BlackMask Breaking News

NEW YORK/MILAN (Reuters) – Shares eased from record peaks on Tuesday as optimism about a global economic recovery was dented by caution before a policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve and earnings updates from a number of blue-chip companies.  Many investors, however, stayed on the sidelines ahead of the Fed meeting which ends on Wednesday, when the U.S. central bank is expected to confirm that it will maintain its easy monetary policy to bolster the economy. One area of concern was India, which is struggling with surging coronavirus infections that have overwhelmed its healthcare system. Markets were also awaiting results from U.S. tech heavyweights Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc later on Tuesday. Companies that represent about 40% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization report from Tuesday through Thursday. Some analysts say the recent rally has made stocks vulnerable to profit taking, given lofty valuations and high expectations going into the reporting season. “We’ve been in a significant rally for quite some time,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. “The laws of gravity tell you that at some point we’re going to see a pullback.” Major U.S. indices were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.36 points, or 0.01%, to 33,984.93, the S&P 500 lost 0.9 points, or 0.02%, to 4,186.72 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 48.56 points, or 0.34%, to 14,090.22.

American technology company Microsoft Corporation announced on Tuesday its revenue in the fiscal third quarter landed at $41.7 billion, marking a 19% increase on the year and slightly above analyst projections. According to the update, Microsoft had an operating income of $17 billion for the quarter, up 31% compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Meanwhile, net income was reported at $15.5 billion, up 44% year-over-year, on earnings per share of $2.03. “Over a year into the pandemic, digital adoption curves aren’t slowing down. They’re accelerating, and it’s just the beginning. We are building the cloud for the next decade, expanding our addressable market and innovating across every layer of the tech stack to help our customers be resilient and transform,” CEO Satya Nadella said.

The Conference Board’s monthly consumer confidence index soared in April to 121.7 from its March reading of 109.0, a number well above expectations and one that shows consumers are quickly returning to normal behaviors following more than a year of the coronavirus.  The Present Situation Index – which tracks consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions – rose sharply to 139.6 from 110.1. The Expectations Index – which measures the short-term outlook of consumers – rose slightly to 109.8 in April from 108.3 in March. Analysts had predicted a reading of 112.0. But rising vaccination rates, along with a steadily improving labor market, have buoyed the feelings of consumers. “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved significantly in April, suggesting the economic recovery strengthened further in early Q2,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “Things seem to be getting better and it would make sense that people are growing more confident in the future,” said Drew Matus, chief market strategist at MetLife Investment Management. “Instead, they are very optimistic about the now. Whether this translates into sustained consumer activity is likely dependent on whether a strong improvement in consumers’ view of the labor market is just a view, or being realized via lower unemployment.” Nick Note: One of the hottest consumer confidence reports ever.. And these assholes are still not sure. Well i can tell you for a fact I am sure. this is the hotttest economy ever… for now!

https://youtu.be/aLYOeNkA1LA

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to approve the SpaceX plan to deploy Starlink satellites at a lower earth orbit, an FCC official confirmed to Reuters. The decision is expected to be made public as early as Tuesday, and includes a number of conditions to ensure the safety of the plan, the official said. The approval order is expected to address some concerns raised by Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O) Kuiper Systems satellite project. Elon Musk’s SpaceX had asked FCC for approval to fly 2,824 additional satellites at a lower orbit as part of its plan to offer space-based broadband internet service. Nick Note: The muskrat has connection. he also won the contract the contract for the lunar lander. Beating out Jeff Bozo. How doe he do it…. money. When the us abounded the space program and retired the shuttle. one of greatest space engineering teams was rendered redundant. Muskrat hired them and their connections….. he has got the managers engineers and lobbyists..  

• Consolidated Revenue Increased 27%; Growth Across All Segments
• Consolidated Operating Profit Up 158% to $2.8B, Up 164% on an Adjusted* Basis
• Diluted EPS of $5.47; Adjusted Diluted EPS Up 141% to $2.77
• Revenue increased 22.3%, led by growth from small and medium-sized businesses.
• Revenue per piece increased 10.2%, driven by Ground products.
• Operating margin was 9.7%; adjusted operating margin was 10.4%.

ATLANTA, April 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced first-quarter 2021 consolidated revenue of $22.9 billion, a 27% increase over the first quarter of 2020. Consolidated average daily volume increased 14.3% year over year. Consolidated operating profit was $2.8 billion, up 158% compared to the first quarter of 2020, and up 164% on an adjusted basis. Diluted earnings per share were $5.47 for the quarter, 393% above the same period in 2020, and up 141% on an adjusted basis. For the first-quarter of 2021, GAAP results include a net benefit of $2.4 billion, or $2.70 per diluted share, comprised of an after-tax mark-to-market (MTM) pension benefit of $2.5 billion and after-tax transformation and other charges of $140 million. The MTM benefit was primarily driven by the enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). The ARPA, which was signed into law on March 11, 2021, protects certain multi-employer pension plans from becoming insolvent through 2051, thereby eliminating the Company’s liability for potential coordinating benefits related to the Central States Pension Fund. Enactment of the ARPA required the Company to remeasure its UPS IBT Pension plan at current discount rates, which have increased since the previous measurement date. The overall result was a reduction in the pension liability of $6.4 billion.

“I want to thank all UPSers for delivering what matters, including COVID-19 vaccines,” said Carol Tomé, UPS chief executive officer. “During the quarter, we continued to execute our strategy under the better not bigger framework, which enabled us to win the best opportunities in the market and drove record financial results.” Nick Note: this is a shipping company. If people are shipping more they are selling more. Watch as the economy comes back from the dead.

Revenue jumped 74% to $10.4 billion on across-the-board gains; sales of emissions credits rose 46% to $518 million. They also made $100 million on sales of bitCoin.

Tesla Inc. posted first-quarter net income of $438 million amid record global vehicle deliveries and favorable comparisons to 2020, when operations were temporarily halted by the coronavirus pandemic. Revenue during the quarter jumped 74 percent to $10.4 billion, with automotive gross margins hitting 26.5 percent, the electric vehicle maker said Monday. The company was also aided by $518 million in sales of regulatory credits to competitors — a 46 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Net income totaled just $16 million in the first quarter of 2020, when the pandemic shuttered plants in the U.S. and China. “Q1 2021 was a record quarter on many levels,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on an earnings call. “We’ve seen a real shift in customer perception of electric vehicles, and our demand is the best we’ve ever seen.” Tesla deliveries more than doubled to 184,877 from the year-earlier period, and officials said a new plant outside Austin, Texas, remains on track to start production by the end of 2021. The factory will produce the Cybertruck pickup and and Model Y crossover. Musk on Monday said he believes the Model Y will “quite likely” be the “best-selling car or truck of any kind in the world” in 2022. Nick Note: a very important component of the FANG and the NASDAQ.  And they beat market expectations. The  next 4 trading days set our course for the next year..

The bosses of America’s largest companies overwhelmingly believe Joe Biden’s proposed increase in the country’s corporate tax rate would have a negative impact on their businesses, according to a survey released on Monday. The influential business lobbying group Business Roundtable, whose members include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook, released a survey of 178 CEOs on their thoughts on an increase in corporate tax. The survey specifically questioned the CEOs on the president’s proposed corporate tax hike, which would raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, to pay for his $2.3tn infrastructure plan. According to 98% of the CEOs surveyed, the corporate tax increase would have a “moderately” to “very” severe impact on their company’s ability to compete on a global scale. Three-fourths of the CEOs said that the tax would negatively affect their ability to conduct research and development innovation and 71% said it would negatively affect their ability to hire new employees. The increase in the corporate tax rate, along with a proposal for higher taxes on companies seeking to get lower tax rates abroad, is part of Biden’s plan to undo the tax cuts Donald Trump made in 2017. When the cuts were passed, Republicans argued that it would encourage domestic investment, which would increase worker productivity and ultimately raise wages. Democrats and some economists are skeptical that any of the benefits from the cuts were seen in the economy before the Covid-19 pandemic. A report released earlier this month from the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that at least 55 of America’s top companies, including FedEx and Nike, paid no federal corporate income tax because of loopholes and substitutes. The report found that the tax breaks cost $8.5bn in potential tax revenue. Our tax revenues are already at their lowest level in generations,” Janet Yellen, treasury secretary, told reporters last week. “If they continue to drop lower, we will have less money to invest in roads, bridges, broadband and R&D.” But business leaders and lobbying groups have made clear in the last weeks similar concerns that Biden’s tax plan would hurt businesses and ultimately offset the progress made by his infrastructure plan. “It will actually obviate all the economic gains we could possibly gain in infrastructure,” Neil Bradley, executive vice-president of the US Chamber of Commerce, told the Washington Post . The US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have made promises to lobby against the corporate tax increase. While Republicans have been generally supportive of spending on infrastructure, the party is unified in opposition to tax hikes. This means that moderate Democrats, especially Joe Manchin, the party’s most conservative member in the Senate, will be the stars of the debate around a potential increase. Manchin has already said that he would not support an increase to 28%, but said going up to 25% is something he could get behind. “We have to be competitive, and we are not going to throw caution to the wind,” he told a local West Virginia radio station. Nick Note: Biden has a 4 vote lead in the house and 1 in the Senate. Their is no way in hell with half the democrats facing reelection are they going to piss off the big banks and big corporations in their states. I ptedeict their will be a massive compromise on this. he does not have the votes