to be for India is hereThe first sign of how bad Covid is going to be for India is hereThe IIP shrank 6.5% in March compared to 5.8% growth witnessed in the same period last year. |
| Virus prompts Mukesh Ambani to forgo salaryVirus prompts Mukesh Ambani to forgo salaryBesides Ambani, the board of directors, exec committee members and senior staff will also forgo 30-50% pay. |
| 40% eateries may go belly up without bailout40% eateries may go belly up without bailoutRedSeer estimates food delivery will take a year to come back to pre-lockdown levels. |
| Documentary Of The Week: Varoufakis Interviews Stephanie KeltonWritten by John Lounsbury This program, streamed live 27 April 2020, presents two of the most politically-involved economists in the world today. Yanis Varoufkis is an economics professor who has also been a national government minister (Minister of Finance in Greece, 1915). Stephanie Kelton, also an economics professor, has been Chief Economist for Senate Budget Committee Democrats and economic advisor to the presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders.
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| Outside the Box: Glitches with coronavirus relief money expose weakness in U.S. government’s digital infrastructureU.S. needs upgrade on four digital fronts: payments; currency; identity, and data, write Daniel Gorfine and Kabir Kumar. |
| Outside the Box: How we can reopen the U.S. economy without ‘Big Brother’ watching usDigital tools can certify people’s health and get them safely back to work. |
| Need to Know: Retiring in 10-20 years? Here’s your best approach to stocks right now, says top U.S. financial adviser.Our call of the day comes from a top financial planner in the U.S., who is keeping her cool, hoping for the best and offering this advice for those who still have some ways to go before retiring. |
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