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...

The case for buying stock in United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) has long been built on the idea that the value of the sum of its parts is greater than what they trade on as part of an industrial conglomerate.But the separate businesses still need to perform well in the run-up to the spin-offs, so let's take a look at current progress before judging whether the stock is a good value or not. Read More...

When Apple reports second-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell, sales will be down from the same time last year.That’s according to Apple’s own guidance. Read More...

FanDuel (DUEL) reports that it took in $13.3M in online sports bets in New Jersey during March, while DraftKings (DRAFT) took in $7.3M for the month. Read More...

According to the car maker,  strong U.S. sales was a major factor in the quarter's earnings performance. The company’s adjusted earnings came in at 44 cents per share, beating analysts’ estimates of 27 cents (based on  Refinitiv poll).  The demand decline in China, Europe and other nations led to Ford losing almost half a percent of its global market share over the first three months of the year. Nevertheless, U.S. sales remained steady at $25.4 billion, on the back of strong domestic demand for trucks and SUVs – contributing to around $2.2 billion in its overall $2.4 billion of operating earnings for the quarter.

Archer Daniels Midland’s earnings for the first quarter fell short of analysts’ estimates by a wide margin. The food processing & commodities trading company reported earnings of 41 cents a share for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectation of 60 cents  (based on FactSet data).  Revenue of $15.3 billion came in lower compared to analysts’ estimates of $15.6 billion. Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano cited adverse weather conditions in North America and ethanol industry issues as major headwinds to the company’s lower-than-expected performance in the first quarter. However, Luciano is hopeful that business would improve in the second half of the year would due to the company’s business strategy, an expected resolution of the U.S.-China trade tensions and an anticipated boost in soybean meal demand driven by African Swine Fever.

Shutterfly stock jumped almost +4% Friday, following the release of the company’s earnings report. For the first quarter, the online photo company incurred a loss of -$2.44 per share, compared to analysts' expectations of a wider loss of -$2.53.The company’s revenue of $324.7 million surpassed analysts’ estimates of $323.1 million. Looking ahead, Shutterfly expects revenue to range between $469 million and $479 million. FactSet analysts expect the figure to be $475 million for the second quarter. For the full year, the company forecasts that earnings would range between 61 cents and $1.11 per share, on revenue of $2.13 billion to $2.21 billion.  Analysts expect the company to generate earnings of  71 cents per share on revenue of $2.17 billion for year.  

Capital One first quarter earnings surpassed expectations. The bank holding company raked in adjusted earnings of $2.90 per share during the quarter, thereby substantially beating analysts' expectations of $2.68.Adjusted revenue of $7.08 billion also came in higher compared to the Street's $7.01 billion expectations.   Revenue, pre-provision earnings, and earnings per share all climbed from the year-ago quarter, as indicated by Capital One founder, chairman and CEO Richard D. Fairbank.

Over the last few months, a trend channel has formed on the chart of the iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (NYSE: EWH) with a more defined cyclical pattern to it.The indicators made a bullish crossover on April 25 which is a possible bullish sign for the EWH. In addition to the chart, the Tickeron AI Trend Prediction tool generated a bullish signal on the EWH on April 24.

Atlassian (Nasdaq: TEAM) released earnings last week and the enterprise software company beat on its EPS estimate and revenue estimate, but the June profit forecast was disappointing to investors. The disappointment caused the stock to gap lower on April 18 and the stock stabilized just above the $100 mark.The parallel lower rail would connect the low from November with the low from last week, if indeed this is a trend channel. The pullback in the stock caused the daily oscillators to fall to their lowest levels since last October.

Satellite communications operator Intelsat Global (NYSE: I) has been trending lower for the last six months.If that isn’t enough to cause concern, the stock is overbought based on the daily stochastic readings and those indicators just made a bearish crossover. The Tickeron AI Trend Prediction tool generated a bearish signal on April 22 and that signal calls for a decline of 2.5% over the next week.

Ford’s $500 million investment in the electric truck maker Rivian looks all the more promising after the latter’s deal with General Motors (GM) came to a final stall.It is rumored that GM wanted all the technology rights of the start-up that eventually led to the dropping of the deal. On the other hand, the deal with Ford is progressing fast as the deal allegedly allows Rivian to move ahead with its own plans and also to sign up with other potential partners.

Shares of Walt Disney have risen by ~15% since the company’s announcement of its new $6.99 per-month Disney+ streaming service starting later this year.The company plans to stream family-friendly content and will be undercutting the price of the standard Netflix charges by nearly 50%. This strategy, according to many analysts, could hit Netflix with stiff competition as it has thus far enjoyed a near monopoly in the online streaming space. A random survey of 602 current Netflix subscribers reveals that 14.5% of the current users are willing to switch to Disney+.

Chipotle Mexican Grill’s first fiscal quarter report reveals estimate-beating results with net income coming at $88.1 million, or $3.13 per share, up from $59.4 million, or $2.13 per share a year earlier. Other key highlights of the quarter include: $3.40 adjusted earnings per share versus expected $3.01, revenue at $1.31 billion versus expected $1.27 billion, same-store sales growth of 9.9% versus expected 7.29%, 13.9% rise of net sales to $1.31 billion versus expected $1.27 billion, and 100.7% rise of digital sales growth during the quarter accounting for 15.7% of total sales. Another key highlight of the quarter includes the success of Chipotle’s points-based loyalty program that crossed 1 million subscriptions a week after its launch in March.However, the loyalty program is only one part of the company’s digital strategy as it partnered with a third-party delivery service called DoorDarsh that saw customer retention even after the promotion ended. For the fifth consecutive

Uber is planning to price its initial public offering at a maximum of $50 per share, partly due to a disappointing debut by competitor Lyft. In an amended regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Uber set the range of its offering of between $44 and $50 per share, below its previous range of between $48 and $55 per share.The new range would value Uber under $90 billion. The company also disclosed a $500 million investment from PayPal, which will purchase Uber stock in a private placement at a price equal to the IPO pricing. “Based on an assumed initial public offering price of $47.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated offering price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, PayPal would purchase 10,638,298 shares,” Uber said in the filing.