Eli Lilly and Co. reported lower-than-expected sales for its top-selling diabetes drug, Trulicity, and cut its full-year revenue forecast. Due to pressure to lower prices, Eli Lilly agreed to offer a half-priced version of insulin injection Humalog earlier this year.The drugmaker is one of the three main global providers of insulin products.  Lilly said it now expects 2019 revenue to come in between $22.0 billion and $22.5 billion, lower than its prior forecast of $25.1 billion to $25.6 billion.

McDonald's Corp. reported first-quarter results that came in better than expected and helped lift shares higher by nearly 3 percent. Read more...

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CMTL 5.77% said Monday that it was awarded a $100-million-plus contract during the fiscal third quarter for a next-generation 911 communications system in a northeastern state. Read More...

Oil prices dipped on Tuesday on expectations rising output from the United States and producer club OPEC would offset most of the shortfall expected from U.S. sanctions on Iran, but analysts said markets remained tight. Read More...

Alphabet's revenue for the first quarter fell short of expectations, causing the tech giant's shares to lose -5% during after-hours trading Monday. Google’s parent company reported revenue of $36.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the $37.3 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Decelerating growth in advertising was a headwind to the company's revenue.Paid clicks on Google properties grew +39% year-over-year for the quarter, which was much slower than the fourth quarter’s + 66% and third quarter’s + 62%. However, total revenue was still +17% higher compared to the year-ago quarter, as mentioned by Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of both Alphabet and Google.

On an adjusted basis, the y-o-y growth of this ‘Other’ segment in Q4 2018 stood at 38%, while the same ranged between 51% and 73% in previous quarters last year. Amazon initially saw good success in its advertising segment and became a major contender to Google and Facebook.But that has faded this year and advertisers are saying that they are now focussing on building strategies and weighing how well Amazon fits into them. On the other hand, Google (GOOGL) has been dominating the digital advertising ecosystem and has optimized its features, providing high returns for investors.

Despite a 34% drop in first quarter net income, shares of Ford Motor rose above the $10 mark for the first time since August 2018.Ford’s adjusted profit for the quarter stood at 44 cents per share, beating an estimate of 27 cents per share. However, the automaker, despite its success in North America, is still struggling in overseas markets like Europe, South America, and especially China. To address these issues, Ford is shifting away from sedans to trucks, a risky bet that has so far paid off for investors.

In just five days, ‘Avengers: The Endgame’ earned more than $1.2 billion at the global box office shattering the previous record for the highest weekend total of $641 million set by ‘Avengers: The Infinity War’ in 2018.The previous record holder was ‘The Fate of the Furious’ that earned $443 million during its opening weekend in 2017. Additionally, no film has ever averaged more than $59,000 per theater, a record set by ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in 2015.

Netflix has said it doesn’t intend to ever run traditional ads.But advertising industry experts aren’t so sure that will be the case. During a panel at IAB’s Digital Content NewFronts on Monday, executives from YouTube, JPMorgan Chase, the UM agency and MediaLink were asked about Netflix staying ad-free.

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed no change in March and remained well below the central bank’s target, a government report Monday showed.At the same time, consumer spending surged amid a jump in expenditures on motor vehicles and health care.

Wall Street veteran Jim Paulsen believes stocks could continue to surge well past their recent recovery to the all-time highs that were last seen before the late-2018 market collapse.READ MORE...

The European Union has accepted an offer by Visa and Mastercard to cut fees on payments made by tourists using cards issued outside the region to stave off fines and end an EU antitrust investigation.  The European Commission, says that "interchange fees" in which the merchant’s bank pays a charge to the cardholder’s bank, result in higher prices for consumers. “This, together with our January 2019 decision on Mastercard’s cross-border card payment services, will lead to lower prices for European retailers to do business, ultimately to the benefit of all consumers,” Europe’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, told Fox News he thinks the United States and China can finalize a trade deal with two more rounds of talks. Mnuchin also said the part of the negotiations aimed at enforcement is close to finished.Another round of talks is planned for next month in Washington.  “We still have more work to do,” Mnuchin said.

U.S.consumer spending increased by the most in more than 9-1/2 years in March, but price pressures remained muted, with a key inflation measure posting its smallest annual gain in 14 months. Read more...

The case for buying stock in United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) has long been built on the idea that the value of the sum of its parts is greater than what they trade on as part of an industrial conglomerate.But the separate businesses still need to perform well in the run-up to the spin-offs, so let's take a look at current progress before judging whether the stock is a good value or not. Read More...

When Apple reports second-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell, sales will be down from the same time last year.That’s according to Apple’s own guidance. Read More...

FanDuel (DUEL) reports that it took in $13.3M in online sports bets in New Jersey during March, while DraftKings (DRAFT) took in $7.3M for the month. Read More...

According to the car maker,  strong U.S. sales was a major factor in the quarter's earnings performance. The company’s adjusted earnings came in at 44 cents per share, beating analysts’ estimates of 27 cents (based on  Refinitiv poll).  The demand decline in China, Europe and other nations led to Ford losing almost half a percent of its global market share over the first three months of the year. Nevertheless, U.S. sales remained steady at $25.4 billion, on the back of strong domestic demand for trucks and SUVs – contributing to around $2.2 billion in its overall $2.4 billion of operating earnings for the quarter.

Archer Daniels Midland’s earnings for the first quarter fell short of analysts’ estimates by a wide margin. The food processing & commodities trading company reported earnings of 41 cents a share for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectation of 60 cents  (based on FactSet data).  Revenue of $15.3 billion came in lower compared to analysts’ estimates of $15.6 billion. Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano cited adverse weather conditions in North America and ethanol industry issues as major headwinds to the company’s lower-than-expected performance in the first quarter. However, Luciano is hopeful that business would improve in the second half of the year would due to the company’s business strategy, an expected resolution of the U.S.-China trade tensions and an anticipated boost in soybean meal demand driven by African Swine Fever.

Shutterfly stock jumped almost +4% Friday, following the release of the company’s earnings report. For the first quarter, the online photo company incurred a loss of -$2.44 per share, compared to analysts' expectations of a wider loss of -$2.53.The company’s revenue of $324.7 million surpassed analysts’ estimates of $323.1 million. Looking ahead, Shutterfly expects revenue to range between $469 million and $479 million. FactSet analysts expect the figure to be $475 million for the second quarter. For the full year, the company forecasts that earnings would range between 61 cents and $1.11 per share, on revenue of $2.13 billion to $2.21 billion.  Analysts expect the company to generate earnings of  71 cents per share on revenue of $2.17 billion for year.