Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has been surging since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. NFLX stock is up nearly 50% since the market sell-off in mid-March.Source: Riccosta / Shutterstock.com The company's streaming service is getting a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It seems that even consumers who held out from the streaming service are giving Netflix a try, and for obvious reasons.Many Americans are unemployed. And even those that are working from home have more than enough time on their hands when they're not working. Live sports are not available. Consumers can't go to restaurants or movie theaters. It's been the perfect storm for binge-watchers.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsBut investing in Netflix is not without risk. And that was a sentiment confirmed by none other than Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings who confirmed that it may be difficult for the company to replicate its recent growth. Sobering Earnings and NFLX StockIn...
(Bloomberg) -- A fifth of global demand for oil will disappear this quarter. All three of the major forecasting agencies now agree that the world faces its biggest-ever slump in oil consumption, after governments imposed movement restrictions on billions of people to combat the coronavirus. The scale of the demand hit means that despite producers implementing unprecedented output cuts, stockpiles will soar this year.The International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the U.S. Energy Information Administration have all updated their oil market forecasts in the past week and they have come into much closer alignment in their views of the depth of demand destruction. The pessimistic stance adopted last month by the International Energy Agency has now become the consensus view — the world will use about 1.7 billion barrels less oil this quarter than it did during the same period last year.In reports published mid-April, the EIA and OPEC both saw demand falling by about 12...
"Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban believes the market is overvalued as coronavirus induced uncertainty over consumer spending persists.The Missing Demand Attired in a Dallas Mavericks t-shirt, Cuban told CNBC's "Closing Bell" program that the stock market is overvalued."I think it's almost impossible to predict where the consumer and corporate demand is going to come from," adding, "It's hard to create a valuation for businesses."Highlighting the missing demand, he said, "We've got a problem, we are not working from a foundation of data, we're guessing, what we are missing is consumer demand. If businesses were able to fulfill demand, they'd find ways to open, but it's not just about physically opening locations, its that consumers don't feel confident to spend money right now."The Mavericks owner called for the stimulus that addressed demand directly by providing funds to consumers in the form of debit cards.Market Valuation Uncertainty Cuban disclosed that he is an...
(Bloomberg) -- Forced into record spending by the threat of another Great Depression, policy makers are blurring the lines between borrowing the money they need and simply creating it.Most modern economies have tried to keep the two activities as separate as possible. The typical setup has been for elected politicians to take charge of budgets, and meet any shortfall by borrowing on bond markets –- while the money-printing machinery was walled off in another branch of government, the central bank.But those barriers began to look porous after the financial crisis of 2008. And in the coronavirus slump, they’ve all but disappeared.With entire industries shuttered and unemployment soaring, only public spending is keeping millions of households and businesses afloat. The governments on the hook for this relief effort are running up some of history’s biggest budget deficits. And they’re paying at least some of the bills with what are effectively loans from...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil is heading for a third weekly gain on signs the market is slowly rebalancing as major producers slash supply and consumption recovers after a historic collapse in demand due to the coronavirus.Futures in New York are up about 13% this week and traded near a six-week high on Friday around $28 a barrel. China’s industrial output increased in April for the first time since the outbreak, signaling economic recovery aided by government stimulus efforts. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has slashed supply to its customers in the U.S., Europe and Asia as OPEC and its allies reduce production sharply.Oil is down more than 50% this year after a rout that pushed prices below zero and the road back to pre-virus levels of demand looks long and uncertain. Still, bright sports have emerged this week, with BP Plc seeing oil demand surging back and the International Energy Agency saying the market’s...
Capitalizing on the growth of video chat during the pandemic, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has taken its Messenger Rooms live worldwide.What Happened Facebook has made its drop-in video chat Messenger Rooms available globally. The service allows up to 50 participants to video conference without any call length restrictions. The rooms feature will allow the social media giant to build on the massive growth of video call usage across services, according to TechCrunch.Using Messenger Rooms, a contact can create a "room" and Facebook will alert friends through a new section in the news feed, or a push notification.Why It Matters According to Facebook, it already has more than 700 million account holders using video and voice calls on its Messenger and WhatsApp platforms.Facebook is unlikely to grab a slice of the enterprise user pie from the likes of Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM), but Rooms is an attempt to provide a...
(Bloomberg) -- The pound is back to being the pariah of the currency world as renewed Brexit risks worsen the troubles of a market still reeling from the shock of the pandemic.Sterling fell a fifth day against the dollar on Friday after the latest negotiations between the U.K. and the European Union seemed set for a stalemate, with both sides refusing to compromise on key issues such as trade and movement of citizens. The pound is already the past month’s worst-performing Group-of-10 currency and options signal more pain ahead.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to walk away from the talks this week if enough progress wasn’t made. That raises the risk that the U.K. will end its transition period on Dec. 31 without a free-trade deal -- putting further strain on an economy that’s already facing the worst recession in three centuries.“Brexit has reared its head again,” said Ned Rumpeltin, the...
