Huawei is a Chinese multinational telecommunications and smartphone company. According to Spark NZ (the nation's biggest telecom firm), government officials felt that using Huawei's 5G equipment could pose risks to national security."I have informed Spark that a significant network security risk was identified," said Andrew Hampton, the director general of GCSB. Huawei responded to New Zealand's decision with a statement saying  "we will actively address any concerns and work together [with the government] to find a way forward.

Papa John’s stock price took a hit on Tuesday amidst a report that there might not be any buyer for the company, as of now. A Wall Street Journal article said that the asset manager Trian Management Funds is reportedly no longer interested in bidding for Papa John's.In July, Papa John’s announced that it would use a “poison pill” (a stock dilution strategy) against Schatter should he try to increase his stake in the company. Papa John’s also faced some headwinds in its recent performance.

In a recent media release, Walt Disney Company (DIS) revealed that it chose Google Ad Manager as its new digital advertising handler for an undisclosed amount, after sidelining its previous handler, Comcast's FreeWheel. Under this multiyear and multimillion-dollar deal, Disney is set to move all of its digital brands and properties worldwide — including Disney, ABC, ESPN, Freeform, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars — to Google’s advertising platform. With Google Ad Manager serving as DIS’s principal ad-technology platform, it will bring Disney’s entire global digital video and display business across multiple channels, including live streaming and direct-to-consumer content offerings, under one platform. This consolidation should allow Disney to standardize its ad-technology under one global platform.It will also allow them to build a cutting-edge video experience and refine the way ads are stitched into live video, so that there’s a more seamless viewing experience

During the U.S. shale oil and gas boom over the past 15 years, one of the major challenges for different U.S. energy sector companies is how to provide for the perennial infusion of cash needed to finance their exploration, production, and investment activities. With rising oil prices during early 2018, many analysts anticipated the challenge subsiding, as several energy companies revealed in third-quarter earnings reports that they were able to cover their capital spending from operating cash flows. Two of the country’s largest oil companies, ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), reported healthy profits from their US operations after reporting losses in 2017. But these profits were recorded when the benchmark US WTI crude was trading around $73 a barrel.  It follows that the recent plunge in oil prices over the past two months has brought financing concerns/challenges back to the surface again.

Shares of GE recorded their 20th decline in the last 23 trading sessions, after Gordon Haskett analyst John Inch indicated that the bankruptcy of helicopter lessor Waypoint Leasing could summon more trouble for GE’s finance arm, GE Capital.GE’s shares dropped by ~ 4.5% on Monday after Inch’s warning became public. According to Inch, Waypoint's excessive capacity and muted demand -- owing largely to the energy industry’s limited rotorcraft usage due to distress in the offshore oil and gas sector -- has further enhanced its struggles. GE had acquired Milestone Aviation Group in 2014 for $1.8 billion, on the assumption that there wouldn’t be any write-down of the goodwill.

Paychex Inc. announced Monday that it plans to acquire privately held firm Oasis Outsourcing Acquisition Corp. for $1.2 billion. Payroll services company Paychex hopes that the acquisition of Oasis will bolster its own professional employer organization (PEO) strategy and potentially augment its client base.Paychex expects the transaction to potentially create "a number of revenue and cost synergies”. Paychex might finance the acquisition through a combination of cash and existing credit facilities or new debt.

Depends on what the rate is,” while adding, “I mean, I can make it 10%, and people could stand that very easily.” However, some analysts are already predicting possibilities of a severe blow to Apple if a tariff is implemented. Investment bank Baird projects at least 10% adverse impact on consumer demand in the U.S., if a 10% tariff is slapped on imported iPhones.Baird estimates that every 5% reduction in U.S. product revenue hurts Apple’s earnings per share by roughly $0.25-0.30 (accounting for demand elasticity effect).

Late Monday, United Technologies announced its plans to segregate itself into three companies: 1) United Technologies, which will focus on aerospace and defense industry supplier businesses, 2) Carrier, which comprises its refrigeration, air conditioning and building systems business and 3) Otis, which makes  elevators, escalators and moving walkways. United Technologies got the final regulatory nod for its $23 billion acquisition of aviation electronics manufacturing company Rockwell Collins on Friday.After the acquisition, Rockwell combined with UTC Aerospace Systems will make up Collins Aerospace Systems – which will be part of the United Technologies company after the split. "Our decision to separate United Technologies is a pivotal moment in our history and will best position each independent company to drive sustained growth, lead its industry in innovation and customer focus, and maximize value creation," said United Technologies CEO Gregory Hayes.

Cyber Monday was the biggest shopping day in Amazon’s 24-year history, as indicated by the company. Although the e-commerce giant did not release absolute figures, it said the Monday after Thanksgiving 2018 turned out to be "the single biggest shopping day in the company's history with the most products ordered worldwide". Amazon also mentioned that sales made during the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday reached a record high for the company.During that period, it sold “millions” more products than it did during the same period in 2017. “Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to break records on Amazon year over year, “ said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon's Worldwide Consumer division. For the holiday season, Amazon offered several ‘gifts’ or incentives to shoppers such as free shipping on almost all items for all customers without any minimum purchase amount required.

Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox are being sued by Malaysia’s casino & hotel company Genting Malaysia Bhd for abandoning a Fox World theme park deal.The park was scheduled to open its gates next year, with Genting having invested around $750 million in the project. Disney is in the process of acquiring Fox's entertainment assets. In the lawsuit filed on Monday, Genting indicates that it is Disney that apparently wants to distance itself from a gambling company in order to avoid risking its “family-friendly” brand image.

On Tuesday morning, 21st Century Fox is launching its new online video streaming platform called Fox Nation. With a focus on  entertainment and political opinion, the streaming service apparently promises to offer content in addition to what viewers get on its decades-old cable TV channel Fox News. Fox Nation will have upto 30 hours of new programming per week, and will also stock archives of Fox’s radio programs.The streaming platform has also lined up live shows such as 'UN-PC' with hosts Britt McHenry and Tyrus, 'Liberty Files with Judge Napolitano', and 'Reality Check with David Webb'. The launch of Fox Nation seems to be 21st Century Fox’s attempt at expanding its footprints in the rapidly growing online streaming industry.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.03% fell 3.3% in afternoon trade, enough to pace declines among its health care peers and among the Dow Jones Industrial Average's DJIA, +1.46% components, after reports that an appeals court ruled that J&J can't block sales of generic Zytiga while the company appeals the overturning of a Zytiga patent.  READ MORE...

Kulicke and Soffa remains a relatively cheap, cash-rich name with a great balance sheet, unencumbered by debt. READ MORE...

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) stock continues to be a roller coaster.Since then, QCOM stock has dropped 28% and is now threatening to broach its multi-year support near $50. READ MORE...

Each of the five "FAANG" stocks closed in a bear market on Monday. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet have fallen steadily over the last 6 weeks. Wall Street defines a bear market as a fall of 20 percent or more from a stock's 52-week high. READ MORE...

Google’s parent company, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL), has been trending lower over the last four months and the downtrend has brought the stock down to the $1,000 level.The stock then rallied all the way up to an all-time high of $1,291.44 in July. It is also interesting that the 104-week moving average is part of the story at this time.

Casual clothing manufacturer, Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU), has dropped sharply in the last few months.The good news is that the stock may have found support earlier this week in the $118 area. Looking at the weekly chart we see that the stock shot up back on June 1, moving from $105 to over $122.

The American canned soup maker, Campbell Soup, announced Monday it has made peace with activist fund Third Point, in a standstill agreement. Under the terms of the truce, Campbell would add two of Third Point's nominees to its board: former Blue Buffalo CEO Kurt Schmidt and Comscore President Sarah Hofstetter, while Third Point will support the rest of Campbell's nominees.Additionally, the size of company's board will expand to 14 members along with the appointment of a third director by the meeting of the Board in May 2019. Established in the mid 1800’s, Campbell soup has almost always been a family business.

Brent crude futures, which tanked by ~6% on Friday, increased by $1.71 or 2.9% on Monday to stand at $60.51 a barrel.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, which sank nearly 7.7% on Friday, rose by $1.28 or 2.5% to stand at $51.70 a barrel. Although the gains partly made up for Friday’s losses, oil and gas analysts are of the opinion that uncertainty over global economic growth limited gains and they are concerned whether oil can hold on to the $60 mark, considering broad market weakness. With the International Energy Agency already revising their initial estimate for the demand growth rate from 1.5 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day in just three months, analysts aren’t expecting any sustainable long-term oil price gain.   

Shares of the American multinational, General Motors Company, soared more than 5% in Monday’s trade after the carmaker released its transformation plan for the future. As a part of the restructuring strategy, the company plans to undertake cost-cutting measures, which include curbing its vehicle line-up in the U.S. and closing U.S. and overseas plants, despite triggering layoff fears. According to the company, this restructuring strategy is expected to help strengthen its core business, capitalize on the future of personal mobility, and drive significant cost efficiencies. As per GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, the aforementioned moves are expected to increase GM's free cash flow from autos by $6 billion in the next two years, including cost savings worth $4.5 billion and reduced capital spending worth $1.5 billion by 2020. With plans to allocate additional resources to electric and autonomous vehicles, the company announced the closure of five plants in 2019 as a part of its $4.