System-wide ticketing shutdowns hit major US airlines earlier this week, but everything appears to be back on track now. The problem arose mainly over airlines’ online system of printing tickets and making reservations. But a source close to the matter confirmed that the problem has now been addressed and online booking and printing are back to normal. Some of the airlines affected by the outage include American Airlines (AAL), Alaska Air (ALK), WestJet (WJAFF), and JetBlue (JBLU). Both American Airlines and Alaska Air expressed regret on Twitter and also confirmed that the technical issue has been solved in the fastest amount of time possible, with no major impact on flights.

Computer hard drive maker, Western Digital, published quarterly report with estimate-missing earnings of $0.17 per share compared to the $3.63 per share a year ago.This could mean the shares may underperform in near future. Investors also need to be mindful of the material impact of industry, as Intel (INTC) also provided a disappointing guidance last week as memory chip pricing has stayed in its doldrums so far in 2019. While WDC is up more than 30% year-to-date, following the quarterly announcement it fell nearly 7% to $47 a share on Monday.

The 2017 boom vaulted digital currencies to prominence and garnered rare mainstream media coverage, while 2018’s bust cycle saw the allure of possibilities mostly wear off, replaced by doomsday predictions and death pronouncements. While crypto remains volatile, it is perhaps more firmly entrenched, and on a wider scale, than at any point in its history.On April 2, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, laid forth in a live AMA his blueprint to achieve that important milestone: reducing volatility while enhancing scalability and usability. Traditional investors find the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies extremely off-putting.

Merck first quarter earnings surpassed analysts’ estimates, thanks in large part to its success in lung cancer treatment. For the three months ending in March, the pharma company’s GAAP earnings came in at $1.12 per share, beating the Street consensus estimates by seven cents.  Merck’s total revenues surged +8% year-over-year to $10.8 billion, on the back of a +55% sales growth of Keytruda lung cancer treatment. CEO Ken Frazier highlighted investments in research and development as one of the factors behind Merck’s strong quarter. Looking ahead, Merck lifted its full-year 2019 revenue outlook to a range of $43.9 to $45.1 billion, while forecasting GAAP earnings to  range between $4.02 and $4.12 per share. The company also revealed a global restructuring plan - which includes closing plants and slashing jobs - that is expected to get completed by 2023.

This comes on the heels of the electric car company's CEO Elon Musk reaching a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the use of Twitter to disclose material information about the company. According to a 10-Q filing with the SEC published  Monday, Tesla indicated that its cash flow from operations should be adequate in meeting future expenses and near-term debt obligations, while adding that the company could seek alternative financing channels as well. For the first quarter, Tesla reported an adjusted loss of $2.90, compared to a FactSet consensus of an adjusted loss of $1.15 per share.Revenue of $4.54 billion, however, came in lower compared to a FactSet consensus of $5.42 billion. Tesla said that it anticipates a loss for the second quarter as well, but expects to earn a positive profit over the second half of the year.

General Electric said it increased profit and lost less cash than expected in the first quarter. Profit from continuing operations more than tripled as sales rose in GE’s aviation, oil and gas, and healthcare units.Negative cash flow from GE’s industrial business was $1.2 billion, much better than the $2.16-billion outflow that analysts were expecting.  On an adjusted basis, GE earned 14 cents per share.

Eli Lilly and Co. reported lower-than-expected sales for its top-selling diabetes drug, Trulicity, and cut its full-year revenue forecast. Due to pressure to lower prices, Eli Lilly agreed to offer a half-priced version of insulin injection Humalog earlier this year.The drugmaker is one of the three main global providers of insulin products.  Lilly said it now expects 2019 revenue to come in between $22.0 billion and $22.5 billion, lower than its prior forecast of $25.1 billion to $25.6 billion.

McDonald's Corp. reported first-quarter results that came in better than expected and helped lift shares higher by nearly 3 percent. Read more...

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CMTL 5.77% said Monday that it was awarded a $100-million-plus contract during the fiscal third quarter for a next-generation 911 communications system in a northeastern state. Read More...

Oil prices dipped on Tuesday on expectations rising output from the United States and producer club OPEC would offset most of the shortfall expected from U.S. sanctions on Iran, but analysts said markets remained tight. Read More...

Alphabet's revenue for the first quarter fell short of expectations, causing the tech giant's shares to lose -5% during after-hours trading Monday. Google’s parent company reported revenue of $36.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the $37.3 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Decelerating growth in advertising was a headwind to the company's revenue.Paid clicks on Google properties grew +39% year-over-year for the quarter, which was much slower than the fourth quarter’s + 66% and third quarter’s + 62%. However, total revenue was still +17% higher compared to the year-ago quarter, as mentioned by Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of both Alphabet and Google.

On an adjusted basis, the y-o-y growth of this ‘Other’ segment in Q4 2018 stood at 38%, while the same ranged between 51% and 73% in previous quarters last year. Amazon initially saw good success in its advertising segment and became a major contender to Google and Facebook.But that has faded this year and advertisers are saying that they are now focussing on building strategies and weighing how well Amazon fits into them. On the other hand, Google (GOOGL) has been dominating the digital advertising ecosystem and has optimized its features, providing high returns for investors.

Despite a 34% drop in first quarter net income, shares of Ford Motor rose above the $10 mark for the first time since August 2018.Ford’s adjusted profit for the quarter stood at 44 cents per share, beating an estimate of 27 cents per share. However, the automaker, despite its success in North America, is still struggling in overseas markets like Europe, South America, and especially China. To address these issues, Ford is shifting away from sedans to trucks, a risky bet that has so far paid off for investors.

In just five days, ‘Avengers: The Endgame’ earned more than $1.2 billion at the global box office shattering the previous record for the highest weekend total of $641 million set by ‘Avengers: The Infinity War’ in 2018.The previous record holder was ‘The Fate of the Furious’ that earned $443 million during its opening weekend in 2017. Additionally, no film has ever averaged more than $59,000 per theater, a record set by ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in 2015.

Netflix has said it doesn’t intend to ever run traditional ads.But advertising industry experts aren’t so sure that will be the case. During a panel at IAB’s Digital Content NewFronts on Monday, executives from YouTube, JPMorgan Chase, the UM agency and MediaLink were asked about Netflix staying ad-free.

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed no change in March and remained well below the central bank’s target, a government report Monday showed.At the same time, consumer spending surged amid a jump in expenditures on motor vehicles and health care.

Wall Street veteran Jim Paulsen believes stocks could continue to surge well past their recent recovery to the all-time highs that were last seen before the late-2018 market collapse.READ MORE...

The European Union has accepted an offer by Visa and Mastercard to cut fees on payments made by tourists using cards issued outside the region to stave off fines and end an EU antitrust investigation.  The European Commission, says that "interchange fees" in which the merchant’s bank pays a charge to the cardholder’s bank, result in higher prices for consumers. “This, together with our January 2019 decision on Mastercard’s cross-border card payment services, will lead to lower prices for European retailers to do business, ultimately to the benefit of all consumers,” Europe’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, told Fox News he thinks the United States and China can finalize a trade deal with two more rounds of talks. Mnuchin also said the part of the negotiations aimed at enforcement is close to finished.Another round of talks is planned for next month in Washington.  “We still have more work to do,” Mnuchin said.

U.S.consumer spending increased by the most in more than 9-1/2 years in March, but price pressures remained muted, with a key inflation measure posting its smallest annual gain in 14 months. Read more...