It's rumored that American coffee giant Starbucks garnered an estimated $2.3 billion in free advertising when a similar looking coffee cup was spotted in one of the episodes of the HBO fantasy epic ‘Game of Thrones.'It was later revealed, however, that it was just a craft services cup! Close viewers could easily spot a cup incongruous to the setting of the drama and though the label was muddled in the show, within hours the speculation that it could be a Starbucks cup went viral on social media. Following this coffee cup hullabaloo, analysts tallied 10,627 mentions of Starbucks coffee and ‘Game of Thrones’ together across different online, TV and radio broadcasts across the world.

Renewed trade war fears triggered a bond market recession indicator on Thursday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell below that of the 3-month bill, inverting part of the yield curve.The yield curve is the plot of interest rates of bonds having equal credit quality but differing maturity dates.

European stocks traded lower on Thursday, as trade tensions between the U.S. and China ratcheted up. The pan-European STOXX 600 closd provisionally down more 1.74% during afternoon deals.All sectors and major bourses were in negative territory, with the French CAC index recorded a 2% loss.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that tariffs are an "excellent" alternative to a trade deal with China, hours before Chinese officials were set to meet U.S. trade negotiators later in Washington.READ MORE...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that tariffs are an "excellent" alternative to a trade deal with China, hours before Chinese officials were set to meet U.S. trade negotiators later in Washington.READ MORE...

  Looking ahead, the company expects Q2 revenue to range between $220 million and $225 million – which is higher than the $218 million expected by analysts.Roku boosted its full-year guidance range to $1.03 billion to $1.05 billion (implies 40% growth at the midpoint), from the earlier forecast of $1 billion to $1.025 billion.

AMC Entertainment Holdings shares fell -6.3% Thursday, after the movie theatre chain reported wider-than-expected loss for the first-quarter. The company incurred a net loss of -$1.25 a share for the quarter, which is worse than the -55 cents loss a share that Wall Street analysts had expected.The U.S. industry box office plunged -16.2% to $2.4 billion in the first quarter, with a -14.8% decline in attendance, which AMC indicated as headwinds. AMC's revenue came in at $1.2 billion, missing the Street estimates of $1.19 billion.

Disney reported fiscal Q2 results that beat consensus expectations, but losses widened in its direct-to-consumer segment as the company continues to invests to become a leader in the streaming space. The Mouse House posted adjusted earnings of $1.61 per share on revenue of $14.92 billion.In the year-ago quarter, Disney posted adjusted earnings of $1.84 per share on revenue of $14.55 billion.

Novartis is buying dry-eye drug Xiidra from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co for up to $5.3 billion.The deal calls for $3.4 billion up front and milestone payments up to $1.9 billion, Novartis said.  The acquisition from Takeda, which is selling off medicine to reduce its debt, adds to several big Novartis transactions over the last year as the Swiss-based company continues to ramp up its portfolio and get rid of non-core assets to focus on prescription drugs.   

U.S.President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China “broke the deal” it had reached in trade talks with the United States, and vowed not to back down on imposing new tariffs on Chinese imports unless Beijing “stops cheating our workers.”  

Occidental Petroleum's recent jaunt to Omaha aboard a corporate jet presaged a $10 billion investment from Warren Buffett, and now the plane has traveled to the hometown of oil major Royal Dutch Shell. 

Tesla Inc said on Wednesday it closed its $2.7 billion offering of stock and convertible notes and that it was over-subscribed, giving the electric carmaker much needed cash as it ramps up production.

Intel Corp shares declined 2.5 percent on Wednesday after executives forecast modest profit growth over the next three years, signaling it is likely to lag big rivals as the once-dominant chipmaker catches up in technology. 

Oil prices dropped 1% on Thursday amid concerns over the escalating trade battle between the United States and China, despite a surprise fall in U.S. crude stockpiles. 

Ridesharing company Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) reported revenue of $776 million for the first quarter, up 95% year over year.It also reported an adjusted net loss of $211.5 million. 

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) -6.4% pre-market after falling short of Wall Street expectations for Q1 earnings and revenues; pre-market trading is active, with volume topping 600K shares at 7:30 a.m. 

Walmart is raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes at its U.S. stores to 21, amid pressure from regulators to cut tobacco sales and use among minors. The world’s largest retailer also said it will also stop selling fruit and dessert flavored e-cigarettes, which critics say can hook teenagers on vaping. The new rules will take effect in July at all its 5,300 U.S. stores, including its Sam’s Club warehouse locations.Previously, Walmart’s minimum purchase age was 18, aside from a number of states where the legal age is 21.

Tesla closed its $2.7 billion offering of stock and convertible notes.The company says it was over-subscribed, giving the electric carmaker much needed cash for production. Tesla sold about $860 million in shares and $1.84 billion in debt, after the underwriters exercised their option to buy 15 percent in each offering.  Shares of the company were down 0.8 percent at $245.20 in trading before the bell.  Tesla last week reported a larger-than-expected Q1 loss as well as lower sales. It also showed dwindling cash reserves, ending the quarter with $2.2 billion, $1.5 billion less than in the end of 2018, thanks in part to a $920 million convertible-bond payment in March.

Under political pressure not to cut jobs, General Motors Co announced on Wednesday it was in talks to sell its Lordstown, Ohio, plant to an electric truck-building company and also said it would maintain some operations at a Canadian factory.

Qorvo reported its fiscal fourth quarter bottom-line that exceeded analysts’ expectations. The radio frequency device chipmaker reported  earnings of $1.22 per share for the quarter, compared to analysts’ estimates of $1.05 per share (based on FactSet data). Revenue of $681 million also surpassed analysts’ estimates of $670.6 million. For the current quarter, the company predicts earnings of $1.30 per share on revenue between $780 million and $800 million – both of which are higher than analysts’ expectations of $1.05 earnings per share on revenue of $690.1 million.  On May 6, Qorvo announced the completion of its acquisition of power management company Active-Semi International.