Trading Ideas

(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled oil giant retained its massive dividend despite a 25% plunge in profit, and signaled it would keep spending in check as it braces for deeper damage from the oil crisis.Saudi Aramco, the world’s most valuable company, will pay a dividend of $18.75 billion for the first three months of 2020. That would leave it on track to meet its full-year goal of $75 billion, though the company didn’t specify if it was still committed to that number.The dividend is crucial for the kingdom, which holds about 98% of Aramco and is facing its worst financial …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — An indicator of China’s coal demand surged almost a third above levels last year as hotter-than-usual weather and factories rushing to make up for lost orders boosted power demand, spurring a rebound in prices.Coal use by coastal power plants at five major utilities rose for an eighth day to 577,100 tons as of Monday, more than 30% higher than the same period last year and the most since Jan. 12, data from China Coal Transport & Distribution Association showed. The figure eased slightly to 562,300 tons Tuesday.China is recovering from the slump in February, when much of the …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — European stocks rose on Tuesday while U.S. equity futures declined alongside Asian shares as investors weighed fresh trade tensions and an up-tick in coronavirus infections in several nations. The dollar rose for a second day.The Stoxx 600 Index swung from a loss to a gain as advances for telecom and healthcare shares helped lift the gauge. S&P 500 futures retreated after the Trump administration moved on Monday night to block investments in Chinese equities by a government retirement savings fund. European government bonds dropped and Treasuries drifted.Global equities have recouped almost half of the plunge from their March …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Expectations are running high for Tencent Holdings Ltd. when it reports earnings Wednesday after optimism over its video game business helped push the stock to a two-year peak.The trading volume of call options, which are bets on gains in the share price, jumped to nearly 120,000 on Monday, more than three times the 20-day average. A measure of bearish wagers relative to bullish ones is at the lowest in more than a year. The 6.3% implied move by the stock on Thursday morning would be the biggest since August 2015.Tencent is expected to report an 18% increase in …read more […]

The new policy — which will last through June 30 and will also be applied at the gate if more than 70% of passengers have checked in — follows a photograph of what appeared to be a packed United flight on Saturday on social media. United said 85% of its flights are less than half full, but given a drastically reduced flying schedule in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, “there are a small number of flights where our customers are finding planes fuller than they expect.” …read more […]

The gambling industry, which counts on air travel and large groups of people in close proximity, is one of the hardest hit from the restrictions imposed to check the health crisis. “Our first-quarter performance reflects the significant revenue declines we experienced as a result of the closures and stable year-over-year labor costs in March,” Chief Executive Officer Tony Rodio said in a statement. Caesars said almost all its casinos worldwide have been closed since March 17 and warned of an estimated daily cash burn of $9.3 million. …read more […]

Oil futures rose on Tuesday, boosted by an unexpected commitment from Saudi Arabia to deepen production cuts in June to help drain the glut in the global market that has grown as the coronavirus pandemic crushed fuel demand. Brent crude futures climbed to a high of $30.11 a barrel and were up 0.8%, or 24 cents, at $29.87 at 0206 GMT, reversing some of the previous session’s losses. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 1.6%, or 38 cents, at $24.52 after touching a high of $24.77. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve said a facility designed to purchase eligible corporate debt from investors will launch on May 12, bringing a key part of the U.S. central bank’s emergency coronavirus lending program online following weeks of anticipation.The so-called Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility will begin purchases of eligible exchange-traded funds invested in corporate debt on Tuesday, the New York Fed said Monday on its website. It was first announced in March and has played an important role in keeping financial markets relatively calm since then.Another facility designed to buy debt directly from issuers — the Primary Market Corporate …read more […]

Asian equities and oil prices were set to slip on Tuesday amid growing investor worries about a second wave of coronavirus infections after the Chinese city where the pandemic originated reported its first new cases since its lockdown was lifted. The central Chinese city of Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases on Monday, casting doubts over efforts to lower coronavirus-related restrictions across the country as businesses restart and individuals went back to work. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were down 0.68% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures were off 0.1%. …read more […]

Logitech, which makes webcams, keyboards, mouses as well as video conferencing devices and software, said its fourth-quarter sales rose to $709.2 million, compared with $624.3 million a year ago. Non-GAAP operating income rose 23.3% to $79 million in the quarter that ended in March. For the full year, the company reported a rise of 6.7% in sales, meeting its FY20 outlook for a mid to high single digit percentage rise, while its annual non-GAAP operating income, at $387 million, beat its FY20 target range of $365 million-$375 million. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — SkyBridge Capital, the investment firm founded by Anthony Scaramucci, is turning to some of the biggest names in the hedge fund industry to boost returns after its portfolio lost almost a quarter of its value this year.The firm is investing $100 million each in Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates and Howard Marks’s Oaktree Capital Group, according to a letter sent to clients on Monday. The fund-of-funds will allocate an additional $90 million to Dan Loeb’s Third Point. Scaramucci said all three performed well in the last financial crisis and in other periods of market dislocation.“We believe our investors will …read more […]

A few companies are already giving the public a glimpse of life after stringent coronavirus restrictions wind down in earnest. …read more […]

Has Elon Musk worn out his welcome in California at last? …read more […]

All eyes will be on the U.S. economy Tuesday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases CPI inflation data for April. …read more […]

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