Costco Wholesale Corp said on Wednesday it would raise its quarterly dividend by 7.7% to 70 cents per share, at a time when several major companies have suspended cash returns to shareholders to shore up liquidity.
A federal judge said Tesla Inc and Chief Executive Elon Musk must face a lawsuit claiming they misled shareholders when Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take his electric car company private in a $72 billion transaction.
Several major U.S. airlines are preparing to apply this week for a $25 billion U.S. government loan program after winning billions in federal payroll grants, people familiar with the matter said.
By Marc Jones, Karin Strohecker, Tom Arnold and Cassandra Garrison
Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc is planning for a return to production in North America on May 4, with a subsequent gradual increase in output as the industry recovers from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a top executive said on Wednesday.
U.S. companies have been battered by the fallout from the novel coronavirus outbreak, with economic activity plunging at an unprecedented speed over the past few weeks, a Federal Reserve report released on Wednesday showed.
(Bloomberg) — Gilead Sciences Inc. is considering acquiring a stake in Arcus Biosciences Inc., a cancer therapeutics company backed by Alphabet Inc., people familiar with the matter said.The companies have held discussions about Gilead taking a significant stake in the Hayward, California-based company, and also about possible development partnerships, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.Arcus shares jumped as much as 54% after the close of regular trading Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the shares fell 7.2% to $15.58 in New York during the regular trading session, giving the company a market value …read more […]
The Trump administration plans to buy milk and meat from U.S. farmers as part of an initial $15.5 billion effort to help them weather the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday.
The Oxford Club’s Chief Income Strategist, Marc Lichtenfeld, takes a look at SMFG stock and its dividend safety rating below.
Earlier in the year, I recommended Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE: SMFG) in my newsletter, The Oxford Income Letter.
This was before COVID-19 made its appearance in the U.S. I liked Japan’s prospects for economic recovery and Sumitomo Mitsui’s position as the fourth-largest financial institution in Japan (although it generates 30% of its revenue from 39 other countries).
The company is also one of the technology leaders in the cashless society movement, which is something the Japanese government is strongly in favor of.
Now …read more […]
U.S. crude prices fell to an 18-year low and Brent lost more than 6% on Wednesday after the United States reported its biggest weekly inventory build on record, while global demand is expected to fall to quarter-century lows due to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as dismal economic and first-quarter earnings reports compounded concerns over the extent of damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
(Bloomberg) — U.S. public pensions suffered a double blow from the coronavirus pandemic: losing hundreds of billions of dollars in the equity market rout just as unprecedented revenue losses piled up for the governments that pay into the funds.Funding levels will be under stress because of the losses in the financial markets, and at the same time, governments may struggle to make up the difference as the economic shutdown to stem the outbreak slashes their income.In March, Moody’s Investors Service estimated that public pension investment losses were nearing $1 trillion. During the first quarter, the S&P 500 Index plunged the …read more […]
J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Wednesday it will not make a $12 million interest payment on its long-term corporate bonds, a day after Reuters reported the department store operator was considering filing for bankruptcy protection.
Restaurants, hotels, airlines and anything connected with live entertainment are in coronavirus-induced economic comas. And the oil industry is trying to emerge from a coma of its own making. Russia and Saudi Arabia just ended their oil price war.
In normal times (remember those days?), this would have been big news. High gas prices drive consumers crazy. I don’t know how many times I’ve argued with friends and family that high gas prices are a good thing. It usually means the economy is humming.
And low gas prices usually mean something has gone wrong. The last time I filled up, gas was …read more […]
(Bloomberg) — The clamor for retail investors to get hold of precious-metals coins is about to get more urgent.The U.S. Mint said Wednesday it’s temporally halting production at its West Point facility in New York because of the risk to employees from the coronavirus. The site makes gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins which are sold through a network of distributors.The shutdown comes as convulsive swings in financial markets spur a surge in demand among retail investors for precious metals as haven assets. Last month, the Mint said it sold out of American Eagle silver coins, while the gold coins …read more […]
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