On Wednesday, Google announced that it's making Google Meet free for up to 100 users.Google Meet is a video conferencing product, and was previously available to enterprise customers using G Suite.  Google Meet  requires users to have a Google account. The version will have a 60-minute time limit, but Google said that it won't introduce that limit until Sept. 30. On Friday, Facebook  made its video calling app Messenger Rooms available for up to 50 people without any time limit.

Bed Bath & Beyond   reported more than +85% surge in its April digital sales . The home goods retail chain converted about a quarter of its U.S. and Canada stores to regional fulfillment centers to support online sales. It also brought back several hundred associates from furlough. Adjusted earnings for the three months ended March 2 came in at 38 cents a share, which is  -68% lower from the year-earlier period. Digital sales for the quarter dropped -16% . Bed Bath’s stores would remain closed until at least May 16, except for its Buy Buy Baby and Harmon Face Values brands. 

Microsoft's   business messaging app Microsoft Teams is partnering with soft drink behemoth Coca-Cola . The  five-year partnership with Coca-Cola   gives the latter access to a suite of Microsoft products such as Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365. Since mid-March, the total number of minutes spent in Teams meetings increased by +200% to 2.7 billion.According to the company, total video calls surged +1,000% in March, with overall usage on mobile also growing in countries hardest-hit by the covid-19 pandemic.

Amazon.com  shares continues to get price target hikes amid Covid-19 pandemic. On Monday, Credit Suisse analysts boosted their target on the e-commerce giant’s shares to $2,800 from $2,400.   Credit Suisse analysts cited faster customer adoption on online groceries in North America, along with  purchase of essential merchandise, amid reduction in retail foot traffic across Amazon’s operating regions. Also,  Oppenheimer analysts, led by Jason Helfstein, lifted their target to $2,700 from $2,400. At Oppenheimer, analysts mentioned that they expect an upside to revenue as Amazon hired 175,000 additional workers to meet increasing demand, as well as a temporary pause of the third-party Fulfillment by Amazon business because of strain on its fulfillment network. Monday’s price target increases come on the heels of last week’s hikes when analysts set new Wall Street highs for their estimates twice - at $2,800 and then $2,900.    

MGM Resorts International   warned of a nearly -30% year-over-year decline in its first-quarter revenue, as a result of coronavirus crisis-induced shutdown. The Casino and hotel operator  mentioned in a regulatory filing that its preliminary anticipation for first-quarter consolidated revenue was $2.3 billion – which represents a -29% drop from the year-ago quarter’s figure.It is also behind FactSet consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. Net revenue at the Las Vegas Strip resorts is expected to come in at $1.1 billion, which is -21% lower from the year ago.

Amazon shares got a skyrocketing price target hike from Goldman Sachs, on the e-commerce giant’s prospects during COVID-19 pandemic. Analysts at Goldman Sachs raised its share-price target +12% to $2,900, the highest on Wall Street.Goldman re-affirmed its buy rating. This comes close on the heels of   Jefferies setting a Wall Street high, with a target of $2,800. During the coronavirus pandemic,  consumers are relying more on online shopping, while companies are using Amazon’s cloud services to allow operations with workers at home – something that Goldman analysts have taken into consideration in setting their price target. "The market continues to underestimate the long-term value" of Amazon, Goldman analyst Heath Terry wrote in a report.

Lam Research  shares were dropping  during extended trading Wednesday, following reports of the company’s  lower-than-expected fiscal third quarter revenue.  The semiconductor company’s earnings for the quarter came in at  $3.98 per share, in line with  analysts’ estimate of $3.98 per share.But revenue of  $2.5 billion fell behind analysts’ expectation of $2.58 billion. Lam Research shares dropped 4.7% to $259 per share after hours. “Extraordinary efforts by Lam’s global teams helped to mitigate the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in solid financial performance in the March quarter,” said CEO Tim Archer.   The company had $5.6 billion in cash on hand at the end of March, after it drew down $1.25 billion from its revolving credit facility.  Last month, the company withdrew its third quarter guidance amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Facebook announced plans to invest nearly $6 billion in Jio Platforms, the digital technology subsidiary of Indian company Reliance Industries. Facebook will buy a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms for approximately $5.7 billion, becoming Jio’s largest minority shareholder. Reliance Jio began its commercial operation in the second half of 2016, and emerged as a game changer in the Indian telecom market by offering bulk of 4G data and voice calls for six months to users at no charge. “We’re making a financial investment, and more than that, we’re committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India,” said Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive of Facebook.

L Brands   announced that private-equity firm Sycamore Partners gave legal notice to terminate the agreement to buy the controlling stake of lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. Earlier this year, L Brands had said that it would sell a controlling stake in its Victoria’s Secret unit to Sycamore, valuing Secret at $1.1 billion.L Brands wanted to focus on its Bath & Body Works brand.   “Sycamore Partners delivered a notice April 22 purporting to terminate the transaction agreement relating to the sale of a 55% interest in … Victoria’s Secret,” L Brands said in a statement.  But L Brands believes that Sycamore Partners’ purported termination of the transaction agreement is invalid, and it intends to pursue all legal remedies to enforce its contractual rights (as indicated in the company’s statement).

The beverage maker, however, pulled its full-year profit guidance as coronavirus crisis weighs on near-term sales prospects. Coca-Cola’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending in March came in at 51 cents per share, 7 cents ahead of the Street consensus forecast..The figure also represents +3 cents increase from the year-ago quarter. Revenues increased +7.2% year-over-year to $8.6 billion, exceeding analysts' estimates of $8.3 billion. Coca-Cola expects declines in its 'away-from-home' sales segment, which partly consists of bulk sales at sporting and entertainment events, will offset gains from consumers adding to their personal storage.

Shake Shack said it would return a small business loan it received from the U.S. government as part of covid-19 relief package. The fast casual restaurant chain was able to get extra funding late last week through an equity transaction,  and decided to immediately return the $10 million paycheck protection loan it received through the CARES Act, (the Associated Press reported). CEO Randy Garutti and founder Danny Meyer said, “Shake Shack was fortunate last Friday to be able to access the additional capital we needed to ensure our long term stability through an equity transaction in the public markets”.They added, “We’re thankful for that and we’ve decided to immediately return the entire $10 million PPP loan we received last week so that those restaurants who need it most can get it now”.

The facility is apparently for general corporate purposes, as indicated in the filing. Disney had earlier announced plans to furlough certain non-essential U.S. employees starting April 19.The company asked them to apply for the additional $600 a week of federal support as part of the U.S. government's $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.

Gilead Sciences shares got downgraded by BMO Capital and Wells Fargo analysts. BMO Capital's Matthew Luchini slashed his rating on the bitotech company’s stock to market perform from outperform. Luchini re-iterated his price target at $79. While Luchini thinks that  Gilead’s anti-COVID-19 drug remdesivir is encouraging,  he also mentions   "continued uncertainty around the remdesivir commercial opportunity," .

In the week ending April 11, an additional 5.245 million initial unemployment insurance claims were filed in the US, as the US economy continues to get crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the April 11 week jobless claims were lower than the 5.803 million in claims expected by analysts polled by FactSet.Over the past month, nearly 22 million jobless claims were filed, the highest on record. Continuing jobless claims  was 11.9 million for the latest reported week. Several analysts and economists expect job losses in April to be as high as 20 million, which would translate into a jobless rate of around 15%.

Abbott Laboratories  said  that it’s expecting to send out 4 million of its new coronavirus antibody test kits this month. The test is designed to reveal whether a person had been infected with covid-19 and whether he or she is now asymptomatic or recovered.  “It’s clear that the demand for testing is big; it’s not going to go away.” Abbott Chief Executive Robert Ford said during an earnings conference call Thursday.Ford also mentioned in the call that the company plans to increase its shipments to 20 million a month starting June. While Abbott has already introduced three coronavirus tests in the U.S., Ford indicated that a fourth one is underway.

Banks might be the first in line to seize the $1,200 coronavirus pandemic relief checks,  according to a news report.  The American Prospect emphasized that Congress did not exempt Cares Act payments from private debt collection – which means, banks have the power to  use the transferred checks to settle consumers’ delinquent loan or past-due fees.  Congress exempted individuals from debt collection only if the debt is owed to federal or state agencies, unless the debt involves a child-support payment.   

 According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), COVID-19 crisis is likely to push the global economy into  the worst recession since the Great Depression. “It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago,” said IMF Economic Counsellor Gita Gopinath, in the latest World Economic Outlook report.  The U.S economy is predicted to contract by -5.9 percent. However, IMF also mentioned that if the coronavirus pandemic subsides in the second half of 2020 and if effective policy actions are taken around the globe, the global economic growth will rebound to 5.8 percent next year. 

 Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy boosted his price target for Tesla shares to $580 from $415, citing  that Tesla has “more edge” in terms of electric vehicles’ potential to replace conventional ones. Levy suggested that the Covid-19 crisis makes it even more challenging for traditional vehicle makers to balance the long-term shift to electric vehicles. According to Levy, declining demand and possible supply shortfalls were short-term risks for Tesla. Nevertheless, the analyst feels that Tesla leads its rivals in battery development,  has displayed increase in liquidity and improvements in execution.

Google  and Apple  are teaming up on developing a mobile software that would help track the spread of coronavirus. On Friday, the technology behemoths announced that they are working on an  opt-in tool for Android and iOS, where the tool will tell people if they have been in contact with someone who was had contracted coronavirus. The feature will also allow users report to a public health agency if they have been infected.  The tool is expected to launch within a few months

Gilead Sciences  announced a successful clinical trial of its antiviral drug to treat the coronavirus . “The majority of patients in this international cohort demonstrated clinical improvement and no new safety signals were identified with remdesivir treatment,” Gilead said in a statement.  "We cannot draw definitive conclusions from these data, but the observations from this group of hospitalized patients who received remdesivir are hopeful," Jonathan Grein, director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and lead author of the NEJM article, mentioned in the company’s statement. The drug hasn’t been yet approved for general use by the Food and Drug Administration.