The Boston-based conglomerate had earlier this month pulled its 2020 forecast, citing uncertainties created by the coronavirus outbreak, but backed its first-quarter industrial free cash flow expectation of near negative $2 billion. Free cash flow from industrial operations was negative $2.2 billion in the first quarter, missing analysts' estimates of negative $2.02 billion, according to Refinitiv data. GE said about 20% of planned maintenance work on power plants had been deferred until later in the year, a factor that weighed on revenue and profit....
The Boston-based conglomerate had earlier this month pulled its 2020 forecast, citing uncertainties created by the coronavirus outbreak, but backed its first-quarter industrial free cash flow expectation of near negative $2 billion. Free cash flow from industrial operations was negative $2.2 billion in the first quarter, missing analysts' estimates of negative $2.02 billion, according to Refinitiv data....
Shares in Wirecard slumped again on Wednesday as a prominent short seller demanded the sacking of CEO Markus Braun after a special audit of the German payments company was unable to verify its financial statements. Chris Hohn, head of $24 billion fund TCI, said in an open letter to Wirecard's supervisory board that the audit by KPMG raised questions over management's compliance with anti-money laundering and know-your-customer laws. "We are of the view that the supervisory board is legally obliged to intervene," Hohn wrote in the letter, addressed to Wirecard Chairman Thomas Eichelmann and other supervisory board members....
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures ticked higher while European stocks struggled for direction as investors counted down to more big earnings, a Federal Reserve policy decision and key American economic data. The dollar fell for a third day while oil rebounded in New York.Nasdaq 100 futures advanced after Alphabet Inc. posted better-than-estimated sales. That took some of the focus off Tuesday’s sell-off in megacap tech stocks including Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc, and before Microsoft Corp. reports today. Gains in energy shares, carmakers and banks helped the Stoxx Europe 600 Index edge higher, but they were countered by a drop in health-care stocks as traders backed away from the top outperforming sector since the start of the virus-inspired sell-off.Italy’s bonds slipped after Fitch Ratings downgraded the nation’s assessment to the lowest investment grade, a level the country needs to keep for purchases the European Central Bank. The ECB’s rate decision comes...
Facebook Inc ad sales appear to have ticked up since late March, offering investors reason for optimism even as decimated advertising budgets from the coronavirus are expected to weigh heavily on first-quarter earnings, according to data from firms that track online ads. Analysts on average expect Facebook on Wednesday to report 16.1% growth in first-quarter revenue, its lowest since the company went public in 2012, according to Refinitiv data. The estimates were revised down by about $1 billion since January to reflect a plunge in demand for ads for travel, restaurants and other shuttered consumer services because of the global coronavirus pandemic....
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) soared 5% in Tuesday’s after-market trading after the company announced positive interim data from a Phase 1/2a trial of DNA vaccine INO-4700 for MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV).The stock has now more than tripled year-to-date with investors excited about INO’s potential COVID-19 vaccine INO-4800, which uses the same strategy as INO-4700.Vaccine recipients demonstrated strong antibody and T cell immune responses after 2 or 3 doses with 0.6 mg of INO-4700, the press release revealed.What’s more, the vaccine was also well-tolerated with no vaccine-associated severe adverse events (SAEs).Dr J Joseph Kim, Inovio’s CEO, said “This exciting data provides a great foundation for the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine advancement as it demonstrates the power of INOVIO’s delivery system and the strength of our coronavirus experience.”He is now hopeful that the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial for the Covid-19 vaccine INO-4800 will generate similar clinical immune responses and safety data as for INO-4700.Overall, for those...
