AT&T (NYSE:T) looks like an oil company stock, with a yield that looks too good to be true. As trading opened April 23 AT&T stock was as trading at $29.50.Source: Roman Tiraspolsky / Shutterstock.com Its 52-cent-per-share dividend now yields 7% if you buy now. By way of comparison, Chevron (NYSE:CVX), the second-largest U.S. oil company, has a yield of 6.3%.The market considers AT&T a classic "yield trap." That's a stock that attracts income investors but isn't may not be good for its promised income. It ended the March quarter with $147 billion of long-term debt. The capital spending budget is $5 billion/quarter. The dividend costs $3.7 billion/quarter.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsFree cash flow for the quarter was $3.9 billion. Management insists it's committed to the dividend. Is AT&T Stock a Trap?Things could get worse. They are getting worse. AT&T lost nearly 900,000 premium TV subscribers during...
Stock futures kicked off the overnight session roughly flat on the heels of a volatile trading day Thursday, with stocks whipsawed amid conflicting signals over the results of a clinical trial for a coronavirus antiviral treatment candidate....
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments on injecting bleach to kill the coronavirus sparked concern among experts who called it a ‘ridiculous concept’ that would damage the lungs. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ‘raring to go,’ but will follow doctors’ advice on returning to work.Spain had its fewest deaths in five weeks and new cases in Singapore dropped below 1,000 for the first time in five days. Russia reported the most new cases since April 19 and Germany had its worst day in almost a week, after Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country is ‘far from being out of the woods.’Germany expects its economy to shrink as much as 7% this year, the worst contraction since at least 1950, Spiegel magazine reported. Europe’s leaders inched toward an agreement on rebuilding plans, while U.S. lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a $484 billion aid bill.Key DevelopmentsVirus Tracker: Cases top 2.7 million; deaths exceed...
(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve may hold interest rates near zero for three or more years, and its balance sheet will soar above $10 trillion as policymakers seek to revive the U.S. economy from recession, economists said in a Bloomberg survey.Just over half the 31 respondents to an April 20-23 poll predicted the target range for the federal funds rate, now at 0-0.25%, won’t move up until at least 2023. Another 22% said not before 2022.Asked where the balance sheet would peak, the median estimate was $10 trillion, and the average $10.9 trillion.The balance sheet has already reached $6.57 trillion, as of April 22, driven by $1.64 trillion in purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities since March 11 to help calm credit markets that came to a near stand-still last month. The Fed is also soon to launch a number of credit facilities -- with the ability to lend trillions more...
Investors already braced for poor first-quarter earnings from major oil and gas companies next week will focus on how executives plan to save cash and whether they will cut dividends following the collapse in oil prices. The five biggest U.S. and European firms, known as the Oil Majors, have announced spending cuts averaging 23% in a rapid response to the precipitous fall in oil demand because of the coronavirus pandemic and a 65% slump in crude prices. With the rout likely to extend for months, the pressure on balance sheets remains extreme as very few parts of oil company businesses make money at the current oil price of $20 a barrel....
