Morgan Stanley is set to pay $150 million to settle charges it misled two large California public pension funds about the risks of mortgage-backed securities they bought prior to the 2008 global financial crisis.  California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) will receive $122 million from the settlement, while the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) will receive $8 million.The other $20 million will cover costs and help fund other investigations.

The U.S. economy likely maintained a moderate pace of growth in the first quarter, which could further dispel earlier fears of a recession even though activity was driven by temporary factors. Read more...

Oil prices dipped on Friday on hopes that producer club OPEC will soon raise output to make up for a decline in exports from Iran following a tightening of sanctions on Tehran by the United States. Read More...

Telecommunications giant AT&T (NYSE: T) took on $40 billion in debt to acquire Time Warner in June 2018.That's too high for AT&T's liking, so it embarked on a path to pay off what it borrowed to buy Time Warner and, in turn, bring its that ratio down to saner levels. Read More...

The Royal Bank of Scotland reported a net profit of £707 million ($912.2 million) for its first quarter on Friday, down 11% from £792 million over the same period last year. Read More...

Smokers will receive discounts if they reduce, quit or switch to less carcinogenic products. According to the terms of the insurance, smokers who switch to e-cigarettes will receive 2.5% discount on premiums, people who switch to Philip Morris’ heated tobacco product iQOS for three months will receive a 25% discount, and people who quit smoking for at least a year will receive a 50% discount.The same premium would buy a £60,000 ($77,650) policy for a 40-year-old non-smoker. It is up to PM to decide how much discount to offer to people using alternative products that are less life threatening.

The company reported Q1 earnings of 21 cents per share, widely beating estimates of 11 cents per share loss. The company took a hit when Toys 'R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and eventual closure leaving Hasbro with excess inventory.For example, in the second half of 2018, the toymaker launched a digital multiplayer collectible card game called ‘Magic: The Gathering Arena’ that has been played about 700 million times. Following this success in the European markets, the toymaker is now focusing on international markets and is optimistic that it will soon be able to roll out the digital initiative of Magic Arena outside Europe.

Now the company is ready to release Coca-Cola Coffee in more than 25 markets around the world by the end of 2019. The drink, with slightly less caffeine content than in a normal cup of coffee but more caffeine than in a can of soda, claims it can boost the mid-afternoon energy slump among busy office workers. The move comes as customer beverage preferences have shifted from more sugary options to less sugary options like bottled water or Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.Chilled coffee is another ever expanding segment growing at least 10% annually in the U.S. from 2013 to 2107. For several years, Coca-Cola has been trying to succeed in the coffee business.

Bristol-Myers Squibb reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2019 on the performance of its blood thinner drug, Eliquis. First-quarter 2019 earnings of $1.10 per share beat analyst estimates by one cent and surpassed the year-ago quarter’s earnings of $0.94. Total revenue of $5.92 billion beat expectations of $5.80 billion and increased 14% from $5.2 billion in the year-ago period.Continued strong sales of Opdivo and Eliquis contributed to the top line in the reported quarter.

Two drugmakers will pay nearly $125 million to resolve claims they used charities that help cover Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs as a way to pay kickbacks aimed at encouraging the use of their high-priced medications, the U.S. Justice Department. The department said Japan-based Astellas Pharma and Amgen Inc, the world’s largest biotech company, were the latest to settle claims stemming from an industry-wide probe of drugmakers’ financial support of patient assistance charities. Astellas will pay $100 million while Amgen will pay $24.75 million, the department said.Neither company admitted wrongdoing.

New orders for U.S.-made capital goods increased by the most in eight months in March, hitting their highest level on record and brightening the outlook for manufacturing and the economy. Read more...

Contrary to many forecasts, earnings growth looks like it could be positive for the first quarter, now that more than a third of the S&P 500 companies have reported.READ MORE...

Markets have been lulled into a false sense of calm and are unprepared for the impact of a seismic shift in Chinese economic policy, according to Saxo Bank chief economist Steen Jakobsen. Stocks in China tumbled on Thursday amid worries that Beijing could pull back on stimulus measures following recent better-than-expected economic data.READ MORE...

Amazon’s revenue numbers will likely show the slowest growth in four years when the company reports first-quarter results after the bell on Thursday, but investors will see more profitability in exchange.READ MORE...

Turkey’s troubled lira fell to its lowest level since October on Thursday after its central bank scrapped a pledge to raise interest rates if needed.READ MORE...

Total payment volume increased to $161 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $163 billion. Reporting for its Venmo peer-to-peer digital payment service, PayPal said that around 40 million people used it for at least one transaction in the last 12 months, contributing up to $21 billion in total payment volume in the first quarter. Looking ahead, PayPal expects revenue to range between $4.3 billion and $4.34 billion for the current quarter.For the full year, the company bumped up its earnings per share outlook to between $2.94 and $3.01.

United Parcel Service (UPS) earnings and revenue missed analysts’ estimates. The package delivery/supply chain management company reported adjusted earnings of $1.39 a share, below analysts’ estimates of $1.42 a share (based on FactSet poll).The figure is also lower compared to the year-ago quarter’s $1.55 a share. Apparently, the winter weather set back profit by about $80 million (or 7 cents a share), as indicated by the company.

The earnings were also lower compared to the year-ago quarter’s 95 cents a share. Revenue of $4.39 billion was lower than analysts’ expectations of $4.59 billion for the quarter. Howard Willard, Altria's chairman and CEO indicated that the company had incurred higher interest expense from its recently issued debt, and that it did not realize – through most part of the quarter - the full benefit of savings from its cost reduction program.He blamed these forces for the decline in Altria’s first quarter adjusted diluted EPS. The company reaffirmed its forecast of 4% to 7% growth in adjusted per-share earnings  for the full-year 2019. 

Oil prices dipped on Thursday as record U.S. output and rising crude stockpiles dampened the impact on markets of tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran and producer club OPEC’s continued curbs on supply.Read More...

Microsoft Corporation MSFT 0.34% reported strong third-quarter earnings beat Wednesday on the back of continuing strength in its cloud computing business, coming in at $1.14 per share to top analysts’ estimates by 14 cents.The company also reported quarterly sales of $30.6 billion, beating the Street estimate of $29.84 billion by more than 2.5 percent.