retail sales recorded their biggest drop in more than nine years in December as receipts fell across the board, suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic activity at the end of 2018.READ MORE...

With this IPO, the company seeks to raise $100 million, with the intention to trade on the NYSE floor under the ticker LEVI. The underwriting process for the IPO will be led by JP Morgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS).Levi Staruss’s net income up to Nov 25, 2018 stood at $285 million - up 1.4% from the previous year.

The move could help Ford and VW save billions of dollars by sharing R&D efforts. But now it seems highly unlikely that both companies can find common ground when it comes to battery-electric vehicles.According to company officials, their programs are out of sync, and the timing just doesn’t seem to match. With the global business environment becoming more challenging every day, auto manufacturers across the globe are continuously looking for partners -- even if they are rivals.

IBM and Banco Santander have recently entered into a five-year global technology agreement, valued at $700 million to boost Santander’s digital transformation. For Santander, the five-year global technology agreement is in-line with the Spanish lender's business transformation program.The company is seeking to move to a more open, flexible and modern IT environment that delivers better and more innovative digital services for its customers. For IBM, this marks a good start for 2019 as it continues to rack-up a huge $700 million financial services contract, as well as agreements with ICBC Argentina and the card unit of Hyundai and Kia Motors. Following this deal, Santander is set to use the IBM's A.I., blockchain and big data offerings, which is expected to help in the transition of the of the bank's IT infrastructure into a hybrid and multi-color environment. The Spanish lender plans to use IBM’s Watson to improve customer experience, enhance branch advisors expertise and increase

The U.S. and China remain deadlocked on key issues blocking the path toward a trade agreement, according to multiple reports published on Thursday, as representatives for the two countries meet in Beijing. The Chinese government's alleged forced technology transfers as well as its subsidization of domestic industries remain central sticking points as the world's two largest economies try to find common ground on a broad trade deal.READ MORE...

China is reportedly promising to buy semiconductors and other U.S. products in an attempt to alleviate trade tensions with the U.S., according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday. The olive branch is meant to persuade President Donald Trump to extend a temporary truce over tariffs, according to the report, which cited people with knowledge of the matter.READ MORE...

NetApp Inc.’s fiscal third-quarter revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates, leading to its shares declining -8.8% Thursday. The hybrid cloud & data storage/management company’s revenue increased +2% year-over-year to touch $1.56 billion in the fiscal third-quarter, but still missed analysts’ expectation of $1.60 billion (based on FactSet poll). Nevertheless, the company reported adjusted earninsg of $1.20 a share for the quarter, thereby beating analysts' expectations of $1.15 a share (based on FactSet poll).The company is expecting revenue to range from $1.59 billion to $1.69 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter, while analysts’ prediction is $1.71 billion. 

CenturyLink Inc. slashed its shareholder dividend by more than half, causing its stock price to tumble around -9.4% Thursday. The wireless telecom company’s board agreed to lower yearly dividend to $1 from $2.16 – something that the company expects would free up cash for facilitating its debt repayment.As of Dec. 31, its long-term debt stood at $35.4 billion (compared to $20 billion of shareholder equity). Along with announcing the dividend cut, CenturyLink also reported its fourth quarter adjusted earnings of 37 cents a share – which is substantially higher than the year-ago quarter’s 18 cents.

This moved the four-week moving average of claims to its highest level in just over a year.  Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 239,000 for the week ended Feb. 9, the Labor Department said on Thursday.Data for the prior week was revised up to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Despite the recent jump in claims, layoffs remain low amid companies struggling to find workers. 

Coca-Cola's fourth quarter earnings matched analysts’ expectations, while the soft drink giant warned about a potential slowing of comparable sales in 2019. For the three months ending December, Coke's earnings of 43 cents per share  was +9% higher compared to the year-ago quarter, and was in line with Wall Street consensus estimates. However, the company's group revenues of $7.1 billion was slightly lower than the $7.06 billion analysts' estimate.It was also -6% below the year-ago period’s figure. For 2019, Coca-Cola projects organic sales growth of +4% - which would be slower than 2018’s +5%.

Amazon has secured central London retail space for its checkout-free Amazon Go food stores concept, according to trade publication, The Grocer.This is expected to be the company's first expansion of its automated convenience shops outside the United States. Amazon currently sells food in Britain through its Amazon Fresh, Amazon Pantry and Amazon Prime Now services.

Exelixis, Inc. delivered better-than-expected results for fourth-quarter 2018, wherein both earnings and revenues beat estimates on strong performance by Cabometyx.  Read more...

Coca-Cola European Partners PLC is expecting 2019 to be a year of positive growth in sales and profit for the company. The bottler of Coca-Cola products has predicted low single-digit revenue growth (excluding impact from currency fluctuations or incremental soft drink taxes),  and 6%-7% increase in comparable operating profit for 2019.Its revenue in the quarter increased + 5% year-over-year to touch 2.8 billion euros – as prices rise more than offset decline in volume.  Volume dropped -2.5%, while revenue per case rose +6%.

Avon Products reported earnings (adjusted for non-recurring items) of $0.07 per share for the fourth quarter 2018, falling short of Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.08 per share.It was also lower than the yer-ago quarter’s $0.12 per share. The cosmetics company's sales of $1.32 billion for the quarter missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.30%.  Revenues were also lower than the year-ago period’s $1.57 billion. According to Zacks Investment Research, the current consensus earnings-per-share estimate for Avon is breakeven on $1.24 billion in revenues for the next quarter, while the consensus projection for the current fiscal year is earnings of $0.12 a share on $5.23 billion in revenues.

China will generate more data than the United States by 2025 as it pushes into new technologies such as the so-called Internet of Things, according to a new report.Read more...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was looking forward to trade talks with China on Thursday, as discussions in Beijing moved to a higher level in a push to de-escalate a tariff war ahead of a March 1 deadline for a deal.Read more...

When America sneezes, the world catches cold, the saying goes.Now Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists are asking whether the reverse also holds true. Read More...

Biotech firm Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL) has been trending higher since the end of October.That pattern looks similar to what we saw at the end of December. Tickeron’s A.I.

Oil and gas exploration company Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) saw a bullish pattern develop on its daily chart recently and that pattern is called Three Rising Valleys.The incremental jumps in the low prices form the pattern. The daily stochastic readings were in oversold territory and made a bullish crossover on Monday and that is also a possible bullish sign for the stock. The A.I.dvisor Trend Prediction tool generated a bullish signal on Cabot Oil & Gas on February 7.

The Tickeron AI Trend Prediction tool generated a bullish signal on application software firm Fortinet (Nasdaq: FTNT) on February 7 and that was the day after the company reported earnings.Fortinet also beat on the top line with revenue of $507 million while the estimate was for $496 million. Something that stood out about Fortinet’s earnings report from some of the other tech companies was how China was impacting the company.