• US indices opened in red
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB.US) reported record loss
• Rising tensions between Washington and Beijing
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB.US) reported record loss
• Rising tensions between Washington and Beijing
US indices opened lower as investors are concerned over escalating tensions between the US and China over the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, announced there is 'enormous evidence' the coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan. Meanwhile President Trump considers that China sparked the outbreak before covering it and threatened with new tariffs. On the data front new orders for US manufactured goods dropped 10.3 percent from a month earlier in March of 2020, below market expectations of a 9.8 percent drop. The ISM New York Current Business Conditions index slumped to 4.3 in April 2020 from 12.9 in the previous month.
S&P500 (US 500) opened with a bearish price gap after the weekend. The index is reacting to comments from Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump that hinted on a rise in the US-China tensions. Should downbeat moods prevail, support at 2727.7 pts may come into play. However if bulls manage to regain control, then local resistance at 2904.6 pts may be tested. Source: xStation5Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB.US) – reported a record quarterly loss of nearly $50 billion, with the pandemic having impacts ranging from minor to severe in Berkshire’s more than 90 business units. Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett announced that Berkshire sold its entire stake in the four largest U.S. airlines – Delta (DAL.US), American (AAL.US), United (UAL.US), and Southwest (LUV.US). Legendary investor believes that it could be years before airline passenger levels return to where they were prior to the coronavirus outbreak. “I mean, believe me, no joy being a CEO of an airline,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual meeting. “But the companies we bought were well managed. They did a lot of things right.”
Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB.US) shares opened sharply lower after the company posted a record loss in the first quarter. Currently price a heading towards local resistance at $173.08 per share. Source: x Station5
Delta (DAL.US) opened with a bearish price gap after news hit the market that Warren Buffett got rid of the shares of four of America's largest airlines, including Delta. The price is testing key support at $20.41 per share. Local resistance can be found at $27.14 per share. Source: xStation5
Gilead Sciences (GILD.US) – company's new experimental drug remdesivir received emergency Food and Drug Administration approval as recent studies have shown that it has shortened recovery time for patients suffering from coroanvirus disease.
Walt Disney (DIS.US) - Moffett Nathanson lowered to "neutral" from "buy" due to the negative impact of the pandemic on the company's operations.
Intel (INTC.US) – according to the financial news website Calcalist, Intel is considering to buy Israeli app developer Moovit for $1 billion. Moovit is the developer of a free public transit app that operates in 100 countries.
Ford (F.US) new COO James Farley Jr. reported the purchase of 194,950 Ford shares worth approximately $1million on April 30, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 4 showed. Meanwhile, U.S. auto sales came in at an annual rate of 8.6 million vehicles for April, compared to 16.52 million a year ago according to AutoData. That represents a 48% plunge to the lowest rate since AutoData began calculating monthly sales rates in 1980.
Apple (AAPL.US) on Monday announced a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, which has a Magic Keyboard, which was added to the 16-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air earlier. The entry-level model now has twice the storage but still costs $1,299.
