Oil prices are higher today as OPEC production cuts and U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela continue to pressure supply. International benchmark Brent futures were up 18 cents, or 0.25%, at $70.79 a barrel by in early trading.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were up 32 cents, or 0.5%, at $64.30. Oil markets have tightened this year because of U.S. sanctions on oil exporters Iran and Venezuela, as well as supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+.

Delta reported 30% profit growth during the first quarter, with the Atlanta carrier earning $730 million, or $1.09 per share, for the quarter.A year earlier it earned $557 million, or 79 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains, came to 96 cents per share.

The European Central Bank kept its policy unchanged as expected on Wednesday, maintaining interest rates at record lows and keeping its guidance for steady interest rates this year despite a sharp slowdown in economic growth. Read more...

Saudi Aramco has received bids for more than 10 times the $10 billion it was expected to raise in a debut international bond issue, with the world’s largest oil producer due to set the price of its bonds later on Tuesday. Read More...

Ford Motor Co is nearing a deal with Mahindra & Mahindra to form a new joint-venture company in India, a move that will likely see the U.S. automaker cease independent operations in the country, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters. Read More...

On Oct. 17, 2018, Canada made history by becoming the first G7 country and the second country overall to legalize adult-use cannabis. Read More...

Regulations allow a manufacturer of zero-emission vehicles to earn credits and sell excess credits to other manufacturers. This has also allowed Tesla to report quarterly profits when otherwise it would have been losses.The company reported a poor sales result in its first quarter, as it struggled to roll out its new Model 3 delivers over transit issues.

But the bid was modestly below Campbell’s price expectation of $3 billion, resulting in an impasse. Arnott’s has the interest of some other buyers like KKR, a consortium backed by private equity firm.It is undisclosed what price the private equity firm has offered to buy Arnott, but it is known that they pay less for acquisitions than corporate buyers. The impasse has put Campbell in an awkward situation, as it may either have to sell Arnott’s below its desired price or abandon the sales process altogether.

Following two crashes since October, Boeing has slashed its monthly production of its aircraft by 20% and is likely to produce only 42 a month instead of 52.But, so far Boeing’s shares have held up relatively well after initially dropping to more than 10% in mid-March following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8.

Previously, the firm had expressed doubts about how the company’s ‘Stubs A-List’ subscription program would sit with customers. The ‘Stubs A-List’, costing $24 per month, allows subscribers to see up to three movies per week, with no blackout dates.The company launched Stubs A-List program after its MoviePass’ program failed last year. ‘Avengers: Endgame’s' advance ticket sales helped restore faith in the company’s subscription policies that so far have been struggling since last year.

New Age Beverages Corp recently announced that the company would nationally expand its Marley brand beverages as it joins hand with the grocery giant Walmart. For the Colorado and Utah-based organic and natural beverage company, the distribution expansion marks the first ever national account penetration.All three flavors are now available at Walmart stores. This expansion is important for the beverage maker, as intending to become the world’s leading healthy beverages and lifestyles company after the Marley brand saw a 70% increase in demand last year.

Image-sharing social network, Pinterest, plans to make a stock exchange debut this spring and expects a valuation of up to $9 billion. According to analysts, this valuation is a discount from the company’s most recent valuation on the private markets, although it keeps Pinterest in the same range as some of the other major tech companies with plans for an IPO in 2019. In a regulatory filing earlier this week, the company disclosed its plan to sell 75 million shares at $15 to $17 per share.          Other companies set to debut at the stock exchange this year are Uber, Slack, and Postmates.

job openings dropped to an 11-month low in February and hiring decreased. Job openings fell by 538,000 to a seasonally adjusted low of 7.1 million, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.That was the lowest level since March 2018 and reflected declines in several industries. The job openings rate dropped to 4.5% from 4.8% in January.

London-based Standard Chartered will pay $1.1 billion to U.S. and British authorities for illegal financial transactions involving Iran and other sanctioned countries. A former banker at the Dubai branch pleaded guilty in New York state court in connection with the conspiracy to violate sanctions.Also, a former customer of the bank’s Dubai branch was charged with participating in the conspiracy, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Washington, D.C.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) portends a continued slowing of global economic growth. In 2017, world economic growth was peaked at 4%.It cites “considerable uncertainties in the short term, especially as advanced economy growth rates converge toward their modest long-term potential”. The latest projection on global growth also marks a downward revision from IMF’s last year prediction of 3.9% for 2019. Credit tightening measures and normalization of monetary policies by central banks of many nations have apparently led to a subdued outlook for growth this year.

Analysts at Cowen upgraded Disney stock, as they expect that the entertainment giant’s upcoming video streaming platform and the next ‘Star Wars’ would prove to be strong tailwinds. Cowen raised its rating on Disney to outperform from market perform, and also increased its 12-month price target to $131 from $102.He estimates a $3 billion calendar year operating profit to come from Disney’s movie production unit Studio,  while being particularly optimistic about the Q4 calender year 2019 releases ‘Frozen 2’ and ‘Star Wars Episode IX’. Cowen is also hopeful that Disney’s new streaming platform “is well positioned to have an extremely strong launch that surpasses consensus subscriber expectations”.  

The European Union is preparing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. over subsidies to Boeing Co., significantly escalating transatlantic trade tensions hours after Washington vowed to hit the EU with duties over its support for Airbus SE. Read more...

Online real estate database company  Zillow Group got a rating upgrade by a Cowen analyst. Analyst Thomas Champion raised his rating to outperform from market perform on Zillow stock, citing his optimism on the new executive team’s involvement in implementing a shift in the company’s business strategy.Zillow CEO Rich Barton had stepped down in 2010, but resumed his chief executive position in February.

AMC Entertainment's stock climbed +10% Monday, following B. Riley FBR analyst’s upgrade on the company. Analyst Eric Wold raised his rating to buy from neutral, citing impressive advance ticket sales for the movie 'Avengers: Endgame', which he believes should be a substantial boost to AMC’s business.He also sees strong potential in the movie theatre chain’s Stubs A-List program, which allows moviegoers to watch up to three films per week. Wold seems to be viewing AMC’s Stubs A-list as a meaningful substitute to Movie Pass’ subscription service, for cinephiles.

Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point LLC is reportedly amassing a stake in Sony Corp. Citing sources familiar with the matter (and who were not named), Reuters reported that Third Point wants the stake to push for a divestment of some of Sony Corp.’s businesses.But the report did mention that the hedge fund company is  forming a vehicle expected to range between $500 million and $1 billion in capital, in order to buy more Sony shares (citing the sources). Sony, once the leader in consumer electronics, is currently facing heated competition in the space from rivals like Apple.