Year: 2020

Online betting giant DraftKings (DKNG) has announced the launch of a standalone Casino app in Pennsylvania. This marks the second state where the app will be made available, following last month’s launch in New Jersey.According to DraftKings, iGaming fans in Pennsylvania will now be able to experience a more holistic product suite and dynamic gaming experience.Like in New Jersey, the app features exclusive new games, plus revamped classics, including Blackjack and Roulette. It will also offer games from third-party providers like International Gaming Technology.DraftKings Casino was previously made available to Pennsylvanians through the DraftKings Sportsbook app earlier this spring. Looking …read more […]

(Bloomberg Opinion) — The coronavirus stock market, like Covid-19 itself, is something never experienced before. Get used to it.Since March, when the global pandemic became an American catastrophe, the U.S. economy has been a shadow of its 2019 self. Yet some of the most-followed measures of equity set records while an explosion in infections showed no sign of peaking and the 14.7% unemployment rate in April was the worst since the Great Depression. The seeming contradiction of simultaneous exuberance and disaster reflects a durable change in the way investors look at U.S. companies even as wishful politicians yearn to return …read more […]

OPEC and allies such as Russia meet on Wednesday to decide oil output policy from August amid broad market expectations the group will ease supply curbs as the global economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. A panel involving key ministers and known as the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meets on Wednesday after 12 GMT to recommend the next level of cuts. Five OPEC+ sources have said no recommendations have been made to prolong record cuts into August. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Stocks and U.S. equity futures advanced, while the dollar weakened as progress in developing a coronavirus vaccine crossed a key milestone.Travel and leisure companies led gains among European equities after Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine produced antibodies in all patients tested in an initial safety trial. German bunds opened lower and gold was little changed. Oil gained after a report pointed to a drop in U.S. crude stockpiles.The vaccine news brought optimism to financial markets that have been struggled to make headway recently in the face of new outbreaks across the U.S. and Asia.“The vaccine news is clearly a …read more […]

Boeing (BA) has revealed that a further 60 737 MAX orders were canceled in the month of June due to the fallout from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, bringing the total 737 cancellations this year to 373. The troubled planemaker had already announced 47 of the June cancellations.According to Bloomberg, this figure did not account for Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA’s cancellation of all 97 of its remaining Boeing jets on order, as the deals have not yet been officially terminated. But the order backlog did exclude an additional 123 ‘orders in peril’ which could be called off.During June, Boeing delivered just …read more […]

Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) reported its second consecutive quarterly loss as the U.S. airline pared back its flight capacity plans for August by 50% with demand stalling again amid a renewed rise in Covid-19 cases.Delta ended the second quarter with an adjusted $2.8 billion net loss, or a $4.43 loss per share, as total adjusted revenue, which excludes refinery sales, plunged 91% to $1.2 billion year-on-year.Looking ahead, the U.S. airline expects overall revenue for the September quarter will be only 20% to 25% of last summer, as demand growth flattened recently with the rise in Covid-19 cases. Meanwhile, business …read more […]

ASML Holding NV, a key supplier to computer chip makers, on Wednesday reported a near 58% jump in second-quarter profit but fell short of market estimates, and forecast overall growth for 2020 despite the coronavirus outbreak. ASML said that sales would have been in line if revenue from two systems that shipped had been recognised. ASML forecast third-quarter sales between 3.6-3.8 billion euros. …read more […]

The Japanese carmaker has unveiled the first of many electric vehicles as part of a new strategy. …read more […]

Moderna (MRNA) soared a further 16% in Tuesday’s after-market trading after the biotech announced the publication of an interim analysis of the open-label Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273, its vaccine candidate against COVID-19.Results reaffirmed positive interim data assessment announced on May 18, said Moderna, and show mRNA-1273 induced rapid and strong immune responses against SARS-CoV-2. Neutralizing antibodies were observed in 100% of evaluated participants at the 100 µg dose level selected for the upcoming Phase 3 trial.Published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the interim analysis evaluated a two-dose vaccination schedule of mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart across three …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — With Huawei Technologies Co. barred from Britain’s future wireless networks, its two European rivals look set to split the market.The ban — forcing phone companies to remove 5G Huawei equipment by 2027 and stop buying it by the end of this year — is a blow to the industry, which had lobbied hard to keep Huawei, and not just because of the burden of having to redesign the next-generation networks they were already building.Read more: U.K. Bans Huawei From 5G Networks in Security Crackdown It also turns Britain’s wireless radio equipment market into an effective duopoly of Finland’s …read more […]

Oil prices rose on Wednesday following a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories, with the market waiting for next steps from a meeting later in the day on the future level of output cuts by OPEC and its allies. Brent crude futures were up 19 cents, or 0.4%, at $43.09 a barrel as of 0343 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 17 cents, or 0.4%, to $40.46 a barrel. Reflecting a recovery in fuel demand despite the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. crude inventories fell by 8.3 million barrels in the week to July 10, beating …read more […]

Results from the phase 1 clinical trial of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine show it’s on the right track, though there were serious side effects at high doses. …read more […]

Options investors are ramping up bets on some of this year’s biggest winners, including Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and Tesla Inc, even as they turn cautious on the wider market amid a resurgent U.S. coronavirus outbreak. Investors are betting that tech-related stocks will remain comparatively resilient to the coronavirus-fueled economic disruptions that have battered sectors such as retail and travel, despite growing concerns about stretched valuations following steep rallies. Analysts also see another factor driving the momentum stocks: fear of missing out, or FOMO. …read more […]

It has been a breakout year for vaccine specialist Vaxart (VXRT). Entering 2020, the company had a market cap just below a puny $17 million. Since then, shares have exploded by an incredible 4748% as investors have piled in with the hope Vaxart can be the surprise provider of the coveted COVID-19 vaccine.However, Vaxart stock still has plenty left in the tank, according to B Riley FBR analyst Mayank Mamtani. The 5-star analyst believes that, based on the company’s proprietary VAAST (vector-adjuvant-antigen standardized technology) vaccine platform, Vaxart’s “one-of-its-kind oral solution,” could set it apart from the competition.Mamtani added, “We believe …read more […]

Tech stocks smashing all-time highs are currently almost a daily thing. What this means for a frothy market at disconnect from the wider economy is anyone’s guess. Is a pullback imminent? No one knows, the market is unpredictable and will probably remains so for the foreseeable future or at least until the coronavirus is stopped dead in its tracks.Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) has been among the mega caps to clock all times highs, too. Microsoft has not only benefited from the explosive market, but also from a rising trend further accelerated by the viral outbreak.The shift to cloud based working …read more […]