home sales fell in January to their lowest level in more than three years and house prices rose only modestly. The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday existing home sales dropped 1.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million units last month. That was the lowest level since November 2015 and well below analysts’ expectations of a rate of 5.0 million units.December’s sales pace was revised slightly higher. The drop in January came after months of weakness in the U.S. housing market.

Top U.S. and Chinese trade officials are working this week to hash out language on six broad agreements that aim to resolve the most contentious issues in their seven-month trade war. Read more...  

Wendy’s reported lower-than-expected growth in same-store sales, and had marginally higher earnings compared to analysts’ estimates. The fast food restaurant chain raked in 16 cents per share for the three months ending December, beating analysts’ estimates by only a penny.It is 9 cents a share higher compared to the year-ago quarter. Total revenues rose +3.6% year-over-year to $397.8 million in the quarter, shy of analysts’ expectation of $400 million (according to the Street).

Domino's Pizza’s same-store sales grew at the slowest pace in four years, and the pizza chain reported lower-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The company’s earnings for the quarter increased +25% year over year to touch $2.62, but fell short of Wall Street consensus estimate of $2.69 per share.  Its same-store sales in the U.S. rose +3.6%, lagging behind the consensus estimate of +6.6%.  Domino’s group revenues grew +13% to $1.08 billion, missing the consensus forecast of $1.1 billion. The company hiked its quarterly dividend by 18% to 65 cents a share, which is scheduled for payment for March 29 to shareholders of record on March 15.

At least one auto industry analyst is skeptical about Tesla CEO Elon Musk's bold claim that the electric car maker will have all the features necessary for full autonomy by the end of the year. Read More...

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is growing online sales faster than any other major competitor in the United States.By comparison, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), the market leader, grew its revenue from online sales in North America at about half that rate. Read More...

It seems Federal Reserve officials widely favored ending the runoff of the central bank’s balance sheet this year, while expressing uncertainty over whether they would raise interest rates again in 2019, minutes of their January meeting showed. “Almost all participants thought that it would be desirable to announce before too long a plan to stop reducing the Federal Reserve’s asset holdings later this year,” according to the record of the Federal Open Market Committee’s Jan. 29-30 gathering released Wednesday.The minutes said that “many participants suggested that it was not yet clear what adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate later this year.”

CVS Health beat fourth-quarter earnings forecasts, but its long-term care business took a $2.2-billion hit out of the company's performance, and its initial 2019 forecast was weaker than expected. CEO Larry Merlo said in a prepared statement that 2019 would be "a year of transition" as the company integrates the health insurer Aetna, which it purchased in a roughly $69 billion deal last year.A federal judge is still evaluating the acquisition. Earnings adjusted for one-time items totaled $2.14 per share, as revenue jumped more than 12 per cent to $54.24 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $2.09 per share and $54.61 billion in revenue.

Allergan plc issued a statement in response to a letter from one of its public shareholders, Appaloosa, disagreeing with the latter’s request of a separation of Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Chairman roles, both currently held by Brent Saunders. Read more...

As a result, the airline has announced an ‘operational emergency’ due to the unusual number of grounded jets. Generally, the company plans to have as many as 20 aircraft removed from service for unexpected maintenance issues every day.'Hundreds' is a different story altogether, and signals bigger problems at the airline. This means that the percentage of out-of-service aircrafts among its available fleet of about 750 Boeing 737s has been at least double the daily average. The airline has subsequently announced a re-haul of its mechanics to address the maintenance items and quickly return aircraft to service.

Walmart published an impressive FY19 fourth quarter earnings report, recording revenue growth of over 3.1% on a y-o-y basis. The company’s comparable-store sales recorded an impressive 4.2% growth rate on a y-o-y basis – an acceleration from the 3.4% growth achieved in Q3.This is good news for Walmart as it suggests greater growth in its online sales than Target, although not on an exact quarter to quarter comparison. Other peers like Costco’s (COST) e-commerce sales recorded 28% y-o-y growth, while Amazon's (AMZN) revenue from online stores recorded only 14% y-o-y increase in the fourth quarter. In short, Walmart is looking good in its e-commerce segment and time will reveal how well it can beat competition from Target, Costco and Amazon.

Putting an end to its long struggle in South America, Ford Motors on Wednesday announced its plan to stop selling heavy trucks in the region in near future. According to the company, the decision is in-line with its newly adopted restructuring plan, whereby the company would take steps to trim its operations and overhaul its business in less successful regions.The plan will likely take years to take shape and is expected to cost $11 billion. Ford is likely to stop commercial production at its Sao Bernardo do Campo plant in Brazil this year, and would stop selling the Cargo lineup, F-4000 and F-350 trucks along with the Fiesta compact car once it sells all its inventory. This is expected to result in a record pre-tax special item charges of about $460 million for the second largest U.S. automaker. The automaker has been long struggling in the South American vehicle market, but this move does not mean a total pullback.

The dollar on Wednesday recovered from the previous sessions’ roughly two-week lows to trade slightly higher on the day within narrow ranges as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of U.S. monetary policy minutes.READ MORE...

British workers’ pay growth maintained its fastest pace in a decade in late 2018 and job creation stayed strong, data showed, suggesting the labor market was buoyant ahead of Brexit as the broader economy slowed.READ MORE...

stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors weighed the latest developments in trade talks between the United States and China, while waiting for minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January policy-setting meeting.READ MORE...

Owens Corning Inc. beat fourth quarter earnings expectations, and also bumped up its dividend. The insulation, roof and fiberglass composites producer raked in adjusted earnings $1.38 per share for the quarter ending in December, thereby edging past Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.21 per share.  The company’s group sales increased +6.2%% year-over-year to touch $1.7 billion in the quarter, and narrowly exceeded the consensus estimate of $1.6 billion. Owens Corning raised its quarterly dividend to 22 cents per share.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects that the electric car maker will have the technology needed to essentially operate vehicles without drivers by the end of the year. Read More...

Oil prices were around 2019 highs on Wednesday, propped up by supply cuts led by producer club OPEC and by U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. Read More...

The first batch of 5G phones is right around the corner, but Qualcomm is already preparing for the follow-up.It's introducing a Snapdragon X55 modem that should make 5G more viable in the real world. READ MORE...

Shareholders of beleaguered electric utility PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) got a big break today.With Citigroup upgrading the bankrupt utility stock to "buy," PG&E shares are up 16.1% as of 12:20 p.m. EST -- and climbing. READ MORE...