Year: 2020

(Bloomberg) — Visa Inc. Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly warned the firm will be challenged “for a number of quarters” even as declines in spending on its network began to moderate in April.As the U.S. government began sending out stimulus payments to millions of consumers this month, Visa saw an increase in spending on home improvement, automotive and some areas of health care. Still, spending on the firm’s cards in the U.S. has dropped 19% in April compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Chief Financial Officer Vasant Prabhu.To offset the slowdown in spending on its cards, …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — One of the biggest U.S. steelmakers is singaling how the coronavirus pandemic is set to inflict pain on blue-collar America.U.S. Steel Corp. expects to lay off about 2,700 employees as the virus forces the company to idle most of its blast furnaces. Even before lockdowns hit the economy, producers were facing slowing demand in the manufacturing sector.Now, U.S. Steel’s moves further illustrate how the virus is turning President Donald Trump’s much-touted “blue-collar boom” into a bust as he heads into November’s election. Economists see an historic economic contraction in the offing and millions of jobs at risk in …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Oil headed for its first weekly gain in a month following early signs that demand might be bottoming out as global production cuts deepen.Futures in New York slipped 0.7% in Asia, after jumping as much as 29% in volatile trading Thursday. The OPEC+ bloc’s output cut of 10 million barrels per day officially starts on Friday, while other producers are also reining back. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said that upstream oil and gas production could fall by as much as a third, while ConocoPhillips said it will cut more than 400,000 barrels a day in June. Norway said …read more […]

My father was an accountant.
Not the kind of accountant who wore a fancy suit and was a partner at a “Big Four” accounting firm pulling in six figures…
He was more of a “grind it out every day for decades” bookkeeper at a small private business.
My father was a reliable, honest employee – exactly the kind of accountant a business like that needs.
Despite my father spending four decades at the same job, his annual vacation entitlement was always just two weeks. (No wonder he was thrilled when it came time to retire.)
My mom was a teacher.
Not just any teacher, but a …read more […]

Stock futures kicked off the overnight session Thursday evening, pointing to a lower start to May. …read more […]

A week ago, my wife was craving chicken tenders from Outback Steakhouse. Let me tell you, I am not a fan!
And, to add heartburn insult to injury, she also wanted the patented Bloomin’ Onion! Maybe 30 years ago my system would have been able to handle that fried-food disaster, but not today.
So we went online, and, lo and behold, she already had an account set up. It was a breeze placing the order, leaving the tip and getting a text confirmation informing us when the meal would be ready to be picked up. All we had to do was leave …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — The Justice Department has begun a preliminary inquiry into how taxpayer money was lent out under the Paycheck Protection Program and has already found possible fraud among businesses seeking relief, a top official said.Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski, who runs the department’s criminal division, said prosecutors have contacted 15 to 20 of the largest loan processors and the Small Business Administration, which oversees one relief program, as part of an effort to police the trillions of dollars in federal aid being pushed out hastily to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.The review has already turned up …read more […]

Despite beating analyst earnings and revenue estimates, Gilead shares fell after the bell. Yahoo Finance Live takes a closer look at the numbers. …read more […]

Boeing’s capital raise, first reported by Reuters earlier this week, would be the sixth-largest investment-grade bond offering of all time and the biggest year-to-date, according to Refinitiv data. The Federal Reserve’s intervention in the credit market has boosted prospects for troubled borrowers such as Boeing. While it has not yet snapped up any corporate bonds such as Boeing’s, its openness to doing so has buoyed credit markets. …read more […]