China struck an upbeat note on Monday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a U.S. Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties. READ MORE...

Japan’s shut, most other Asian equity markets aren’t doing much, and you can read about the big exception -- China -- here. So we’re going to use this opportunity to talk about India, where an unpredictable election looms.Even before the ballot takes place, a host of worries is raising questions about whether the country’s benchmark stock index can repeat last year’s outperformance. READ MORE...

Yet more taxpayers will end up with no refund, or a smaller one, compared with a year ago, before the lower rates fully took effect.How could that be? READ MORE...

The burrito and bowl maker’s latest fourth quarter report revealed a stunning 6.1% comps growth, 2.2% of which came from increased transactions.This was the best comps result in nearly two years. Restaurant level operating margin surged from 14.9% to 17% in Q4, even though it was lower than 18.7% in the third quarter, 19.7% in the second quarter, or 19.5% in the first quarter of the 2018. The company attributes the sequential reduction in restaurant-level margins to a big increase in what Chipotle classifies as "other operating costs."

The century-old multinational automaker, Ford Motor Company, in its recent media release revealed that the company plans to invest $1 billion to expand production of the redesigned Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator sport utility vehicles. The investment would be made in the assembly and stamping plants in Chicago and is expected to add at least 500 more jobs in the plant, but it comes as the automaker cut jobs overseas, particularly in the European region. The plan to expand certain productions is in response to a decline of sedans and sports cars in favor of SUVs, crossover-utility vehicles and trucks.It is also likely to spend $40 million to upgrade the facilities for employees, including new LED lighting and cafeteria updates, new break areas as well as parking lot security upgrades. Ford is not the only automaker to restructure its production in the face of changing demands.

The automaker expects total industry sales for North America to decline in 2019 to 17.2 million, down from 17.7 million in 2018. Chrysler attributes this downsized sale partly to its decision to not sell two generations of the Jeep Wrangler side-by-side, as it did in 2018.The company is also looking at retooling factories to gear up for the launch of the plug-in hybrid version of the iconic off-road machine in early 2020. Other challenges include higher-than-expected capital expenditures that could see the company shelling out nearly 500 million euros related to U.S diesel emissions cases.

The fund says it will focus more on listed real estate companies a way of cutting costs and simplifying its approach after struggling to find properties to buy amid near record prices.It lowered its target for real estate in its portfolio to 3 to 5 percent from 7 percent. The management should be “cost-effective” and “fairly simple” which means having “an overall property strategy with somewhat greater emphasis on listed holdings,” Egil Matsen, the deputy governor at Norway’s central bank who’s in charge of oversight of the fund.

In a busy week for the pharma sector, drug giants Merck and Eli Lilly reported fourth-quarter results along with GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi. Read more...

This stems from an administration proposal that would require drugmakers to show full prices of medicines in TV ads. Johnson & Johnson has taken up the call and will start stating prices with ads for blood thinner Xarelto by March.Big pharma generally opposes the idea, arguing that list prices are meaningless to most Americans because health plans often negotiate huge discounts with drugmakers and consumers usually pay only a portion of a lower price themselves.

Facebook is banned in China, but the company generated at least $5 billion in sales there last year by one estimate.READ MORE...

The beauty company reported adjusted earnings of  24 cents a share for the three months ending December, beating analysts’ estimate of 22 cents a share.However, the adjusted per-share earnings were lower compared to the year-ago quarter’s 32 cents a share. The company’s total revenue of $2.51 billion for the fiscal second quarter, beating Wall Street's forecast of $2.47 billion. Coty CEO Pierre Laubies said in a statement, "I must stress that while we are confident that we can return Coty to a path of sustainable growth, we are also realistic that it will take time to achieve this outcome.

Tyson Foods managed to beat earnings estimate, while substantially falling short of revenue expectations. The meat processing company’s adjusted earnings for fiscal first quarter was $1.58 a share, compared to analysts’ estimate of $1.57 a share.The adjusted earnings-per-share for the quarter was -12% lower from the year-ago period. Tyson’s beef sales grew to $3.93 billion, and its chicken sales increased to $3.12 billion. However, The firm’s revenue declined -0.3% from a year earlier to $10.19 billion – lower than analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. The company experienced strong adjusted operating margin at 12.5% for the quarter. Tyson completed its acquisition of packaged foods firm Keystone Foods in the fiscal first quarter, and expects the merger to boost growth and global market expansion.

India could lose a vital U.S. trade concession, under which it enjoys zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States, amid a widening dispute over its trade and investment policies, people with close knowledge of the matter said. Read More...

When it comes to industry competition, executives at Delta Air Lines Inc. have never been accused of jabbing with soft elbows.That ferocity was on full display Thursday as the carrier launched its first Airbus SE A220 flights from Boston, Dallas and New York, deploying the technologically advanced aircraft in hotly contested business routes at large hubs that are critical to its rivals.

Revenue of $2.6 billion exceeded Wall Street estimate of $2.5 billion, and were also +10% higher compared to the year-ago quarter. The online travel platform had total gross bookings (by customers on rooms, flights and other travel across Expedia’s brands) of $21.96 billion - which indicates a year-over-year growth of +11%.Annual revenue of $11.2 billion was +12% higher, compared to 2017. The company projects that its adjusted earnings (before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) will increase in the range of +10% to +15% in 2019.

iRobot Corp. posted record high earnings for the fourth quarter, while also beating analyst expectations. The consumer robot maker raked in adjusted earnings of 84 cents per share in the fourth quarter, surging past the year-ago quarter’s 54 cents a share.Full-year revenue rose +24% to $1.09 billion – compared to $883.9 million in 2017.  iRobot CEO Colin Angle indicated that the company could efficiently weather the impact of tariffs in the U.S., and also added that strong demand for Roomba i7 and i7+ robots bolstered holiday sales for the company.

However the EPS was -17.5% lower compared to the same quarter the prior year. Revenue of $1.558 billion fell short of analysts expectations, and also was slightly less than the year-ago quarter’s figure.However, worldwide same-store sales increased +3%, exceeding analysts' estimate of +2.48% (based on Refinitiv data). CEO Greg Creed said, "Focus on our four growth drivers, increased collaboration and a new mindset are fueling strong results."

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG 13.4% reported fourth-quarter results that handily exceeded expectations from a growth in comparable sales and total transactions.Here is a summary of how some of the Street's top analysts reacted to the print. Read More...

A meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is "highly unlikely" before the March 2 deadline for reaching a trade deal, according to a senior administration official. While Trump and Xi are still expected to meet, there's too much work to do to flesh out a deal with China and prepare Trump for a high-stakes meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Trump's summit with Kim is set for Feb. 27-28.READ MORE...

Sealed Air Corp. shares jumped more than 8% on Thursday after the food safety and security product solutions company topped analysts' fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations.READ MORE...