(Bloomberg) -- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. has filed confidentially for a second listing in Hong Kong, according to people with knowledge of the matter, joining rival Alibaba in tapping the city’s stock market for funds.The offering could raise at least $2 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The Beijing-based company, which currently trades on Nasdaq, has a market value of $64 billion.The deal comes after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. raised $13 billion in a Hong Kong share sale last year. That much larger deal was hailed as a homecoming for Chinese companies and a win for Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., which lost these deals to its U.S. counterparts a decade ago because it didn’t allow dual-class share voting at the time. The bourse, which relaxed the rule in 2018, was up as much as 2.4% Wednesday.JD’s listing could come as...
(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co.’s sagging stock fell further after the automaker forecast a more than $5 billion second-quarter operating loss due to the coronavirus pandemic’s blow to the global car industry.The projected deficit -- which is about $2 billion worse than some analysts were anticipating -- is based on Ford’s expectation for significant volume declines in every region. Ford shares fell as much as 7.4% in late trading after closing down 42% year-to-date.The economic crisis caused by the pandemic is devastating Ford’s efforts to recover from three consecutive annual earnings declines. Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett’s execution of an $11 billion global reorganization was undermined last year by the botched launch of the Explorer sport-utility vehicle. Before the coronavirus hit, Hackett was counting on a raft of new models to start reversing the company’s fortunes.“I never had a business plan that was called ‘pandemic.’ We just never imagined the economy...
Oil prices gained on Wednesday after U.S. stockpiles rose less than expected and gasoline stocks fell, with support also coming from hopes that demand will improve as some European countries and U.S. cities moved to ease coronavirus lockdowns. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped 13.1% or $1.62, to $13.96 after a 27% plunge over the first two days of the week. U.S. crude inventories rose by 10 million barrels to 510 million barrels in the week to April 24, data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed on Tuesday, compared with analyst expectations of 10.6 million barrels....
Oil prices gained on Wednesday after U.S. stockpiles rose less than expected and gasoline stocks fell and buoyed by hopes demand will improve as some European countries and U.S. cities moved to ease coronavirus lockdowns. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped 12.56% or $1.55 to $13.89 after a 27% plunge over the first two days of this week. U.S. crude inventories rose by 10 million barrels to 510 million barrels in the week to April 24, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday, compared with analysts' expectations for a build of 10.6 million barrels....
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that compels slaughterhouses to remain open, setting up a showdown between the giant companies that produce America’s meat and the unions and activists who want to protect workers in a pandemic.Meat processing plants around the U.S. have shut down because of the coronavirus, but Trump said in the order that “such closures threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency.”Using the Defense Production Act, Trump is ordering plants to stay open as part of the critical infrastructure needed to keep people fed amid growing supply disruptions from the coronavirus outbreak. The government will provide additional protective gear for employees as well as guidance.The move came just days after Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. meat processor, ran paid ads in national newspapers stating that the food supply chain was “broken.”A...
(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc. shares surged after first-quarter results and upbeat executive comments showed the company’s cloud and YouTube businesses kept growing in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.Sales came in at $33.71 billion, up 14% from a year ago and ahead of Wall Street estimates. YouTube revenue jumped 33.5%, while Google Cloud’s top line soared 52%.“Results came out better than the market expected, with strong metrics in Google Cloud and YouTube,” Jason Bazinet, an analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note to investors.The world’s largest internet company has been trying to diversify away from search advertising for years by investing heavily in cloud services, digital video, consumer hardware and riskier long-term bets such as driverless cars. The first quarter showed progress in several of these areas, even as Google’s main ad business suffered from virus-fueled cuts in marketing spending in March.Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the cloud business was...
