Oil finally broke its losing streak as U.S. crude futures rose 36 cents to $60.55 on Monday, after Saudi Arabia and its OPEC partners hinted that an output cut could be on the horizon.
After a weekend discussion with all OPEC nations, Saudi Arabia on Monday announced that OPEC and its partners are contemplating an output cut of 1 million barrels per day in the next year. Further, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, added that it would cut its shipments by half a million barrels per day in December due to seasonal lower demand.
Oil prices fell by nearly 20% in the last month, amidst concerns over increased supply and the threat of a slowdown in demand, especially from countries whose purchasing power has been eroding owing to their currencies weakening sharply against US dollar.Perhaps the tide is turning.
Culp also said he feels the "urgency" to shrink the company's leverage and plans to do so through asset sales.
Under Culp’s leadership, GE's dividend has been reduced to a penny, and the conglomerate took a $22 billion accounting writedown. Culp mentioned Monday that he is planning to reduce debt further by raising cash through a possible IPO of its healthcare business, sale of its transportation unit and by exiting its Baker-Hughes oil field services business (as suggested by a CNBC article).
What possibly exacerbated the company's stock price decline was the alarming prediction made by JP Morgan Chase analyst C. Stephen Tusa, Jr. (published on Friday) that GE's stock will plummet another -33% to touch $6 by the end of 2019 owing to its mounting debt.
As of this year so far, Qualtrics seems to have an edge over SurveyMonkey in terms of revenue growth: In the first half of 2018, revenue of Qualtrics grew +41.7% to reach $184.2 million; in comparison, SurveyMonkey’s revenue grew +14% to $121.2 million over the same period.
SAP buying Qualtrics is the latest on the list of major mergers & acquisitions this year witnessed in the tech/software space.A few weeks back, IBM announced plans to acquire open-source software maker Red Hat for $34 billion.
Following Revlon Inc.’s announcement of cost-cutting plans and its higher-than-expected Q3 revenues, the company's stock jumped the most in a month.
The cosmetics and personal care company said it would lower costs by as much as $150 million by the end of 2019.On Friday, Chief Executive Officer Debra Perelman revealed the company’s plan to concentrate resources on “higher-priority growth areas”, and that might lead to job cuts.
Proctor and Gamble (P&G) tries to pack a punch for its online market, by introducing "Tide Eco-Box" - a box specially designed for shipping Tide laundry detergent to online shoppers of the product. The packaging comes with a twist-to-open system for pouring for the detergent, a pull-out stand, and a measuring cup.The package design also allows for use of much less plastic, thereby potentially being more environmental-friendly.
January onwards, Tide Eco-Box will also be included in P&G’s online retail partners like Amazon.com and Walmart.com.
In addition to Tide, there are several other liquid products of P&G that the company has focused on to improve their delivery logistics – and therefore bolster its online business.
Alibaba’s Singles Day bonanza clocked in a record $30.8 billion in sales over a 24 hour-period.
November 11 (11/11) is celebrated in China as Singles Day for people who are single in terms of their relationship status.The growth rate was even faster in 2017 (at 40%).
Interestingly, the country which ranked the second highest in terms of goods sold on Alibaba on Singles Day was the U.S. – notwithstanding the ongoing trade tensions and tariff-slapping rounds between China and the U.S.
As new weather forecasts by Jacob Meisel, chief weather analyst at Bespoke Weather Services, hinted that the cold snap would linger a little longer than expected, natural gas prices rallied to their highest finish since December 2016 - with front-month Nymex futures closing +5.1% to $3.71/MBtu.
Another tailwind to prices was a report that natural gas storage in U.S. is at its lowest level to start the winter heating season in nearly 15 years, and also 16% below the five-year average.
With the potential for natural gas shortage at the end of the season, most companies like EQM Midstream Partners (EQM, $47.22), Range Resources (RRC, $17.70), Chesapeake Energy (CHK, 3.63) and Cabot Oil & Gas (COG, $25.61) were some of the top gainers in Friday's trading session, with gains ranging between 2% to 5%.
The German-based European multinational software corporation, SAP SE, in an official statement on Sunday declared that it is set to acquire the survey software company, Qualtrics, for $8 billion.
This deal, the second highest acquisition in the history of SAP (after the $8.3 billion acquisition of travel and expense software company Concur in 2014), would be an all all-cash deal and has been approved by the boards of both companies and also by Qualtrics shareholders.
Qualtrics, which competes with SurveyMonkey, is a bigger and more profitable organization compared to Survey Monkey and has been growing at a faster rate. Founded in 2002, it reported a revenue growth of 41.7% to $184.2 million in the first-half of 2018.
J.P.The company further added that it is taking the necessary aggressive measures to strengthen its balance sheet through accelerated deleveraging and by restructuring efforts.
The question is, does the market have any confidence left in GE?
Brexit is making its mark in the financial services world, just as the separation of Britain from the EU is supposed to take place. Several major U.S. investment banks are moving their assets to Frankfurt from the U.K., which could ultimately see their balance sheets grow in Germany by about $283 billion, according to sources talking to Bloomberg.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc. have made plans to move assets to their German subsidiaries.The banks have so far not commented on the move, however.
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Wynn Resorts shares declined more than 12 percent during after-hours trading as the company missed estimates in its quarterly earnings.
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Facebook will soon allow you to delete messages that you've already sent via its Messenger app.
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U.S.oil production jumped to a record 11.6 million barrels a day last week, and rising U.S. output is a factor that could prompt OPEC members and allies to react when they meet over the weekend.
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New Age Beverages wants to launch CBD-infused drinks.
The beverage company recently hinted at its interest in the marijuana component that does not cause users to get high.CEO Brent Willis told CNN that the company is already in talks with many retailers about selling its potential line of CBD-mixed waters, teas and other drinks.
The implementation and success of the plan could also hinge on whether the Congress would pass the Farm Bill, which would make it legal to produce hemp and potentially make way for more production of drinks containing cannabidiol, or CBD.
Several beverage makers in recent times have either expressed interest or already have actively ventured into the cannabis space.
The company has won approval to clear card payments in that country, which is expected to be the world's biggest card market by 2020.
Other companies such as Visa and MasterCard have applied for licenses as well but are still waiting to see if approvals will be granted.The preliminary approval for AmEx allows it to process and settle payment in the domestic currency and has set up a network with Chinese joint venture partner LianLian Group. The approval is a "significant step toward opening up China's bank card market to foreign investors", said China's Central Bank, in a statement.
Sears Holdings will be closing doors at 40 more locations.
On Thursday, the retail company announced that by February 2019, 29 Sears stores and 11 Kmart shops will be shuttered.Closing stores (particularly the underperforming ones) is part of its liquidation sales, as the retailer apparently found it hard to improve dwindling margins. The newly announced 40 store closures will begin next week, according to the company.
Adding the latest closures, Sears will be left with less than 500 Sears and Kmart stores open – that’s around half of what it had as of February.
A wave of consolidation across the U.S. energy sector continues to hold center stage.In a string of recent M&A deals, the latest to go under the hammer is the much-anticipated deal between Western Gas Equity Partners (WGP, $30.97) and Western Gas Partners (WES, $46.91) – wherein the former has agreed to acquire affiliate Western Gas Partners in an all-equity deal to create a single, simplified midstream company.
The above-mentioned transaction consolidates two midstream entities controlled by U.S. oil giant Anadarko Petroleum (APC, $57.79), which will retain a majority stake in the company.
The American multinational energy company, Chevron Corporation, is still in two minds in terms of whether to leave Venezuela amidst decreasing profit and increasing corruption in the country.
Criticized for working in close quarters with the Venezuelan Maduro government, Chevron is the last major U.S.-based oil producing company still operating in Venezuela.However, the top executives of the company in U.S. are yet to confirm anything.
A pair of charts suggests stocks will stage a significant rally, no matter what happens with the midterm elections.
According to J.P. Morgan's Jason Hunter, investors could be on the cusp of solid gains following the October correction.
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