US OPEN: Wall Street opens lower on tariff threat

U.S. indices opened lower Friday, amid renewed tensions between the US and China. President Donald Trump threatened to reignite a trade conflict with China in retaliation for the coronavirus outbreak. US president accused China about mishandling the coronavirus outbreak. "We signed a trade deal where they're supposed to buy, and they've been buying a lot, actually. But that now becomes secondary to what took place with the virus," Trump said. "The virus situation is just not acceptable."  US President suspects that coronavirus may have originated in a virology lab in Wuhan. When asked what evidence he has seen to make him believe that the virus emerged from lab in China, President Trump said "I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that, ". The Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology has dismissed the allegations.

When it comes to economic data, April's purchasing managers’ index will be published at 3:00 PM GMT, and reading expected to have dropped to 36.9 last month from 49.1 in March.

 

Amazon (AMZN.US) share price plunged 5% in extended trading after the company reported disappointing first-quarter results. The e-commerce giant’s earned $5.01 per share, well below Wall Street expectations of $6.25 per share. Revenue came in above analysts’ projections. Amazon has announced that it is spending all of its second quarter profits on responding to a pandemic. "If you're a shareholder at Amazon, you may want to take a seat because we don't think about small," the company said in a pay statement. Amazon said that under normal circumstances, the company would expect an operating profit of around $4 billion in the second quarter.

Apple (AAPL.US) - reported adjusted earnings of $ 2.55 per share with revenue of $ 58.31 billion, while analysts expected adjusted earnings of $ 2.26 per share on $ 54.54 billion in revenue. Tech giant recorded 7% revenue drop from iPhone sales comparing to year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. Apple did not provide guidance for the current quarter because of uncertainty created by the pandemic. Company's stock dropped 2% in extended trading

Gilead Sciences (GILD.US)  reported quarterly earnings of $1.68 per share excluding some items with revenue of $5.55 billion. Wall Street estimated earnings of $1.57 per share on revenue of $5.45 billion. Gilead confirmed that can produce more than 140,000 rounds of its remdesivir coronavirus treatments by the end of May, and can make 1 million rounds of the antiviral drug regimen by the end of this year.  The pharmaceutical company stock fell 2% in extended trading.

Exxon Mobil (XOM.US)  reported a GAAP loss of 14 cents per share, and a non-GAAP profit of 53 cents per share. Analysts estimate was for a breakeven quarter. Exxon announced a 30% reduction in capital spending. Company will also lower cash operating expenses by 15%.

Chevron (CVX.US) earned $1.93 per share, which included $660 million in one-time favorable items. Revenue came in above analysts’ forecasts. The consensus estimate had been 68 cents a share. The oil giant will take necessary steps in order to preserve its dividend and to manage the current downturn responsibly, including a further cut in capital spending.