Weekly News Summary for May 1-7, 2020
Friday, May 1, 2020: Amazon and Apple Stock Falls After the Bell
Amazon.com Inc.’s stock fell nearly 5% in after-hours trade on Friday, as it announced its plans to spend its entire second-quarter, which is worth about $4 billion, on coronavirus-related expenses.
Apple Inc.’s stock also slipped 2.6% after the bell, despite reporting a slight increase in revenue for its latest quarter, although omitted an earnings forecast for the first time, stating that it was impossible to predict overall results for the current quarter due to the uncertainty created by the pandemic.
Monday, May 4, 2020: Trump Threatens to Revive US-China Trade War
US President Donald Trump brought up once again the possibility of employing more trade measures against China due to the country’s perceived shortcomings in taking care of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump also warned of terminating last year’s trade deal if China failed to fulfil its pledge to buy US products in the agreed volumes.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020: German Court Deems ECB QE Partly Unconstitutional
Germany’s top court ruled on Tuesday that part of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2015 quantitative easing program exceeded its monetary policy mandate.
The decision does not affect the €750 billion ($815 billion) Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program directly, although it strongly suggests that it would recognize the program as unconstitutional after the ECB scrapped its previous limits on the amount it can buy of an individual government’s debt.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020: Disney Q2 Earnings Drop Over 90%
The Walt Disney Company suspended its semi-annual cash dividend, as COVID-19 sent the group’s net profit down more than 90% in the fiscal second quarter, which ran through March.
Weighed by over a $1 billion profit loss in its theme park division and steep decline in box office receipts and advertising at its TV stations, the entertainment giant expects worse conditions for the current quarter, seeing that the virus’ impact only started to manifest rather late in the previous quarter.
Thursday, May 7, 2020: Chinese Exports Improve 3.5% in April
China reported an improvement in exports, while imports declined in April as movement restrictions to control the COVID-19 pandemic lessened.
Data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday that exports climbed by 3.5% from 2019, beating forecasts of a 15.1% drop and offsetting a14.2% fall in imports.
