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WMB | MLB roundup Astros streak halted at 10 | Matt Chapman broke a sixth inning tie with a home run Wednesday night helping the host Oakland Athletics snap the Houston Astros 10 game winning streak with a 2 1 victory Frankie Montas 3 1 gave up one run and three hits in 6 1 3 innings and the Oakland bullpen got the final eight outs as the A s beat the Astros for the first time in five tries this season to split the two game series Wade Miley 1 2 who took a 5 1 career record against the A s to the mound was the hard luck loser allowing two runs on just four hits in six innings Indians 1 Mariners 0 Carlos Carrasco pitched seven scoreless innings as Cleveland completed a three game sweep of host Seattle Jake Bauers hit a solo homer to account for the game s lone run Carrasco 2 2 who allowed six runs in two of his first three starts of the season and entered the game with a 12 60 ERA showed the form that helped him win 35 games over the past two seasons with the Indians Carrasco allowed only three hits walked two and struck out 12 Dodgers 3 Reds 2 A J Pollock interrupted a pitchers duel with a three run home run and Los Angeles finished off a three game series sweep with a victory over visiting Cincinnati With Reds starter Sonny Gray locked in a scoreless showdown with Dodgers starter Walker Buehler Pollock came through in the sixth inning as Los Angeles tied the major league record for consecutive games with a home run at home The Dodgers have hit at least one home run in 32 consecutive games going back to last season matching the mark set by the Colorado Rockies in 1999 Phillies 3 Mets 2 Jake Arrieta pitched eight plus solid innings Scott Kingery and Cesar Hernandez each homered and host Philadelphia defeated New York J T Realmuto had two hits for the Phillies who played without shortstop Jean Segura due to a strained left hamstring Arrieta 3 1 allowed six hits and two runs and induced the Mets into 12 ground ball outs He walked two and struck out three Hector Neris earned the shaky save despite allowing an RBI single and hitting Wilson Ramos Neris struck out Keon Broxton swinging on a 3 2 count with the bases loaded in the ninth Cardinals 6 Brewers 3 Paul DeJong matched his career high with four hits and visiting St Louis avoided a three game sweep with a win against Milwaukee Michael Wacha 1 0 improved to 6 0 in his career against the Brewers allowing two runs and five hits in six innings striking out seven and walking one Marcell Ozuna hit his fifth home run in the past four games Matt Carpenter also homered while Kolten Wong had three hits and Matt Wieters had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals Diamondbacks 3 Braves 2 10 innings Adam Jones walked with the bases loaded and Arizona exploited the struggling Atlanta bullpen for the second straight night The winning rally came against Jesse Biddle 0 1 whose throwing error allowed Tim Locastro to reach second base with one out Biddle walked Jarrod Dyson coaxed Eduardo Escobar into a lineout and then walked David Peralta Greg Holland pitched a scoreless 10th inning striking out two to earn his fourth save and extend his scoreless streak to 11 innings Archie Bradley 1 1 pitched two scoreless innings and earned the win Brewers starter Corbin Burnes 0 2 had allowed three home runs in each of his first three starts this season and gave up two more before leaving after 3 1 3 innings He yielded five runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out three Yankees 5 Red Sox 3 Brett Gardner hit a grand slam off Ryan Brasier with one out in the seventh inning and New York rallied past Boston to complete a two game sweep at Yankee Stadium The Yankees loaded the bases on two walks and a single by Clint Frazier against Brandon Workman 0 1 It was Gardner s 100th career homer and fourth career grand slam It was his first grand slam since June 30 2017 in Houston off James Hoyt Cubs 6 Marlins 0 Cole Hamels pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Chicago to a shutout win at Miami All six Cubs runs scored on two out opposite field hits as Chicago completed a three game sweep Daniel Descalso went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and Javier Baez went 2 for 4 and homered for the second straight game Hamels 3 0 allowed just three hits all singles and no walks striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 2 77 He got 11 groundouts Nationals 9 Giants 6 Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick hit homers in the first inning and Matt Adams and Kurt Suzuki went deep in the seventh as Washington held on to beat visiting San Francisco Adams hit a three run homer off Travis Bergen to give his team a 7 2 lead in the seventh Two batters later Suzuki went deep with a two run shot The Giants erupted for four runs in the ninth as Gerardo Parra and Steven Duggar hit two run homers to make it 9 6 off reliever Austen Williams NYSE WMB with no outs That brought on Kyle Barraclough who retired the only batter he faced before closer Sean Doolittle got the final two outs after allowing a double to Buster Posey and a walk to Brandon Belt Pirates 3 Tigers 2 10 innings Colin Moran knocked in the go ahead run in the 10th and Pittsburgh edged host Detroit for the second consecutive night Josh Bell was the only other Pirate to record an RBI Nick Burdi 2 1 pitched an inning of scoreless relief to notch the victory Felipe Vazquez got the last three outs to pick up his fifth save Pirates starter Trevor Williams allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five in six innings Detroit s Spencer Turnbull only gave up an unearned run in six innings while limiting Pittsburgh to two hits and two walks He fanned five Ronny Rodriguez and John Hicks drove in the runs for the Tigers who have dropped five straight Rays 8 Orioles 1 Brandon Lowe Ji Man Choi and Yandy Diaz each homered as Tampa Bay defeated visiting Baltimore The Rays have taken the first two games of this series and have belted four homers so far Lowe s homer was the big one in this contest a three run shot off Baltimore starter David Hess and it gave the Rays a 3 0 lead in the first inning Five Tampa Bay players finished with at least two hits as the Rays banged out 13 overall nine for extra bases Rangers 5 Angels 4 Shin Soo Choo had two hits including a two run triple in the decisive fifth inning to lead Texas past visiting Los Angeles Choo who raised his batting average to 345 was instrumental in Texas sweeping the three game series Rangers starter Lance Lynn 2 1 worked out of trouble early and minimized damage before exiting with two outs in the sixth inning Lynn allowed just two runs on seven hits and three walks He struck out two Rangers closer Jose Leclerc notched his fifth save although he made it adventurous Entering with a 5 3 lead he loaded the bases with no outs on a David Fletcher double a walk to Kole Calhoun and a Mike Trout hit by pitch Leclerc dodged disaster allowing only a fielder s choice RBI to Andrelton Simmons between striking out Justin Bour looking and Brian Goodwin swinging Royals 4 White Sox 3 10 innings Hunter Dozier homered to lead off the 10th inning and visiting Kansas City posted a victory over Chicago in a game that featured a benches clearing melee After his RBI single in the seventh gave Kansas City a 3 2 lead Dozier launched a 2 0 inside fastball from Nate Jones 0 1 over the wall in left field for his fifth homer of the season Chicago s Tim Anderson punctuated his two run homer off Kansas City starter Brad Keller in the fourth inning by emphatically tossing his bat Keller drilled Anderson in the backside on the first pitch to lead off the sixth inning resulting in both benches and bullpens rushing the field Keller Anderson White Sox manager Rick Renteria and Royals bench coach Dale Sveum were ejected Twins 4 Blue Jays 1 Nelson Cruz went 2 for 3 with a walk and two RBIs and Jake Odorizzi allowed just one run over 5 2 3 innings as Minnesota beat Toronto in Minneapolis Odorizzi 1 2 allowed six hits and one walk while striking out six Blake Parker retired all three batters he faced in the ninth including two by strikeouts to pick up his fourth save
Jorge Polanco went 2 for 3 with a walk and scored two runs raising his average to 429 and Marwin Gonzalez also went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI for the Twins Freddy Galvis went 2 for 4 with a run for Toronto Field Level Media |
WMB | Doctors assessing when Madeira bus crash survivors can fly home to Germany | By Miguel Pereira and Rafael Marchante CANICO Portugal Reuters Doctors from Germany are working with a Portuguese medical team to evaluate when the German tourists who survived a fatal bus crash on the island of Madeira can be transferred home the hospital said on Friday The bus carrying 55 tourists and a tour guide veered off a steep road in the coastal town of Canico on Wednesday and came to a halt next to a house killing 29 Germans and injuring 27 including the Portuguese driver and tour guide Portugal s public prosecutor s office has opened an investigation into the accident Heiko Maas Germany s foreign minister landed in Madeira on Thursday evening with a team of doctors psychologists and consular officials to meet those affected We are working flat out to bring people who are injured and capable of being transported to identify those who have died and to inform their families Maas said Maas laid a wreath a wreath at the site of the crash and held a minute of silence alongside his Portuguese counterpart After visiting the injured at a hospital in Funchal Madeira s capital city Maas said an airplane would be made available to take the injured back to Germany A hospital spokesman told reporters on Friday they were working with medical staff from Germany to determine when the patients would be well enough to be flown home The spokesman said 16 of the 27 injured remained in hospital and 11 people had already been discharged Two of the injured were Portuguese and the rest were German a hospital spokesman added Bus owner Sociedade de Automoveis da Madeir said it was cooperating with the authorities investigating the crash
It is our will and deep commitment to determine all the facts causes and responsibilities of the accident Portugal s Lusa news agency quoted its statement as saying Reporting and writing by Catarina Demony in Lisbon Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt and Madeline Chambers in Berlin Editing by Alison Williams NYSE WMB |
WMB | Warriors ready to unleash playoff mode Durant | By Jahmal Corner LOS ANGELES Reuters When Kevin Durant rained down shots on the Los Angeles Clippers with his deadly playoff performance on Thursday he also provided a glimpse of what life will be like for Golden State and their competition without the injured DeMarcus Cousins In short less Cousins will equal more Durant more Durant post ups more Durant pull ups and more Durant brilliance The Clippers learned the hard way as Durant hung 38 points on them in a 132 105 rout that gave the Warriors a 2 1 best of seven first round series lead DeMarcus started playing for us late in the season and we definitely wanted to establish him in the post a lot to start games Durant told Reuters following his dominant night Without him in the lineup coach just used me in his spots When Cousins suffered a quad injury on Monday that sidelined him indefinitely it was viewed as a potential roadblock to the team s quest for a third straight title Instead the absence may have unlocked a version of Durant that has led to the past two championships and back to back Finals MVPs Golden State fed their lanky sharpshooter early on Thursday and Durant repaid them by making his first six attempts on an array of moves For the game he finished 14 for 23 from the field and added seven assists We said before the game they were going to post Durant more Clippers coach Doc Rivers told reporters Instead of having him at the elbows they re going to bring him to the right box and he s going to score from there most likely They did that and he made shots EXTRA INCENTIVE Durant had extra incentive to be aggressive in Game Three after his manufactured feud with Clippers guard Patrick Beverley had dominated headlines Durant and Beverley were each ejected for jawing at each other in Golden State s Game One win The Warriors All Star attempted just eight shots in Game Two where Beverley guarded him closely and the Clippers overcame a 31 point deficit to prevail All the superfluous talk surrounding Durant about Beverley his pending free agency or his technical foul total seemed to obscure his most defining gift scoring He s a top three player in this league Clippers guard Lou Williams NYSE WMB said He plays at a high level we expected that He s capable of making shots Durant had been making and taking less of them recently though His shot attempt average has fallen each month since February and his latest 38 point game was his highest total in more than two months The two time NBA scoring champion bristled at the idea that he was ever passive I don t run the show on any team I ve ever been a part of I m just a player one of the guys Durant said So whatever the coach asks me to do I have to be prepared for it I don t pass up shots I just play within the offense Golden State s new playoff offense is set to look a lot like its old one with Durant at the forefront His team mates are prepared to feed off of his potency He came out super aggressive and in kill mode Thursday That was all the difference for us Golden State forward Draymond Green said
How many people can stop Kevin if Kevin don t want to be stopped The Warriors and their opponents are about to find out |
VZ | Sprint Collaborates With Telstra For Advanced IoT Solutions | Sprint Corporation NYSE S recently announced that it has inked an agreement with Telstra Corporation Limited NYSE S to deploy its IoT platform Curiosity to Australian customers Telstra is a leading Australian telecommunications provider The partnership is likely to boost Sprint s international footprint and virtualization technology with a diversified portfolio of innovative products and solutions to serve specific enterprise requirements across the country Designed specifically for latency sensitive applications Curiosity is the first fully virtualized and distributed core network dedicated solely to IoT intelligence with on demand scalability enhanced network coverage and cost effectiveness The technology will benefit enterprise customers with innovative services that have critical requirements like local connectivity and low latency without the need to pass through the macro network It has a unified architecture which enhances data management capability automates business processes and speeds up IoT performance for greater efficiency Per Statista global IoT market revenues is expected to reach 212 billion in 2019 and is likely to hit 1 6 trillion by 2025 Aggregate worldwide IoT connected devices are expected to touch 75 44 billion by 2025 a fivefold increase from 2015 The wireless carrier announced that the IoT platform will be showcased at CES 2020 Impressively in an attempt to fortify the partnership both the companies have roped in pet oriented application development company Wagz to augment operations across Australia through Sprint s Curiosity platform Based in Portsmouth NH Wagz leverages best in class technologies like smart collars GPS tracking bark monitoring and smart feeding solutions to deliver a completely connected pet lifestyle Sprint s avant garde IoT platform is anticipated to hit the Tasmanian country in early 2020 With a subscriber count of 53 9 million as of Sep 30 2019 Sprint s strategy of balancing growth and profitability while increasing network investments and adding digital capabilities will likely drive its financial performance The company is continuously coming up with new ideas and solutions to help business enterprises improve relations with employees and better serve customers Moreover its all stock merger transaction with T Mobile US Inc NYSE S has been cleared by the U S Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission The combined entity is likely to accelerate the development of faster 5G wireless networks across U S wireless video and broadband industries The transaction is expected to result in 6 billion of annual cost savings The combined company will have a strong closing balance sheet and a fully funded business plan with a strong foundation of secured investment grade debt at close Shares of Sprint have lost 18 against the s growth of 12 9 in the past year The company has been making efforts to entice customers by offering attractive promotional plans and lucrative discounts This in turn has led to a high cash burn rate and heavy losses Sprint currently has a Zacks Rank 5 Strong Sell A better ranked stock in the industry is Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ carrying a Zacks Rank 2 Buy You can see Verizon outpaced estimates in each of the preceding four quarters the average positive earnings surprise being 2 2 Today s Best Stocks from ZacksWould you like to see the updated picks from our best market beating strategies From 2017 through Q3 2019 while the S P 500 gained 39 6 five of our strategies returned 51 8 57 5 96 9 119 0 and even 158 9 This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon From 2000 Q3 2019 while the S P averaged 5 6 per year our top strategies averaged up to 54 1 per year |
VZ | Nokia Rides On Commercial 5G Deals Momentum To Continue | Recently Nokia HE NOKIA Corporation NYSE NOK communicated that it has reached 63 commercial 5G contracts worldwide with 18 live networks to date The Finnish telecom equipment maker s 5G technology has been contracted by all four nationwide operators in the United States all three in South Korea and all three in Japan Solid momentum is a reflection of its sustained leadership in cellular technology R D and standardization Nokia s share price rose 0 25 in Friday s trading session to close at 4 02 Some of its prominent customers are AT T NYSE T Verizon Communications NYSE VZ T Mobile US NYSE T Sprint KDDI Korea Telecom LG Uplus NTT DOCOMO O2 SK Telecom SoftBank STC Vodafone LON VOD Italy and Zain Saudi Owing to notable successes in progressive markets the company s revenues increased at a CAGR of 12 from 2014 to 2018 It is scheduled to report fourth quarter 2019 results on Feb 6 2020 Nokia s end to end portfolio includes products and services for every part of a network which are helping operators to enable key 5G capabilities such as network slicing distributed cloud and industrial IoT It facilitates customers to move from an economy of scale network operating model to demand driven operations by offering easy programmability and automation It is witnessing healthy underlying momentum in its focus areas of software and enterprise which augurs well for its licensing business The company is expanding its business into targeted high growth and high margin vertical markets to address several opportunities beyond its primary markets It had earlier announced plans to accelerate strategy execution sharpen customer focus and reduce long term costs This in turn should help the company to position itself as a global leader in the delivery of end to end 5G solutions At the same time it is focused on building a strong scalable software business and expanding it to structurally attractive enterprise adjacencies Nokia also clarified that these 63 contracts exclude any other type of 5G agreements such as paid network trials and pilots If included the total number of agreements would then exceed 100 Further the company has more than 350 customers in 4G but these first 63 customers symbolize about two third of its global Radio Access Networks business in a given year Reportedly it is the only vendor with a globally available end to end product portfolio that covers all 5G network elements This includes radio core cloud and transport as well as management automation and security Nokia is focused on its strategy that hinges on four priorities The first priority is to lead in high performance end to end networks with its communication service provider customers The second priority is based on its relentless pursuit to expand network sales to select vertical markets specifically energy transportation public sector technical extra large enterprises and webscale players Building a strong standalone software business remains the third strategic priority The fourth pillar aims to create new business and licensing opportunities in the consumer ecosystem However due to margin pressure and additional 5G investments Nokia lowered its 2020 guidance Non IFRS earnings per share are expected to be 0 25 5 cents compared with the previously anticipated 0 37 0 42 Non IFRS operating margin is likely to be 9 5 1 5 percentage point trimmed from previous estimate of 12 16 Shares of Nokia have lost 21 2 against the s growth of 1 8 in the past six months The company topped earnings estimates twice in the trailing four quarters delivering a positive surprise of 81 6 on average It is currently trading with a forward P E of 14 36X Nokia currently has a Zacks Rank 4 Sell You can see Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana Ignited by new referendums and legislation this industry is expected to blast from an already robust 6 7 billion to 20 2 billion in 2021 Early investors stand to make a killing but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look |
VZ | Your money Should you pay to stop phone spam | By Beth Pinsker NEW YORK Reuters If your phone log is anything like mine the list of incoming scam calls makes it look like you work for the State Department Sri Lanka Lithuania Russia Bosnia Benin Croatia and Sierra Leone And if you are anything like me the thought that may cross your mind is I would pay anything to make these calls stop Nothing is protecting voice and text so all the criminals sneak in said Aaron Foss founder of Nomorobo a scam blocking service Until a foolproof way is found to stop these nuisance calls here is what you need to know Your cell phone carrier s service Telecom giants tout the billions of calls they block each year barely mentioning that the system is far from foolproof About 20 of our calls are scam said Greg Castle vice president of engineering for T Mobile Some get through Still Castle considers T Mobile s track record with its free ScamID program a success A free additional opt in product called ScamBlock removes those calls from your view AT T NYSE T Sprint Verizon NYSE VZ and other major carriers offer similar services Most are free but they usually require you to opt in Some carriers sell the highest level of services like Verizon which charges 2 99 a month for its Call Filter Of course considering how much typical cellphone bills run these days most people probably think like me that paying anything extra is not worth it unless the service truly eliminates all the unwanted calls Third party apps Companies like RoboKiller Hiya Truecaller and YouMail aim to block robo calls by tagging incoming calls as scams or removing them from your view completely For 4 99 a month RoboKiller hits back at scammers by answering their calls with bots which tie up the line We wasted 113 000 hours in April said Ethan Garr RoboKiller s senior vice president of strategic growth If a telemarketer is talking to our bot somebody else is not getting scammed But some calls still get through Garr uses the RoboKiller app a couple of times a month to identify unwanted calls so the algorithm learns from it he said Nomorobo s more straightforward approach uses an app that works in the background for 2 a month According to Nomorobo s Foss the company updates its database every 15 minutes and misses just 3 of scam calls False positives which mark a legitimate call as a scam account for less than a 10th of a percent Foss testified before Congress earlier this month to push for technologies like Nomorobo s to be applied when the call reaches the network before it hits the consumer s phone It means putting more pressure on carriers to put this in natively that will be ultimately what solves the problem Foss said The U S Federal Communications Commission chairman on Wednesday proposed allowing phone companies to block unwanted calls by default The regulator is expected to act on the proposal at its June 6 meeting Common sense Until a foolproof solution is found the best line of defense is your own scam radar If you do not answer the calls cannot cost you anything If you do pick up do not engage And never ever give out your Social Security or credit card information to an unsolicited caller
Scammers will scam Castle said Obviously if you answer a call and it sounds too good to be true just hang up |
VZ | FCC set to let phone companies block more robocalls | By David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters U S Federal Communications Commission FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Wednesday proposed allowing phone companies to block unwanted robocalls by default in a bid to reduce the flood of nuisance calls from telemarketers and scammers Pai said many service providers have held off developing and deploying default call blocking tools because of uncertainty about whether the tools are legal under the FCC rules Allowing the default call blocking could significantly increase development and consumer adoption of the tools Pai said adding that providers should offer call blocking services for free In addition companies could allow users to block calls not on their contact lists Pai said By making it clear that such call blocking is allowed the FCC will give voice service providers the legal certainty they need to block unwanted calls from the outset so that consumers never have to get them Pai said The U S telecommunications regulator is expected to approve Pai s proposal at its June 6 meeting Pai and the other four FCC commissioners testified on Wednesday before a U S House panel amid frustration in Congress and among U S consumers over the flood of robocalls YouMail a company that blocks robocalls and tracks them estimated there were 4 9 billion unwanted U S calls last month after nearly 48 billion in 2018 which was up nearly 60 from 2017 Not all automated calls are illegal Some are from school districts utilities pharmacies or cities Carriers expressed support for Pai s proposal Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ praised the FCC for taking aggressive action and exploring new tools to protect consumers While there may not be a silver bullet that entirely ends these activities we re fully committed to fighting the scourge of robocalls it said in a statement AT T Inc NYSE T said Pai s proposal will increase the arsenal of tools available to combat calls that are not authenticated but warned that scammers continue to find new ways to reach unsuspecting consumers In May 2018 Pai called on companies to adopt an industry developed call authentication system aimed at ending the use of illegitimate spoofed numbers from the telephone system Pai said this week he expects major phone providers to implement those caller ID standards this year and will host a summit on July 11 to review the industry s progress We chose this industry led path because it is the fastest way to help consumers but I remain committed to taking regulatory action if carriers do not act this year Pai said in a statement on Monday In November Pai wrote to the chief executive officers of major providers demanding they launch the system no later than 2019 to combat robocalls
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel a Democrat said this week the FCC should require call authentication technology and make available free tools to consumers to block calls The FCC she added has wasted time holding summits and workshops instead of holding bad actors responsible |
VZ | Verizon Rises 3 | Investing com Verizon NYSE VZ rose by 3 09 to trade at 59 89 by 09 35 13 35 GMT on Monday on the NYSE exchange
The volume of Verizon shares traded since the start of the session was 1 25M Verizon has traded in a range of 58 95 to 59 89 on the day
The stock has traded at 59 8900 at its highest and 56 1700 at its lowest during the past seven days |
VZ | T Mobile s deal for Sprint gets big boost from FCC commission | By David Shepardson and Diane Bartz WASHINGTON Reuters T Mobile US Inc s 26 billion acquisition of rival Sprint Corp appeared to win the support of a majority of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday in a significant step toward the deal s approval FCC Chairman Ajit Pai a Republican came out in favor of the combination after the companies offered concessions including selling Sprint s Boost Mobile prepaid cell service as did FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr a Republican The five member panel s third Republican Mike O Rielly said he was inclined to support the proposed merger even if he was not convinced of the need for all of the conditions announced by Pai Sprint shares initially surged 23 2 while T Mobile shares rose 5 1 but both pared gains to close at 18 8 and 3 9 higher respectively after a report from Bloomberg News said the Department of Justice which also has to OK the deal was leaning against approval Bloomberg said the department was concerned the proposed remedies did not resolve antitrust concerns If the deal is completed the number of U S wireless carriers would drop to three from four with Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ and AT T Inc NYSE T leading the pack Some telecommunications experts have predicted that prices for cellphone service would rise as a result and U S Senator Richard Blumenthal agreed The FCC s seeming abdication makes it even more important for the Department of Justice to step up to the plate to block this merger the Democratic senator said in a statement The commission is made up of three Republicans and two Democrats FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel a Democrat tweeted her disapproval We ve seen this kind of consolidation in airlines and with drug companies she wrote It hasn t worked out well for consumers But now the FCC wants to bless the same kind of consolidation for wireless carriers I have serious doubts The FCC will not formally vote on the merger on Monday but will first draft an order it plans to circulate for approval in the coming weeks said the two people briefed on the matter The FCC move boded well for the Justice Department to also approve the deal Citi analysts said in a note While the two federal agencies have different standards of review that could lead to different outcomes we believe the likelihood for some coordination between the agencies is encouraging for the approval prospects by the Justice Department the note said Reviews by state attorneys general and public utility commissions could push full approval back to the third quarter of this year the Citi note said The FCC and Justice Department almost always agree publicly on merger reviews and experts said on Monday the agencies have not had a major review disagreement in four decades Andrew Jay Schwartzman a law professor at Georgetown University said a Justice Department challenge would represent a significant departure from longstanding practice CONCESSIONS In a filing with the FCC on Monday the companies pledged to sell prepaid wireless provider Boost Mobile The sale will include the brand name any active accounts and dedicated Boost assets and staff but no wireless spectrum The new Boost could buy network access from T Mobile for at least six years The companies pledged they would not scrap a deal with Altice USA the fourth largest U S cable television company Altice has an agreement with Sprint that would allow it to start offering mobile phone service later this year using Sprint s network One critic of the deal called the concession weak I don t understand how the mere spinning off of one of three prepaid services would satisfy Pai given all the evidence in the record that post paid wireless prices will go up said Gigi Sohn who held a senior FCC position during the Obama administration I just think this is very weak tea The Boost sale is aimed at resolving concerns that the deal would give the combined company 54 of the prepaid market which generally includes those with poor credit who cannot pay with a credit card T Mobile which is about 63 percent owned by Deutsche Telekom AG DE DTEGn also promised the new company would build a world leading 5G network which is supposed to be the next generation of wireless service It promises to give rural Americans robust 5G broadband and enhance home broadband and could face hefty financial penalties if it did not meet expansion targets The FCC and Justice Department had been expected to make a decision in early June They have been weighing a potential loss of competition and higher prices for consumers against the prospect of a more powerful No 3 wireless carrier that can build a faster better 5G network
T Mobile has about 80 million customers and Sprint has about 55 million customers |
XOM | What Makes ExxonMobil Attractive | It s no surprise that ExxonMobil NYSE XOM is not getting much love from Wall Street The company s 2019 earnings fell largely due to lower oil and gas prices Moreover its downstream and chemical earnings which should grow when oil prices are lower also fell in 2019 due to lower margins and higher downtime However that should not make you write off the stock There are several key factors that make this beaten down giant attractive
Production growth
After falling for three consecutive years ExxonMobil s oil equivalent production rose in the year 2019 The growth was driven by increased liquids production even as natural gas production volumes declined The higher volumes favorably contributed to the company s earnings for the year Moving ahead as ExxonMobil s projects including those in Guyana and Permian Basin reach their full capacity they will continue to contribute to the company s earnings
Population and economic growth continue to support oil and gas demand fundamentals in the longer term ExxonMobil s investments set it for stronger performance as the industry rises from the trough of the current price cycle With significant scheduled maintenance behind ExxonMobil s downstream earnings too should improve contributed by improved margins from higher value products and newer projects
Debt and cash flows
ExxonMobil s rising debt levels is another top concern of investors The company s total debt rose from 37 8 billion at the end of 2018 to 46 9 billion at the end of 2019 The company invested in some key growth projects during the year resulting in the rise in its debt However even with the higher debt ExxonMobil s leverage levels are much lower than most of its peers
ExxonMobil generated cash flows of 29 7 billion from operating activities during the year The company spent 26 8 billion in property plant and equipment PP E additions and net investments and advances It generated 3 7 billion in proceeds from asset sales during the year So ExxonMobil generated free cash flows of 6 6 billion in 2019 which don t cover its 14 6 billion dividends for the year a point of concern for investors
However the equation should change as the company s investments over the last few years start adding to its cash flows From 2019 to 2025 ExxonMobil expects to pay around 100 billion in dividends The company expects to generate 190 billion in free cash flow during this period based on a 60 per barrel flat Brent price scenario resulting in ample available capacity to use for investments dividend growth share buybacks or reduce debt
ExxonMobil s growth plans
ExxonMobil is doing two things to fuel growth One it is investing in key capital projects including in Guyana and the Permian Basin that would significantly add to its earnings Two it is divesting assets that aren t a good fit for the company s growth plans This will free up capital to invest in projects that are expected to create more value for the company ExxonMobil plans to divest 15 billion in non strategic assets by 2021 Earnings from new projects will more than replace that from divested assets
XOM data by YCharts
Stock on sale
Though ExxonMobil is making significant investments I don t expect exponential growth in the company s earnings anytime soon unless oil prices rise significantly from their current levels That doesn t look too likely However as long as oil prices don t fall freely as happened in 2014 the company s growth plans should work out well That should help the company grow its earnings steadily supporting the stock s price as well as its more than 5 yield |
XOM | Exxon Mobil Stock Rises 3 | Investing com Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM Stock rose by 3 03 to trade at 61 79 by 10 39 15 39 GMT on Wednesday on the NYSE exchange
The volume of Exxon Mobil shares traded since the start of the session was 7 25M Exxon Mobil has traded in a range of 60 74 to 61 80 on the day
The stock has traded at 65 1900 at its highest and 59 9000 at its lowest during the past seven days |
XOM | China Reneges on Commodity Deals Worsening Global Trade Chaos | Bloomberg Global commodity trade plunged deeper into chaos as Chinese companies started walking away from purchase contracts because of the spread of the deadly coronavirus
A Chinese buyer of liquefied natural gas and a copper importer declared what s known as force majeure meaning they are reneging on deals as the virus constrains their ability to take deliveries The cancellations are among the first known cases of the legal clause being invoked in commodity contracts due to the epidemic
Everything that we were afraid of from trade wars or global growth doesn t compare said Jan Stuart global energy economist at Cornerstone Macro This virus is an entirely different risk especially in commodities where China s role dominates
China is the world s biggest consumer of most raw materials from energy products to industrial metals and disruptions in its purchases create havoc across global supply chains Now while global markets bounce back from initial fears over the impact of the virus the fallout in commodity trade is only worsening as Beijing keeps swathes of the country under lockdown and restricts travel
When God Appears in Contracts That s Force Majeure QuickTake
In a dramatic and rare step China National Offshore Oil Corp the nation s biggest LNG buyer invoked force majeure and told some suppliers it won t take delivery of cargoes because of constraints caused by the coronavirus French oil and gas giant Total SA PA TOTF rejected the declaration
Hours later it emerged that Chinese copper smelter Guangxi Nanguo had also declared the same get out clause refusing to take delivery of raw materials
Meanwhile copper buyers are requesting Chilean miners postpone shipments because of port shutdowns while China s biggest oil refiner Sinopec Group is likely to ask Saudi Arabia to reduce crude supplies next month Soybeans from Brazil and the U S are being held up on arrival in eastern China and Indonesian palm oil shipments are also being delayed
We are truly concerned about the loss of buying power that has spread across every division of commodities said Pete Thomas a senior vice president at Chicago based broker Zaner Group The impact has been much larger than everyone even realizes it would be
For LNG CNOOC s force majeure hurts a market already buffeted by rising U S supplies and weak demand after a mild winter in Europe and Asia Even before Chinese buyers walked away from supply contracts spot prices fell to a record low crippling the profitability of energy giants like Royal Dutch Shell LON RDSa Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM
CNOOC sent the force majeure notice to suppliers including Shell and Total according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential Shell declined to comment
Total confirmed it received one force majeure notification which it rejected after legal analysis Philippe Sauquet the company s president for gas renewables and power said in a company presentation
Of course we have to be careful if there is a real quarantine in all unloading ports in China we have a real case for force majeure he said But for the time being this is not the case For me it is ordinary negotiation
Amid low prices and demand there is a strong temptation from some long term customers to try to play with force majeure and say I cannot take my cargo under long term contract he said
Japan Korea Marker the spot Asian LNG benchmark fell to record low 3 per million British thermal units according to S P Global Platts
China said last week that it would offer support to companies seeking to declare force majeure on international contracts The clause allows a company to opt out of contractual obligations because of events beyond its control |
XOM | Fighters step up attacks in Mozambique gas region beheadings reported U N | GENEVA Reuters People are fleeing a surge of attacks in northern Mozambique where witnesses have described beheadings mass kidnappings and villages burned to the ground the United Nations said on Friday Officials said armed groups had stepped up assaults in Cabo Delgado province the center of an Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds since it started in 2017 The northern region is also home to one of the world s biggest recent gas finds where Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM Total and others are working Displaced villagers have described killings maiming torture and destroyed crops Andrej Mahecic the spokesman for the U N High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR said They speak of men in particular being targeted and beheaded and many many reports of women and children being kidnapped or simply disappearing he told a briefing in Geneva Some of the attackers appeared to be bandits But there is also the element of some of the groups being driven by ideological or other ideas And they have been quite vicious in spreading the terror in this part of Mozambique Mahecic added The UNHCR said there had been a sharp increase in violence in recent months and the past weeks had been the most turbulent period since attacks began in October 2017 In all 100 000 people have been uprooted by the violence in the last two years In total at least 28 attacks were carried out in the province since the beginning of the year Mahecic said The militants who tout their brand of Islam as an antidote to what they describe as a corrupt ruling elite called themselves Ahlu Sunnah Wa Jama when they started launching attacks in 2017
More recently Islamic State has claimed responsibility via its media outlets though there has been no independent confirmation of a link Reporting Stephanie Nebehay Writing by Olivia Kumwenda Mtambo Editing by Andrew Heavens |
WMB | Williamson adds to haul wins Wooden Award | Zion Williamson s freshman season at Duke didn t end with a national championship but he s won just about everything else he s been up for The likely No 1 overall pick in June s NBA draft on Friday added to his postseason hardware haul with the John R Wooden Award given to the nation s top player The honor comes on the heels of Williams NYSE WMB winning the AP and Naismith player of the year awards He also earned first team All America honors from numerous outlets Williamson 18 is the third freshman to win the Wooden Award joining Kevin Durant Texas 2007 and Anthony Davis Kentucky 2012 Williamson averaged 22 6 points and 8 9 rebounds per game with the Blue Devils throwing down highlight reel dunks seemingly every game many of them ending up as viral sensations The Blue Devils went 32 6 this past season but lost to Michigan State in the regional final round of the NCAA Tournament During the awards show on ESPN on Friday night Williamson drew laughter from the crowd when he replied Umm who knows when asked if he would join fellow Duke freshmen RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish in declaring for the draft Also during Friday s show the national position player of the year awards were announced Bob Cousy Award point guard Ja Morant Murray State Jerry West Award best shooting guard Barrett Julius Erving Award small forward Rui Hachimura Gonzaga Karl Malone Award power forward Williamson Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award center Ethan Happ Wisconsin
On the women s side Oregon junior Sabrina Ionescu picked up the Wooden Award Field Level Media |
WMB | NBA notebook Kings reportedly to hire Walton as head coach | Luke Walton and the Kings have agreed to a multi year contract to make him Sacramento s next coach The Athletic reported Walton met with Kings general manager Vlade Divac on Saturday and The Athletic s Sam Amick reported the two had reached agreement on a deal that is expected to run through the 2022 23 season ESPN s Adrian Wojnarowski said an official announcement could come this weekend The Los Angeles Lakers and Walton 39 parted ways on Friday He compiled a 98 148 record in three seasons as the Lakers head coach Los Angeles missed the playoffs in all three campaigns The Lakers meanwhile received permission to discuss their opening for head coach with Philadelphia 76ers assistant Monty Williams NYSE WMB ESPN reported citing league sources The Lakers are focusing on Williams and former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue and general manager Rob Pelinka plans to speak with each candidate in the near future league sources told ESPN After spending the previous two years in the San Antonio Spurs front office following the death of his wife Ingrid in 2016 Williams got back into coaching as Brett Brown s top assistant with the 76ers The 76ers fined veteran center Amir Johnson an undisclosed amount for showing teammate Joel Embiid his cell phone on the bench late in a 111 102 loss to the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of their playoff series TV cameras caught Johnson on the bench in the fourth quarter when the 76ers were 16 points down and he was scrolling through his phone After showing Embiid something on his phone Johnson put it into the pocket of his warm ups I apologize for having my phone on the bench in today s game Johnson said in a statement released hours after the game by the 76ers I take full responsibility and will accept the consequences of my actions I also apologize to my teammates the 76ers organization and the fans for the distraction this has caused Milwaukee Bucks forward Nikola Mirotic is expected to return from a thumb injury to play in Game 1 of the first round series against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday Mirotic missed the final 11 games of the regular season after fracturing his left thumb during a March 19 game against the Los Angeles Lakers Mirotic fully participated in Friday s practice and took part in Saturday s non contact practice He had his thumb taped during both workouts The Washington Wizards announced they will not make a qualifying offer to free agent forward Devin Robinson after he was apparently arrested late Friday We are aware of the incident this morning involving Devin and are disappointed in his actions We will not extend a qualifying offer to him for the 2019 20 season it read According to Washington Post reporter Candace Buckner who covers the Wizards Robinson was involved in an altercation with Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills at a nightclub Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby could be sidelined until the Eastern Conference finals should the team make it that far ESPN s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Anunoby underwent an emergency appendectomy on Thursday
The second year player who is a key reserve for the Raptors scored 7 0 points per game this season with an average of 2 9 rebounds He played in 67 games this season starting six of them a year after he started 62 games as a rookie from Indiana Field Level Media |
WMB | Hamilton back on top after landmark win in China | By Abhishek Takle SHANGHAI Reuters Five times world champion Lewis Hamilton returned to the top of the Formula One standings on Sunday with a comfortable victory in China that ticked off two more milestones in an already stellar career The 34 year old already one of only three drivers to have won five or more titles wrote another page in the record books as the winner of the 1 000th world championship race since the first in 1950 He also claimed a landmark 75th career F1 victory placing him just 16 shy of Michael Schumacher s all time record tally of 91 I was just thinking how delicious that was Hamilton who also won the 900th race in 2014 told reporters after leading team mate Valtteri Bottas in a third successive one two finish It really has been an interesting first three races We as a team definitely didn t expect to have three one twos but now I m proud to have been part of the work that everyone has done and to be a part of these results added the Briton The victory also extended Hamilton s already unprecedented tally of victories in China to six Mercedes are the first team since Williams NYSE WMB in 1992 to start a season with three one twos in a row Hamilton leading two to Bottas s one Ferrari NYSE RACE looked dominant in Bahrain only to lose out on victory with Charles Leclerc due to an engine problem 10 laps from the end and neither of the Mercedes pair expected Sunday s result Even when it became clear the silver cars had the edge around the 5 4 km long Shanghai circuit it was Bottas who was leading the charge by taking pole ahead of Hamilton Until race day Hamilton had looked strangely ill at ease with his car The Briton sealed the win at the start however beating Bottas off the line and settling into a lead he would never give up A little bit of a struggle this weekend for me but once I got into qualifying a little bit of a shift in driving style enabled me to unlock a bit more potential with the car which Valtteri was clearly able to do said Hamilton And then the start was obviously great which was really the decisive moment I d say for the race Hamilton is now six points clear of Bottas who collected an extra point in Australia for the fastest lap with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next up The Briton struggled there last year before inheriting a lucky win from Bottas who suffered a puncture with three laps remaining I think as a team we re not going to get ahead of ourselves and we re naturally going to continue to get our heads down and keep working said Hamilton
We ve got another close battle on our hands |
WMB | Trump Obama join sport greats heaping praise on Masters winner Woods | By Amy Tennery AUGUSTA Ga Reuters World leaders and some of the most decorated sports figures alike flooded social media on Sunday to congratulate American Tiger Woods after he clinched his fifth Masters title Congratulations to TigerWoods tweeted U S President Donald Trump realDonaldTrump who earlier this year played golf with the Woods A truly Great Champion Love people who are great under pressure What a fantastic life comeback for a really great guy he added later Congratulations Tiger wrote former President Barack Obama BarackObama To come back and win the Masters after all the highs and lows is a testament to excellence grit and determination Woods who had not clinched a major title in over 10 years won by just one stroke on a day filled with wild swings in the leader board He now has 15 major titles to his name second only to golf great Jack Nicklaus who has won 18 A big well done from me to TigerWoods tweeted Nicklaus jacknicklaus I am so happy for him and for the game of golf This is just fantastic Entering the day tied for second with fellow American Tony Finau at 11 under par Woods produced a steady performance to overtake the field I am literally in tears watching TigerWoods this is Greatness like no other tweeted 23 times tennis major winner Serena Williams NYSE WMB serenawilliams Knowing all you have been through physically to come back and do what you just did today Wow Congrats a million times I am so inspired thank you buddy Three time NBA championship winner Stephen Curry called the performance the greatest comeback story in sports Congrats TigerWoods Let me hold one of those 5 jackets one time he said StephenCurry30 Congrats Tiger What a performance wrote six time football Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady TomBrady A big BIG congratulations to TigerWoods for winning the Masters basketball great Magic Johnson MagicJohnson posted The roar of the Tiger is back
The story corrects number of majors won by Jack Nicklaus from 17 to 18 |
WMB | Legendary Beginnings | Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors gets personal with Real Vision s Grant Williams NYSE WMB in a discussion about the unconventional trajectory of his career He credits the pressure of providing for his family as the motivator that led to his late in life successes which eventually earned him legendary status This clip is excerpted from a piece published on Real Vision on December 14 2018 Watch more at |
WMB | Motor racing Mercedes look more dominant than ever | By Alan Baldwin LONDON Reuters The first three races of the Formula One season have made a mockery of pre season predictions that Ferrari NYSE RACE would set the pace and leave Mercedes struggling to keep up The standings may not tell the full story and luck has played a part but on paper Mercedes are more dominant than ever while Ferrari have fallen well short of expectations We ve soon got to stop talking about Ferrari this Ferrari that Ferrari amazing power because they are not delivering said former grand prix driver and Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle Mercedes the team that have won every championship for the past five years completed a hat trick of successive one two finishes at Sunday s Chinese Grand Prix The only reason Mercedes cannot claim a perfect start is the introduction this season of a point for the fastest race lap with Ferrari s Charles Leclerc quickest in Bahrain and Red Bull s Pierre Gasly in Shanghai Otherwise they have done something that escaped even Ferrari during the golden era when they won six successive constructors titles and Michael Schumacher five championships in a row between 2000 04 The last team to start a season with three successive one twos was Williams NYSE WMB with Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese in 1992 And yet five times champion Lewis Hamilton team mate Valtteri Bottas and principal Toto Wolff were still talking about luck small margins and tough battles ahead after winning Formula One s 1 000th world championship race Considering it was a real struggle this weekend I m really grateful for the result said Hamilton Sunday s winner SOLID WEEKEND The Briton was right to point out it would have been a different story if Charles Leclerc s Ferrari had not lost power while leading in Bahrain but could have would have should have never won anything I m just not sure they ve really hooked up a proper solid weekend just yet said Hamilton now back in the overall championship lead It was looking like it was going to be a solid weekend for them in Bahrain and then it started to tail off This weekend they were a bit up and down I think we re over delivering a little bit at the moment to our true potential but there s still more to come he added Ferrari were quicker down the long main straight in China but Mercedes whose engine has been the best of recent years gained through the corners China was seen as a track where Ferrari would have the upper hand but it was Mercedes whose drivers lined up first and second on the grid Our car is maybe a bit draggier than theirs said Wolff On the speed and power we need to leave no stone unturned but in terms of managing the tires the downforce levels helped obviously The champions also got their strategy spot on double stacking their drivers brilliantly in a seamless pitstop on Sunday while Ferrari invoked team orders in a move that backfired The battle for supremacy is between Mercedes and Ferrari with Honda powered Red Bull challenging for podiums but Ferrari leave China with more pressure on them Nico Rosberg the retired champion who won the 2016 title with Mercedes agreed the Italians had work to do I m hearing from the Ferrari guys that they ve got their car in the wrong aerodynamic window at the moment he said They need to make changes internally but it s going to take time
They are only very good at the ultra high speed tracks at the moment and as soon as there are more corners then they are struggling So they re in the wrong place at the moment with the car |
WMB | Poroshenko 2 0 Ukraine leader reboots campaign ahead of presidential run off | By Matthias Williams NYSE WMB and Pavel Polityuk PARIS KIEV Reuters Flanked by rock musicians wearing yellow overalls and black t shirts with skulls on them Ukraine s President Petro Poroshenko pumped his fist danced to the music and waved to supporters outside a soccer stadium in Kiev on Sunday Standing on a stage filled with young people he sent a message to his absent challenger the comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy ahead of a presidential election run off on April 21 I am pleased that so many young people are with us today Volodymyr Oleksandrovych you hear the voice of Kiev the voice of Ukraine its youth The youth is with us The youth is the driving force of our state he said on Sunday Poroshenko has rebooted his campaign after Zelenskiy won nearly twice as many votes as him in the first round of the election on March 31 reaching out especially to younger voters disillusioned with corruption and the slow pace of change The president apologized for past mistakes like installing business cronies to high office promised to be more transparent in communicating decisions and pledged to bring more young people onto his staff if voters gave him another chance At stake is the leadership of a country on the frontline of the West s standoff with Russia following the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a Kremlin backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed 13 000 people If elected Zelenskiy has promised to keep Ukraine on a pro Western course pursue reforms and tackle corruption Investors view him as something of an unknown quantity but his team has tried to assure them he will keep the country s loan program with the International Monetary Fund on track In an interview with Reuters on Friday Poroshenko said his strategy for the first round was reminding Ukrainians to be proud of their country and not listen to Russian depictions of its neighbor as a failed state Doing so allowed him to trumpet achievements like securing visa free travel for Ukrainians to European Union countries strengthening the army and helping establish a national Orthodox church independent from the Russian clergy But for the second round he has struck a more contrite tone with voters while still painting Zelenskiy as a buffoonish populist First of all some people are disappointed And we should open their heart we should knock on their doors we should deliver the information that look we hear what you mean We understand what you need Poroshenko said Don t believe populists don t believe in the simple decision to the complicated question May I remind you we are the country in a state of war he said onboard his plane between whistle stop visits to Berlin and Paris Poroshenko has also sought to shore up his reformist credentials He rolled out a long awaited special court to try corruption cases and fired a regional governor accused of incompetence Asked if he had more surprises up his sleeve before the second round Poroshenko replied You consider launching an anti corruption court as a surprise I think this is a part of my program The answer to your question would be definitely yes I have some surprise for the last week he said declining to specify Otherwise it wouldn t be a surprise Poroshenko met civil society activists on April 6 promising an overhaul of law enforcement that includes stripping various organizations of their power to probe economic crimes thus removing a weapon to extract bribes from businesses How useful such dialogue would have been for the president for social activists and for the whole of Ukraine had it taken place sooner Daria Kaleniuk executive director of the Anti Corruption Action Center wrote on Facebook NASDAQ FB after the meeting At the same time I highly appreciate and respect the president for admitting his mistakes This is a strong step Mistakes can be corrected by real actions she said Poroshenko believes he has time to close the gap on Zelenskiy but he will have to work fast A survey by pollster Reiting last week showed Zelenskiy on 61 percent of votes and Poroshenko on 24 percent and 41 percent of Zelenskiy voters said their vote was against Poroshenko rather than for the comedian The claims that he is going through a renewal are understandable The logic is to broaden his base to show that the president is changing But words are not enough said Volodymyr Fesenko director of Kiev s Penta think tank Where to get additional votes will be a big problem for Poroshenko That s because the protest vote will continue to dominate PRESIDENT OR SHOWMAN A comedian with no prior political experience Zelenskiy has run an unorthodox campaign that played particularly well with a more internet savvy young generation Eschewing traditional rallies it relied instead on quirky social media posts comedy gigs and allusions to a fictional TV series where he plays a schoolteacher who becomes president Fighting for that space Poroshenko launched a channel on the Telegram messenger app after the first round announcing it on Twitter with a picture of two women taking a selfie with him Zelenskiy began releasing slickly produced videos attacking Poroshenko on Facebook and Instagram that featured pumping music and were reminiscent of his TV series Poroshenko responded in kind releasing his own videos on social media though they were shot in a more somber style and had him looking straight to camera Zelenskiy has also used social media to crowdsource suggestions from voters on anything from policy initiatives to who should be Ukraine s next prime minister In turn Poroshenko posted a video calling on voters to sign up to a website or phone in their support on a special hotline for keeping Ukraine on a path towards European integration Lawmaker and close ally Iryna Gerashchenko said the campaign changed communications strategy to bring out Poroshenko s human side Ukrainians should be able to see someone who is open who has a great sense of humor subtle who can joke in different languages who can be sentimental when he watches the war film Cyborgs It is necessary to remind voters she told Reuters It culminated with the appearance at the Olimpiyskiy soccer stadium Poroshenko and Zelenskiy had goaded each other about when and where they would hold a debate Zelenskiy wanted it at the stadium but insisted the event take place next Friday Poroshenko showed up anyway on Sunday his preferred date greeting the crowd before going inside to speak to the media next to an empty podium bearing Zelenskiy s name Zelenskiy took to social media on Monday to puncture his opponent s rebranding exercise saying it wasn t enough for the president to indulge in theatrics or tell people he s listening to their concerns
A showman can become a president but it is sad that a president became a showman he said in a video |
VZ | T Mobile U S profit beats estimates as it signs up more customers | By Sheila Dang and Akanksha Rana Reuters T Mobile US Inc first quarter revenue and profit jumped from a year earlier beating Wall Street s estimates as competitive pricing lured new subscribers to its monthly cellphone plans Shares of the Bellevue Washington based company rose marginally after hours to 73 00 The company said it added a net 656 000 phone subscribers in the first quarter up from 617 000 additions a year earlier and substantially more than the 612 000 new subscribers analysts had expected according to research firm FactSet That was due to T Mobile s lower prices compared to its competitors as well as an expansion into more rural areas of the United States the company said T Mobile the third largest U S wireless carrier by subscriber count is awaiting approval of its 26 billion deal to buy smaller rival Sprint Corp which it has said will give it scale to compete with market leaders Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ and AT T Inc NYSE T T Mobile US Chief Executive John Legere said during a post earnings call with analysts that he remained optimistic and confident that U S regulators would recognize the merger as good for consumers and said he still expects deal approval in the first half of this year Reuters reported last week that the U S Justice Department has told T Mobile and Sprint it has concerns about the merger in its current structure At a meeting on Wednesday U S regulators questioned Sprint and T Mobile executives about the deal T Mobile US net income surged to 908 million or 1 06 per share in the three months ended March 31 from 671 million or 78 cents per share a year earlier Analysts had expected the company to earn 91 cents per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv Revenue rose nearly 6 percent to 11 08 billion in line with estimates The carrier said it expects Sprint merger costs of up to 250 million during the second quarter which it said will negatively impact net income and cash flows |
VZ | U S attorney general recuses self from T Mobile Sprint merger probe | WASHINGTON Reuters U S Attorney General William Barr has recused himself from the Justice Department s deliberations on whether to allow T Mobile to proceed with its 26 billion acquisition of Sprint according to a source familiar with the decision The department s Antitrust Division headed by Makan Delrahim is reviewing the deal to determine if it will lead to higher prices for consumers or to slower innovation as critics allege The Federal Communications Commission also must approve the transaction for it to go forward The recusal was first reported by the New York Post In a filing with the U S Office of Government Ethics in December Barr acknowledged owning a T Mobile bond valued at 15 001 to 50 000 and two other T Mobile bonds and a Sprint bond valued at less than 1 001 Those are to be sold within 90 days of his confirmation which occurred on Feb 14 Barr had also recused himself from considering AT T s plan to buy Time Warner which the government opposed because of his involvement with those companies That deal has closed T Mobile announced on Monday that the companies were extending a deadline to complete their deal to July 29 The two are among just four national wireless carriers trailing Verizon Communications NYSE VZ and AT T NYSE T
Regulators are expected to make a decision on the deal in early June They will be weighing a potential loss of competition and subsequently higher prices for consumers against the prospect of a more powerful No 3 wireless carrier which can work to build a faster better 5G next generation wireless network |
VZ | Verizon looking to sell Tumblr WSJ | Reuters Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ is seeking a buyer for its blogging website Tumblr the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter The ongoing sale process which may not result in any transaction comes as the wireless carrier tries to improve the fortunes of Verizon Media Group the report added Verizon Media Group formerly called Oath is the digital media umbrella that owns more than 50 brands including HuffPost TechCrunch and Tumblr
Verizon declined to comment on the WSJ report |
VZ | Sprint loses more phone subscribers than feared in fourth quarter | By Akanksha Rana and Angela Moon Reuters Sprint Corp on Tuesday reported deeper losses than feared of monthly phone subscribers despite discount offerings raising concerns that the wireless carrier may not be sustainable if its pending merger with T Mobile is not approved Sprint said it lost a net 189 000 phone subscribers during its fiscal fourth quarter Analysts were expecting a net loss of 117 000 according to research firm FactSet Sprint shares fell more than 4 percent in extended trade The U S telecommunications firm which is backed by Japan s Softbank also reported a worse than expected quarterly loss of 4 cents per share Analysts were expecting a loss of 1 cent per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv Sprint won t survive as a stand alone company with their current capital structure said Jonathan Chaplin analyst at New Street Research If the T Mobile acquisition is blocked Sprint will need to find another deal If they can t find another deal they will likely need to restructure sooner or later I have a hard time imagining anyone wanting to buy Sprint Sprint and T Mobile U S Inc are awaiting regulatory approval on their planned 26 billion merger which is expected to help Sprint boost its investments in 5G the next generation of wireless and shed the negative perception of its network quality Last month the two companies extended the deadline for completing their proposed deal to July 29 as the U S Justice Department s Antitrust Division chief said he had not decided whether to approve the transaction Sprint in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission on April 15 warned it is unlikely to play a meaningful competitive role as a standalone company in the years to come Sprint s total net operating revenue rose 4 4 percent to 8 44 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 up from 8 08 billion a year ago Analysts had expected revenue of 8 21 billion Sprint in a post earnings call with earnings declined to provide a full year outlook for fiscal 2019 because it is in the late stage of its merger with T Mobile Sprint s shares had closed up 0 9 percent at 5 79 in regular trade ahead of the results
T Mobile and Sprint are the No 3 and No 4 wireless carriers respectively in the United States behind Verizon Communications NYSE VZ and AT T NYSE T |
XOM | Why ExxonMobil s Q4 2019 Results Were Worse Than They Looked | Low prices have been hitting companies across the energy sector as they report their fourth quarter 2019 earnings Even the industry bigwigs aren t immune Top U S oil major ExxonMobil NYSE XOM reported lackluster numbers for the quarter on Jan 31
While production numbers were up very slightly year over year earnings missed expectations And when you look more closely things are even worse than they initially seem Shares opened about 2 8 lower and continued to decline throughout the morning Here s what investors need to know and what it means for the company moving forward
By the numbers
Data source ExxonMobil YOY year over year BOE d barrel of oil equivalents per day
The year over year change isn t good but things would have been even worse had Exxon not closed a big asset sale in Norway during the quarter which added 3 7 billion to earnings in its upstream division Without that boost net income would have dropped by 66 from the prior year Keep that in mind when looking at the chart below Without that boost the rightmost green bar Q4 2019 upstream earnings would be sitting at 2 458 million only a slight increase from the prior quarter the adjacent yellow bar
The chemical division posted a net loss in Q4 2019 thanks mostly to weak petrochemical pricing which drove down margins Likewise weaker margins especially overseas were the primary culprit for the lower earnings in the downstream segment Lower gas prices were primarily to blame for the weakness in the upstream unit Surprisingly despite crude oil prices being generally lower in Q4 2019 than in Q3 2019 Exxon was able to realize higher overall liquids prices during the quarter
If the quarterly numbers looked bad annual figures looked even worse with per share earnings down 31 1 to 3 36 share One bright spot in the annual figures showed up in the company s production volumes which has been an area of concern for the company in recent years Overall annual production in 2019 rose by 3 1 over 2018 which should help ease concerns of a long term production slowdown
Highlights from the quarter
Possibly the most important news for the company was that it began oil production at its strategically critical deepwater Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana ExxonMobil made its first discovery at the site less than five years ago marking a speedy turnaround at the site Exxon expects gross production at the site to reach 120 000 BOE d before the end of 2020 It s constructing a second production vessel with gross capacity of up to 220 000 BOE d to add additional capacity to the site
Continuing the good news from offshore Guyana Exxon announced its 15th oil discovery on the Stabroek Block bringing the estimated recoverable resource offshore Guyana to more than 8 billion gross BOE The company is projecting that it will have at least five production vessels onsite within the next five years producing more than 750 000 gross BOE d
The company completed a 4 5 billion asset sale of some non operated upstream assets in Norway furthering its goal of divesting about 15 billion in non strategic assets by 2021 This was a major boost to quarterly earnings
During the quarter Exxon secured 1 7 million acres for exploration offshore Egypt with exploration activities scheduled to begin later this year
ExxonMobil continued to make investments in clean energy during the quarter announcing a joint development agreement with FuelCell Energy to explore using carbonate fuel cell technology in industrial carbon dioxide capture It also signed an agreement with Porthos the Port of Rotterdam s transport hub and offshore storage project to construct a carbon dioxide pipeline system at the Port that will collect industrial carbon dioxide and transport it offshore for permanent geologic storage Finally it renewed its status as a founding member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative MITEI which researches innovative solutions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
What management had to say
CEO Darren Woods was pleased with the quarter s results given the underlying weak market conditions
Our operations performed well while short term supply length in the downstream and chemicals businesses impacted margins and financial results Growth in demand for the products that underpin our businesses remains strong We remain focused on improving our base businesses driving efficiencies and optimizing the value of our investment portfolio
Times are tough all over
Exxon s far from the only oil and gas company to post dismal results this quarter Lower oil and gas prices tumbling refining margins and weak petrochemical pricing combined for a triple whammy that left few energy industry companies unscathed Exxon lucked into a big asset sale during the quarter that stemmed the bleeding but it s unlikely to pull such an ace from its sleeve in the first quarter of 2020
While Exxon s long term prospects remain strong especially considering its overall increase in production in 2019 things are already shaping up to be a bit worrisome in Q1 Global oversupply concerns remain Combined with concerns about the impact on the global economy from the emerging Coronavirus oil prices have fallen to levels about even with Q4 s low point and we have two more months of Q1 to go If oil prices stay low or fall even further investors should brace themselves for a rocky road ahead for ExxonMobil |
XOM | Shale pioneer John Hess says key U S fields starting to plateau | HOUSTON Reuters Shale pioneer John Hess said on Tuesday that key U S shale fields are starting to plateau calling shale important but not the next Saudi Arabia
Over the past decade the shale revolution turned the United States into the world s largest crude producer and a force in energy exports Yet that did not translate to higher stock prices or returns for investors with the S P 500 Energy sector only gaining 6 in a decade far less than the 180 return for the broader stock market
Companies remain under pressure to trim budgets and produce enough free cash flow to pay investors higher dividends or buy back shares The biggest industry challenge is the lack of long term investment Hess said
Production in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is starting to plateau while the Bakken field in North Dakota where Hess is a major producer will hit its peak production levels within the next two years said Hess who spoke Tuesday in Houston at the Argus Americas Crude Summit
The Permian Basin the top U S shale field in Texas and New Mexico will plateau in mid decade and is already facing well interference issues Hess said
That means the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will continue to act as the Federal Reserve of oil he said
Hess plans to use cash flow from the Bakken to invest in longer term offshore investments The company is relying on offshore Guyana one of the world s most important oil and gas discoveries in the last decade which is being developed by a consortium led by oil major Exxon Mobil Corp N XOM
In the Bakken Hess said the company expects to reach 200 000 barrels per day of production next year It would then sideline two of its six drilling rigs in the field for several years to hold production steady
In the short term the oil market is awash in oil right now in part because of panic created by the coronavirus Hess said It s a major headwind
The industry also has to respond to the threat of climate change Hess said
Climate change is real he said but how do we deal with it The world will need technological breakthroughs and faces the dual challenge of needing to decarbonize liquid fuel and make the electric grid stable when it s dependent on intermittent renewable energy he added |
WMB | Netanyahu s winning strategy big power statecraft and social media focus | By Dan Williams NYSE WMB JERUSALEM Reuters Benjamin Netanyahu s portrayal of Israel as a success story under his leadership and the showcasing of his rapport with U S President Donald Trump were vital ingredients in his triumphant election campaign The contest was effectively a referendum on Netanyahu s rule as prime minister for the past decade a test of his personality and character after Israel s attorney general announced in February he intends to charge him in three corruption cases In the end voters kept to the right in granting a fifth term to a leader who has a reputation for getting things done despite an array of former generals who stood against him and were dismissed by Netanyahu as the weak left Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and will have the opportunity to plead his case at a pre trial hearing against the filing of potential bribery and fraud charges The veteran leader who served his first term as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 crafted a bellicose campaign that focused voters on whether they should take a risk on his politically untested challenger Benny Gantz Gantz a former military chief was joined in his centrist Blue and White party by two other prominent Israeli generals a phalanx of officers that failed to unseat Netanyahu an ex commando who has held power since 2009 On the campaign trail Netanyahu 69 dominated the news cycle springing surprises on his supporters and opponents He went to the United States to get Trump to sign a decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights seized from Syria in a 1967 Middle East war and considered by the United Nations to be occupied territory He visited Russia to thank Moscow for honoring his request to recover the remains of an Israeli soldier lost in Syria With Trump already having recognized Jerusalem as Israel s capital Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by announcing during the campaign his intention to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re elected Palestinians seek a state of their own in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital Israel captured the areas in the 1967 war and pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005 while maintaining a blockade of the enclave On social media Netanyahu pounded out alerts which included unproved accusations that Iran could blackmail Gantz after hacking his phone although Tehran denied doing so Much of the electorate evidently feels there is no worthy rival to Netanyahu and his political base does not believe that he is a crook said Amotz Asa El a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem Many voters felt more secure keeping in that seat the person who has performed at least reasonably well there and arguably more than reasonably well RIGHT TURN Despite his legal troubles Netanyahu could bank on an electorate that had largely turned to the right since a 2000 2005 Palestinian uprising He also knew that when it came to trying to build a governing coalition he could rely on a likely alliance with ultra Orthodox parties that have little in common with Israel s secular left wing and are hostile to one of Gantz s partners former finance minister Yair Lapid who has been critical of the religious establishment No one meets Netanyahu s caliber in terms of his political power assertiveness his self confidence and courage No one has achieved that and I can t see anyone getting there said Judie Raziel a 60 year old religious Jew who lives in the settlement of Maale Adumim in the West Bank Netanyahu kept his close ties with Trump in the public eye erecting billboards in big cities showing the two smiling leaders shaking hands Trump is hugely popular in Israel While Gantz cast himself as a force for national unity Netanyahu doubled down on divisiveness He excoriated Gantz as a friend to Israel s 20 percent Arab minority and the darling of liberal media codes to many conservative ears for dangers to the Jewish state Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler of the Israel Democracy Institute deemed the strategy saw a one to one imitation of Trump s 2016 presidential campaign This was about both spreading fear and sowing a victim like mistrust in the democratic institutions Ofer Zalzberg a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group said Netanyahu played to his constituency by portraying any future Palestinian state as a threat to Israel s security That meant Zalzberg said that even those right wing voters frustrated with Netanyahu s conduct went with him Gantz stopped short of endorsing Palestinian statehood In the final days of the election Netanyahu launched what Israeli political commentators dubbed a gevalt strategy a Yiddish expression for alarm aimed at motivating complacent supporters to get out and vote or risk his defeat at the hands of a resurgent left wing On election day itself Netanyahu went to a beach near the coastal city of Tel Aviv urging sunbathers to get out of the water and save him at the ballot box posting a video of his appeal on Twitter The digital effort here was in the micro targeting getting the right people to come out and vote after creating pressure on the Arabs not to Altshuler said |
WMB | NBA roundup Pistons nail down final East playoff spot | Luke Kennard scored 27 points off the bench and the postseason bound Detroit Pistons closed out their regular season finale by walloping the host New York Knicks 115 89 on Wednesday The Pistons 41 41 qualified for the Eastern Conference playoffs for just the second time since the 2009 10 season They were swept by Cleveland in the opening round of the 2015 16 playoffs Detroit will be the No 8 seed and face top seeded Milwaukee in the first round Kennard s point total was one shy of his career high Reggie Jackson had 21 points and Andre Drummond supplied 20 points and 18 rebounds for Detroit Wayne Ellington tossed in 12 points all on 3 point makes Heat 113 Nets 94 Dwyane Wade ended his storied career with a triple double of 25 points 11 rebounds and 10 assists as visiting Miami was dealt a loss to Brooklyn which clinched sixth place in the Eastern Conference The Nets honored Wade with a video tribute in pregame introductions by highlighting some of his notable shots against them over the course of a 16 year career while the text on the screen read Thanks for the Memories With longtime friends LeBron James Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony sitting courtside Wade recorded his fifth career triple double in his 1 054th regular season game since entering the league as the fifth overall pick out of Marquette in 2003 Spurs 105 Mavericks 94 LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 34 points and totaled 16 rebounds to help propel San Antonio to a resounding win over visiting Dallas in the regular season finale for both teams It was also the final game in the 21 year career of Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki who led Dallas with 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of play before leaving the court for the final time with 47 seconds remaining The win was San Antonio s third straight and combined with Oklahoma City s win over Milwaukee earned the Spurs the seventh seed in the NBA playoffs where they will face the Denver Nuggets Dallas playing the second game of an emotional home road back to back had a two game winning streak snapped and they will miss the postseason for the third straight season Trail Blazers 136 Kings 131 Rookie Anfernee Simons scored a season high 37 points to lift Portland to a come from behind victory over visiting Sacramento Skal Labissiere added 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Trail Blazers who trailed by as many as 28 points in the first half Jake Layman Meyers Leonard and Gary Trent Jr scored 19 points apiece for Portland 53 29 which gained the No 3 seed in the Western Conference and will face No 6 Oklahoma City 49 33 in the first round of the playoffs Nuggets 99 Timberwolves 95 Jamal Murray hit a go ahead 3 pointer with 31 5 seconds left and host Denver scored the final 15 points of the game to beat Minnesota to earn the No 2 seed in the Western Conference Nikola Jokic finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds and Murray scored 17 for Denver The Nuggets 54 28 will play the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points Gorgui Dieng had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Cameron Reynolds added 19 points off the bench for the short handed Timberwolves 36 46 Clippers 143 Jazz 137 OT With their respective playoff spots locked Los Angeles and Utah ended their regular seasons in overtime where the Clippers won to end a three game losing streak Montrezl Harrell scored 24 points to lead the Clippers Ivica Zubac added 22 points and 11 rebounds and Lou Williams NYSE WMB scored 15 off the bench Utah rookie Grayson Allen scored a career high 40 points and Georges Niang scored a career best 24 off the bench Thunder 127 Bucks 116 Dennis Schroder scored 32 points to help Oklahoma City earn the No 6 seed in the Western Conference with a win at Milwaukee The Bucks who had already sealed the top seed in the Eastern Conference coming into the game sat three starters Giannis Antetokounmpo Eric Bledsoe and Brook Lopez to rest them for the playoffs Milwaukee 60 22 will start the playoffs against the eighth seeded Detroit Pistons 41 41 The Thunder 49 33 will open the playoffs against the third seeded Portland Trail Blazers 53 29 Pacers 135 Hawks 134 Edmond Sumner made three free throws with 0 3 seconds remaining to lift Indiana to a road win over Atlanta in the final regular season game for both teams Atlanta finished the season with a 29 53 record while Indiana 48 34 heads into the playoffs winners of only four of its last 13 games The fifth place Pacers will oppose the fourth place Boston Celtics 49 33 in the first round of the Eastern Conference postseason Magic 122 Hornets 114 Terrence Ross came off the bench to score a season high 35 points and playoff bound Orlando ended Charlotte s season Ross scored 19 of his points in the first half when the Magic led by as many as 13 He finished 12 of 19 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3 point range Ross performance overshadowed a 43 point explosion by Charlotte s Kemba Walker in the defeat The Magic 42 40 remained the No 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with the victory and will face second seeded Toronto in the first round of the playoffs Grizzlies 132 Warriors 117 Memphis dizzied visiting Golden State in the regular season finale for both teams parlaying a remarkable 86 point first half into a shocking win The loss had no bearing on the playoff seeding for the Warriors 57 25 The two time defending champions enter the postseason as the top seed in the Western Conference and they will open the playoffs against the No 8 seed the Los Angeles Clippers who defeated the Utah Jazz 143 137 in overtime Wednesday The win allowed the Grizzlies 33 49 to avoid what would have been a second straight season of at least 50 losses Rookie Jevon Carter scored 19 of his career high 32 points in the first half when the Grizzlies ran off to an 86 68 lead 76ers 125 Bulls 109 Jonathon Simmons scored 20 points and Boban Marjanovic added 18 to lift host Philadelphia over Chicago T J McConnell tied his career high with 18 Zhaire Smith contributed 17 and Greg Monroe had 14 for the Sixers who completed their regular season with a 51 31 record and the No 3 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference The Sixers finished 31 10 at home
The Sixers were extremely short handed as numerous key players were held out for precautionary reasons as the playoffs are about to begin All Star center Joel Embiid All Star guard Ben Simmons guard JJ Redick forward Jimmy Butler and forward Tobias Harris were all held out Field Level Media |
WMB | U S economy healthy from a monetary policy perspective Fed s Williams | NEW YORK Reuters The U S economy is in a healthy place from a pure monetary policy perspective but there is more work policymakers can do to make sure growth is widely shared a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday We re closing in on the longest economic expansion on record unemployment is at historically low levels and inflation is close to our 2 percent target Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams NYSE WMB said in remarks prepared for delivery at a Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development conference in New York From a pure monetary policy perspective this is a healthy economy But I m acutely aware that not everyone is feeling the benefits of the economy s good performance
Williams said the regional central bank he runs can provide research to local community development organizations as well as push initiatives that target wage and housing inequality The speech did not deal at length with Williams views on monetary policy |
WMB | No comparing Tiger and Golden Bear says Player | By Amy Tennery AUGUSTA Ga Reuters Joe Montana or Tom Brady Serena Williams NYSE WMB or Steffi Graf there is no shortage of debate in sport over who is the greatest of all time but do not even try separating golfing icons Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus according to Gary Player Woods 14 and Nicklaus 18 have won 32 majors between them dominating their respective eras but that does not mean there is any basis for comparison Player said on Thursday After kicking off the Masters in a ceremonial first tee shot with fellow golf great Nicklaus nine times major winner Player reflected on how the game has changed and why that makes it impossible to pitch his old sparring partner against Woods How can you compare Tiger Woods to Jack Nicklaus It s not fair Let him Nicklaus play today with these greens and raked bunkers or bunkers all the same width and with a driver and a ball that goes 50 yards further Player told reporters Sam Snead was the most athletic Ben Hogan the greatest golfer tee to green and Woods is perhaps the most talented Player said But Nicklaus He had the overall game the three times Masters champion added That is not to say the South African was not giving the most recognizable player in modern golf his due If Tiger never had the problems he had which were numerous he would have won at least 20 21 majors said Player referring to Woods physical ailments I don t think there is a debate about that On Thursday Woods begins his bid for a 15th major win and fifth Masters title Everybody wants to see Tiger Woods win more majors because he moves the needle like nobody playing golf today Player said
What you saw when he won that Tour Championship the other day I don t think I ever saw excitement like that even when Arnold Palmer was at his best |
WMB | Fed Officials Signal High Hurdle to Hike as Inflation Lags | Bloomberg Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast Stephanomics Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes
Federal Reserve officials are spelling out that there are high hurdles to raising interest rates while inflation continues to undershoot their 2 percent target and risks to the economy abound
We are extremely focused at the Federal Reserve on ensuring that inflation stays anchored at 2 percent said Fed Governor Lael Brainard in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg Television s Tom Keene Lifting inflation back to target is a big concern of mine and it s going to continue to be
U S central bankers are making clear through their public statements that they are placing a significant emphasis on the price side of their dual mandate as inflation readings continue to lag despite solid U S economic growth and nearly full employment Brainard s comments was proceeded by remarks at separate events from Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida New York Fed chief John Williams NYSE WMB and St Louis s James Bullard that touched upon the tepid state of prices Clarida reinforced the message further in a CNBC interview later in the day
It is important for us to demonstrate that inflation can get back to 2 percent and stay there on a sustained basis he said adding that the Fed doesn t see the need for a rate move in either direction with the economy and monetary policy both in a good place
The threshold to hike is quite high said Priya Misra head of global rates strategy at TD Securities LLC in New York It requires better U S data better inflation removal of downside risks and better global growth
Fed officials in March forecast no rate increase this year and just one in 2020 according to their median estimate amid risks from weaker growth abroad and signs of slower U S spending in the first quarter that has cooled the U S economy That marked a pivot from their December forecast that signaled two hikes in 2019
Policy makers are also worried about external risks such as slowing European growth the potential of a disruptive Brexit and the ongoing Trump trade war according to minutes of their March meeting released Wednesday Money market traders are predicting at least some probability of a cut later this year though Fed officials have not signaled they are preparing such a move
Bullard said in Tupelo Mississippi that the central bank was in effect ending the normalization program
The Federal Open Market Committee may miss its inflation target on the low side in 2019 based on current readings of market based inflation expectations following seven years of inflation mostly below target Bullard warned
The Fed s preferred gauge of price pressures the personal consumption expenditures price index has averaged 1 5 percent since the U S expansion began June 2009 while the core measure minus food and energy has averaged 1 6 percent
We are going to be looking at the inflation data and the growth data and we are going to be taking our lead from that Clarida said earlier at a conference in Washington
The Fed No 2 said he is paying attention to so called breakeven inflation rates an indication of the rate of expected prices in the future derived from inflation indexed bonds One measure which captures inflation starting five years from now has been below 2 percent since October
Some indicators of longer term inflation expectations remain at the low end of a range that I consider consistent with our price stability mandate Clarida said
Updates with Clarida comments on importance of 2 inflation goal in fourth paragraph |
WMB | Nomination for top U S diplomat for South Asia withdrawn White House | WASHINGTON Reuters The White House said on Thursday it had withdrawn a nomination it made to the U S Senate to fill the post of America s top diplomat for South Asia a position that has remained unfilled since President Donald Trump took office in 2017
The nomination of Defense Intelligence Agency official Robert Williams NYSE WMB for the post of assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs was announced five months ago
A White House statement announcing the withdrawal did not give a reason for the move and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment
The State Department position which includes such diplomatic hot spots as Afghanistan India and Pakistan has been vacant since Nisha Desai Biswal stepped down in January 2017
Alice Wells a career foreign service officer and former U S ambassador to Jordan serves as the acting assistant secretary for South Asian affairs |
WMB | Ukrainian comedian gets serious with investors in bid for presidency | By Matthias Williams NYSE WMB and Margaryta Chornokondratenko KIEV Reuters In a popular TV series a fictional Ukrainian president gets so drunk at a dinner with the head of the International Monetary Fund that he throws her into a swimming pool He then forces bystanders to drink water from the pool thinking in his drunken stupor that it is champagne Volodymyr Zelenskiy the 41 year old comedian who played the president is now frontrunner to become Ukraine s real head of state and his campaign team is trying to assure investors he would be able to keep the country s IMF program on track Petro Poroshenko who has led Ukraine for the past five years and faces Zelenskiy in an election run off on April 21 paints his rival as a lightweight With no prior political experience Zelenskiy is an unknown quantity to investors and the stakes are high Ukraine s economy dragged down by a separatist conflict in the east is dependent on IMF assistance worth billions of dollars Zelenskiy s team has brought in two former ministers as advisers and has been meeting business leaders diplomats and IMF officials as he tries to win investors confidence One of the advisers former economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius told Reuters that Zelenskiy would preserve the central bank s independence and keep its governor Yakiv Smoliy in place if he won the run off He would also lobby a reluctant parliament to lift a moratorium on the sale of farmland and change how businesses are taxed Abromavicius said nL8N21T24Q Asked whether Zelenskiy still had a credibility gap to overcome with investors Abromavicius said It s all work in progress Of course he s new to politics He doesn t answer all the questions the way every voter wants to hear but with every day we hear more and more concrete statements he said Abromavicius who fell out with Poroshenko in 2016 said Zelenskiy was committed to keeping cooperation with the IMF on track because the IMF is an anchor of reforms in this country The IMF means macroeconomic stability Zelenskiy has met IMF officials and the two sides agreed neither wants Ukraine to be in an IMF program as such Abromavicius said but its departure depended on Ukraine being successful implementing reforms paying back debts and tapping into open markets rather than seeking IMF assistance And that of course will take some more time he said The Zelenskiy policies outlined by Abromavicius include accenting cooperation with the IMF towards fighting corruption and reform of law enforcement bodies including stripping them of their powers to investigate economic crimes RIGHT THINGS RIGHT PEOPLE Zelenskiy came top in the first round of the election on March 31 running an unorthodox campaign that relied heavily on social media and comedy shows Meeting smartly dressed businessmen and women from the American Chamber of Commerce ACC last month Zelenskiy drew comment on social media by showing up in a gray t shirt With Poroshenko the business community we pretty much feel we know what s going to happen we expect a business as usual approach said ACC President Andy Hunder We know much less about candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy Zelenskiy and his advisers conveyed the message that investors can do business with them though he was sometimes short on detail Hunder said We ve looked at Zelenskiy s program we ve asked him specific questions when we met him Hunder said The answers were quite vague he said but the message has been delivered clearly that the IMF program will continue unlike what he did to the IMF in the TV show Investors who spoke to Reuters said they had been reassured that Abromavicius and former Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk were advising Zelenskiy but they have questions about the comedian s relationship with the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky Some have asked whether a Zelenskiy presidency might help Kolomoisky win compensation for or regain ownership of PrivatBank Ukraine s largest lender The government wrested PrivatBank from Kolomoisky s control in 2016 saying billions of dollars were funneled out while he owned it Kolomoisky denies any wrongdoing Zelenskiy denies he would return PrivatBank to Kolomoisky The two men say their relationship is strictly professional based on Zelenskiy airing his shows on Kolomoisky s television channel 1 1 Damien Buchet Chief Investment Officer of the EM Total Return Strategy Finisterre Capital said Zelenskiy seems to say the right things and seems to be surrounded by the right people on the economy Whether they have the upper hand on shaping potential policy with him remains to be seen We have the Kolomoisky connection which still worries people he said Ukraine has pulled itself out of a steep recession in 2014 2015 but reforms were left unfinished in Poroshenko s first term leading to repeated delays in IMF money disbursements and foreign direct investment remained tepid Before he embarked on a political career Zelenskiy s troupe organized a social media campaign against the government s decision to raise household gas prices in October encouraging citizens to post pictures of their bills online Asked if Zelenskiy would allow gas prices to rise to market levels an IMF demand Abromavicius said the decision ultimately lay with the government and not the president He said warmer weather this spring had lowered international gas prices and might lessen the need for Ukraine to raise them On the night of the swimming pool incident in the TV series Zelenskiy s fictional president had gone on a charm offensive to persuade the IMF to allow him to defer reforms including raising the pension age and utility prices He ended up drunkenly acceding to them |
WMB | Lakers Walton mutually part ways | The Los Angeles Lakers and coach Luke Walton mutually parted ways on Friday general manager Rob Pelinka announced in a statement Walton s status had been tenuous even before Magic Johnson resigned as president of basketball operations on Tuesday Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was reportedly ready to OK a departure after previously being fully supportive of Walton We would like to thank Luke for his dedicated service over the last three years Pelinka said in a statement We wish Luke and his family the best of luck moving forward Walton compiled a 98 148 record in three seasons as coach Los Angeles missed the playoffs in all three seasons I want to thank Jeanie Buss and the Buss family for giving me the opportunity to coach the Lakers Walton said in a statement This franchise and the city will always be special to me and my family The Lakers went 37 45 this season in a disappointing first campaign of the LeBron James era Los Angeles was 20 14 when James suffered a groin injury during a Christmas Day win over the Golden State Warriors and the team s fortunes plummeted from there Walton may not be unemployed for a long period as the Sacramento Kings are reportedly interested in interviewing him for their opening The Kings went 39 43 this season and fired coach Dave Joerger They have an impressive young group led by point guard De Aaron Fox shooting guard Buddy Hield and power forward Marvin Bagley III Among the candidates for the Lakers post is former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue and Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams NYSE WMB Lue coached James for parts of three seasons in Cleveland including the franchise s 2016 NBA Finals title while Williams coached the New Orleans Pelicans for five seasons
Williams also is reported a candidate for the Sacramento job Field Level Media |
WMB | Defiant Poroshenko Ukraine s voters will choose substance over style in election | By Matthias Williams NYSE WMB and Sergiy Karazy PARIS Reuters Ukraine s leader on Friday said he was confident of turning the tables on his inexperienced opponent in the second round of the presidential election saying voters would choose a substantive program over his challenger s dangerous populism President Petro Poroshenko has been fighting for his political survival against Volodymyr Zelenskiy a comedian with no prior political experience who has a commanding poll lead as the two go into a run off on April 21 Vowing to take Ukraine into the European Union if he wins Poroshenko has sought to paint Zelenskiy as a buffoonish lightweight whose victory would push Ukraine back into Russia s orbit Poroshenko and Zelenskiy are due to hold a policy debate next Friday where Poroshenko believes he can expose his opponent s campaign as an empty package There is a rising demand for my opponent just to put his card s on the table he told Reuters in an interview on board his plane between whistle stop visits to meet leaders in Berlin and Paris I m absolutely confident that my program is better my support is strong A 53 year old confectionary magnate Poroshenko took office in 2014 after the Maidan street protests forced his Kremlin backed predecessor to flee into exile and after Russia annexed Crimea As president he secured visa free travel for Ukrainians to the EU ramped up spending for the military fighting Kremlin backed rebels helped establish a new independent Orthodox church and successfully lobbied Western countries to keep sanctions on Moscow in place But his popularity has fallen sharply amid widespread voter disillusion with Ukraine s political class Critics say he has moved too slowly on implementing reforms and fighting corruption Poroshenko has struck a contrite tone since the first round of the election apologizing for mistakes and firing some of the people he appointed to high office On Thursday he announced the launch of a special court to try corruption cases part of a flurry of activity aimed at shoring up his reform credentials ahead of the run off next week Speaking to Reuters on Friday Poroshenko stressed that his achievements from strengthening the army to passing healthcare reforms should not be overlooked It s difficult to find any sphere where reforms have not been launched Definitely if you launch reform in such a big number of spheres you make a mistake he said Poroshenko has also been an energetic campaigner for Ukrainian integration into the EU and NATO He has had more than a dozen meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel but Friday s meeting could be their last with Poroshenko in office if a survey by Ukrainian pollster Reiting is anything to go by Figures released on Thursday showed him at 24 percent compared with Zelenskiy s 61 percent On Friday Merkel and Poroshenko discussed security in war torn east Ukraine Germany promised an additional 85 million euros 96 million for the construction of homes for Ukrainians displaced inside the country by the war Poroshenko announced on Twitter on Friday Poroshenko also shared a photograph with French President Emmanuel Macron whom he met in Paris later that day But not to be outdone Zelenskiy traveled to Paris to meet Macron a few hours ahead of him Poroshenko and Zelenskiy have traded insults in public statements TV show appearances and tit for tat viral social media videos since the first round of the election on March 31 The show of rivalry culminated in them taking televised blood tests for alcohol and drug addiction Poroshenko has painted Zelenskiy as a puppet of a powerful oligarch on whose channel Zelenskiy airs his comedy shows Zelenskiy in turn has hinted at his opponent s corruption But on Friday Poroshenko said that if Zelenskiy had any proof of his wrongdoing he should go through the legal system If you have anything you should go not to the TV show but exactly to the law enforcement agency While they don t have anything this is just blah blah blah he said gesturing with his fingers If he wins a second term Poroshenko said he would push ahead with measures to tackle corruption That includes introducing a new law to criminalize officials illegally enriching themselves He also promised an overhaul of law enforcement agencies Poroshenko also wants to launch Ukraine s application for EU membership as early as 2023 One day he said he would like to fight in another election European parliamentary elections once Ukraine is an EU state
This is my dream Poroshenko said |
VZ | T Mobile Sprint face new FCC questions on tie up | By David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters T Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp executives this week urged senior U S regulators to approve the proposed tie up saying the combined company would have the incentive to slash prices according to a filing on Thursday At the meeting Wednesday Federal Communications Commission officials questioned company executives about such issues as submitted economic modeling including how it is conservative in measuring benefits and pricing constraints according to a filing with the FCC from a lawyer for the companies They also discussed their pricing commitments as well as the incentives for New T Mobile to aggressively lower prices the letter said The carriers argued that customers with prepaid phone plans would be among the biggest beneficiaries of the transaction They suggested that without the merger T Mobile and Sprint will likely have to raise prices because they will lack the capacity to keep up with growing demand for wireless data Congressional Democrats and consumer activists have objected to the 26 billion merger saying it will raise prices for wireless customers Kathleen Ham senior vice president for government affairs at T Mobile along with lawyers for both companies met with FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry and other senior officials on Wednesday to answer questions about the deal If completed the tie up of the third and fourth largest U S wireless carriers would create a carrier with 127 million customers that would be a formidable competitor to the No 1 wireless carrier Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ and No 2 AT T Inc NYSE T Last week T Mobile chief executive John Legere and Sprint executive chairman Marcelo Claure made the case for the deal to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel In February a group of eight Democratic senators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders urged the Justice Department and FCC to reject the deal saying it could boost monthly bills as much as 10 percent Sources told Reuters last week that the Justice Department had concerns about the merger s current structure Legere met last week with the head of the Justice Department s antitrust division Makan Delrahim as the government s review nears a conclusion Reuters reported A decision is likely by early June people briefed on the matter said In October shareholders for both companies approved the deal struck in April 2018 It has also received national security clearance but still needs approval from the Justice Department and FCC A number of state attorneys general are also reviewing it
To win support T Mobile had said it would not increase prices for three years and will offer 5G services at no additional charge |
XOM | Exxon Mobil Corp XOM Q4 2019 Earnings Call Transcript | ExxonMobil Corp NYSE XOM Q4 2019 Earnings CallJan 31 2020 9 30 a m ETContents
Prepared Remarks
Questions and Answers
Call Participants
Prepared Remarks
OperatorGood day everyone and welcome to this ExxonMobil Corporation Fourth Quarter 2019 Earnings Call Today s call is being recorded and at this time I d like to turn the call over to the Vice President of Investor Relations and Secretary Mr Neil Hansen Please go ahead sir Neil Hansen Vice President of Investor Relations and SecretaryThank you Good morning everyone welcome to our fourth quarter earnings call We appreciate your participation and continued interest in ExxonMobil This is Neil Hansen Vice President of Investor Relations Joining me on the call today is our Chairman and CEO Darren Woods After I cover the quarterly and full year financial and operating results Darren will provide his perspectives reflecting on 2019 and the year ahead Following Darrenn s remarks I ll be glad to address specifics on the reported results while Darren will be available to take your questions on broader themes including strategic priorities progress on major growth projects and views on market fundamentals Our comments this morning will reference the slides available on the investor section of our website I would also like to draw your attention to the cautionary statement on Slide 2 and the supplemental information at the end of this presentation I ll now highlight fourth quarter financial performance starting on Slide 3 Earnings were 5 7 billion in the quarter or 1 33 per share including a positive 0 92 per share impact from the Norway divestment and a one time tax item Results were in line with expectations taking into account the challenging price and margin environment we had previously communicated Liquids realizations were essentially flat while refining and chemical margins weakened significantly in the quarter The broader margin environment remained challenging as short term supply and demand imbalances continued to pressure natural gas prices and low Phonetic basestock margins despite modest improvement in the fourth quarter Cash flow from operations and asset sales was 9 4 billion dollars in the quarter After adjusting for changes in working capital cash flow from operations and asset sales was 11 1 billion Capex for the quarter was 8 5 billion and 31 1 billion for the full year slightly ahead of the previous projection of 30 billion with better than expected pace on the Beaumont light crude expansion and Baton Rouge polypropylene projects and of course the early start up of Liza Phase 1 in Guyana Full year PP E adds and net investments and advances a proxy for cash capex was 26 8 billion I ll now provide a more detailed view of developments since the third quarter on the next slide In the upstream liquids realizations were essentially flat while gas realizations improved slightly Production was in line with expectations with higher seasonal gas demand in Europe Liza Phase 1 achieved first oil ahead of schedule at just under five years from discovery which is significantly ahead of the industry average of nine years We also announced the 15th and 16th exploration discoveries with the Mako and Uaru wells offshore Guyana We closed the sale of our Norway non operated assets during the quarter highlighting good progress to date on our 15 billion divestment program In the Downstream refining fuels margins decreased during the quarter consistent with seasonal demand In addition weaker high sulfur fuel oil pricing did not fully reflect in crude spreads As a result low and medium conversion refinery margins weakened more than high conversion refinery margins This had a notable impact on our downstream results outside of the United States And this demonstrates the importance of strategic investments like the recently sanctioned resid upgrade project at our refinery in Singapore which will greatly improve conversion complexity Reliability in the downstream improved in the quarter largely offsetting higher scheduled maintenance Although long term fundamentals remain strong in the chemical business polyethylene margins continue to be impacted by supply length from industry capacity additions and in the fourth quarter higher naphtha feed costs With approximately 25 of our polyethylene portfolio produced from liquid feeds like naphtha this had a significant impact on our chemical business line results On the project side the recently completed Beaumont polyethylene expansion is running well and producing at 5 above design rates As part of our collaborative efforts to develop and deploy lower emissions technologies we signed a two year expanded joint development agreement with FuelCell Energy to optimize carbonate fuel cell technology for large scale carbon capture and we extended our support of the MIT Energy Initiative s low carbon research and education mission by renewing as a founding member for another five years Let s move now to Slide 5 for an overview of fourth quarter earnings relative to the third quarter Fourth quarter earnings of 5 7 billion were up 2 5 billion from the third quarter Upstream earnings increased by approximately 4 billion driven by the gain on the Norway divestment a favorable one time tax item higher volumes and improved gas realizations Downstream earnings decreased by 330 million due to lower margins and higher scheduled maintenance partly offset by improved reliability and favorable year end inventory impacts Also included in the downstream results was a sequential 450 million negative mark to market impact on derivative positions essentially offsetting the inventory effect Chemical earnings decreased by 600 million driven by weaker margins and higher expenses supporting growth projects Finally Corp Fin earnings decreased by approximately 500 million due to the absence of a favorable one time tax item in the third quarter Moving to Slide 6 Full year earnings of 14 3 billion were down 6 5 billion from 2018 Upstream earnings increased by 360 million driven by the Norway divestment and higher liquids volumes It was partly offset by lower realizations and expenses supporting growth Downstream earnings decreased by 3 7 billion due to more narrow North American differentials lower refining margins higher scheduled maintenance and the absence of the Germany retail and Augusta divestments in 2018 And again here included in the year over year results was a negative 420 million mark to market impact on derivative positions offsetting any benefits from inventory effects Chemical earnings decreased by 2 8 billion driven by weaker margins higher expenses supporting growth and the absence of a one time tax item I ll now provide more insight into the challenging 2019 price and margin environment on Slide 7 As shown here in the top left chart cyclically low prices and margins across our business lines accounted for a year over year earnings decrease of 7 5 billion All other earnings drivers netted out to a positive impact of 1 billion The chart at the bottom left of the page provides a view of commodity prices and margins over the past 10 years and the relative position of the environment we ve seen in 2019 and 2018 Now as we note here the fourth quarter saw further deterioration in prices and margins especially chemical margins with the increase in liquid feed costs While margins weakened from 2018 and remain on the low end of the 10 year range across many of our business lines it s important to note these levels are generally consistent with the scenarios we use to test our investment decisions Despite the challenging market environment long term demand fundamentals remain strong In fact growth in demand in 2019 for upstream liquids and natural gas distillate products and polyethylene was at the higher end of the compound annual growth rates experienced over the past 10 years While making investment decisions based on long term fundamentals is challenging when near term prices and margins are under pressure it provides us with the opportunity to leverage our competitive advantages including significant financial capacity It allows us to benefit from the favorable environment that occurs when others pull back and the cost of investing declines I ll now spend some time looking at the full year performance of each of our businesses in more detail starting with the upstream Volumes grew by 119 000 oil equivalent barrels per day with liquids growth of 5 driven by Permian Hebron and Kaombo Efforts to high grade our portfolio also resulted in gains on asset sales primarily from the Norway divestment and as indicated previously liquids and gas realizations also impacted earnings with declines of 8 and 17 respectively In the downstream more narrow North American crude differentials and lower margins reduced earnings by 3 billion The change in differentials shown on the upper left chart accounted for 1 7 billion of that year over year decrease Full year industry margins were 19 lower than 2018 pressured by new industry capacity additions that exceeded demand growth by 800 000 barrels a day and you can see that on the bottom left chart Regarding IMO we continued to see clean dirty product spread expand in the fourth quarter However light sweet and heavy sour crude differentials have been slow to respond with lower global supply of sour crudes strong global refining runs coming out of fall maintenance and the previously mentioned industry capacity additions The chart on the upper left of this page shows medium heavy sour crude discounts relative to Brent through 2019 While the spread has expanded recently crude discounts are not at parity with high sulfur fuel oil prices The marine fuel supply chain fundamentals are still transitioning Feed and product pricing have not reached equilibrium placing pressure on low to medium conversion margins Now we would expect this to result in fewer heavy sour crude runs ultimately leading to higher discounts and market parity As we highlighted several times over the past year scheduled maintenance in the downstream was higher than normal in part due to preparation for IMO In fact 2019 represented the highest level of scheduled maintenance for the downstream in the past 15 years This activity level decreased earnings by 700 million relative to 2018 As shown on the bottom left chart we expect 2020 scheduled maintenance to be more typical in line with our historical average Moving to Slide 11 I ll provide more perspective on the chemical margin environment and its impact on earnings Our chemical portfolio is positioned well to take advantage of low cost feed and energy costs with over half of our polyethylene capacity in North America This is balanced with our production footprint in Asia Pacific which positions us near key growth markets However the current margin environment remains challenged with excess industry capacity despite demand growth of 4 per year since 2016 Now relative to 2018 lower margins reduced chemical margins by 1 8 billion In the fourth quarter polyethylene margins were further impacted by tighter feed supply resulting in a 65 increase in the cost to produce ethylene from naphtha Key industry price spreads shown on the bottom left of the chart declined by 40 on average for the year Given our product mix this is important since these changes impacted approximately 60 of our production Now the significance of these market factors will obviously vary across the industry depending on product mix Growth related expenses unfavorable foreign exchange and the absence of a one time tax item also decreased chemical earnings by approximately 700 million I ll now provide a more detailed overview of the fourth quarter cash profile shown on Slide 12 Fourth quarter earnings when adjusted for depreciation expense and changes in working capital yielded 6 4 billion in cash flow from operating activities The 4 3 billion impact from working capital other related to non cash adjustments for the gain on the Norway divestment Fourth quarter proceeds from asset sales of 3 1 billion primarily reflects the cash received for the Norway asset sale Fourth quarter additions to PP E and net investments and advances were 7 4 billion Gross debt was largely unchanged and cash ended the quarter at 3 1 billion And with that I ll turn the call over to Darren Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerThank you Neil Good morning everyone it s great to be on the call with you today Let me start by sharing my perspective on last year beginning with margins There s no doubt that 2019 was a challenging year for a number of our businesses I think Neil s chart made that point Near or at 10 year lows on price and margins for gas refining and chemicals Fourth quarter was particularly challenging for our chemical business Of course it s important to understand what s driving this and the implications for our businesses and our investment plans As Neil said and I ll show you later the product demand that underpinned our investments in each of these sectors remain solid Depressed margins are driven by excess capacity This will be a short term impact particularly if industry pulls investments back significantly which by the way we re beginning to see We know demand will continue to grow driven by rising population economic growth and higher standards of living We know that excess capacity will shrink typically faster than people think and margins will rise Then new capacity will be needed These are the classic price cycles of capital intensitive commodity industries We believe strongly that investing in the trough of this cycle has some real advantages as the industry has pulled Phonetic back projects costs come down resulting in lower cost of capacity additions They are then available to catch the cycle upswing This is a win win capturing high margins at a lower cost The downside of course is to draw on cash which we re seeing and responding to Our organization is very focused on driving further efficiencies and looking for opportunities to optimize and pace our investment portfolio while preserving value and reducing the draw Our new projects organization and upstream business lines are giving us a good line of sight on the best options to grow value efficiently and as I ve said before we have an important advantage because of our large opportunity set It gives us optionality in these volatile markets We also have a very healthy balance sheet which was built for times like this giving us a significant advantage in maximizing medium to long term value So while we would prefer higher prices and margins we don t want to waste the opportunity that this low price environment provides which leads me to our 2019 performance Our portfolio of integrated businesses helped us and facing the short term headwinds generating 14 billion in earnings If you normalize our 2019 results for the industry s price and margin environment and look at them on the same basis we used last March at our Investor Day earnings were in line with the potential we communicated Obviously this is a theoretical exercise but a very important one We can t control the short term price environment stripping out the market impacts allows us to judge the underlying progress we re making in building a stronger business based on the longer term fundamentals This is absolutely essential for a long cycle capital intensive business In the meantime the lower price environment puts additional focus on driving efficiencies in both capital outlays and operating cost It also drives us to ensure the schedule and mix of our capital expenditures are optimized This is something our organization is very focused on In 2019 we made good progress in upgrading and focusing our asset portfolio with the divestment of our upstream Norway OBO business We re on tracks with the plans that we outlined last March with a number of additional assets in the market However I want to emphasize that this is a value play We are high grading our portfolio As higher quality opportunities come into our portfolio we evaluate other assets for long term strategic fit Moving asset out we have to find a buyer who can realize more value than we can Otherwise there is no space for a deal and we won t transact We remain very excited by our investment opportunities Even in the price environment we saw last year our investments would perform It reinforces our capital investment strategy which is invest in the long term fundamentals but test against short term lows We made good progress on our projects in 2019 and used our financial capacity to mitigate the price environment resulting in a year end leverage of 13 a level we feel very comfortable with We increased production by 119 000 oil equivalent barrels per day a 3 increase over 2018 Nearly all of this is attributable to the success we had in growing liquids which increased by 120 000 barrels per day or 5 relative to 2018 Continued ramp up in the Permian Basin was a significant driver of this growth We continue to like what we re seeing in our Permian development The organization is making very good progress on maximizing resource recovery efficiently deploying capital and optimizing production In addition we re making good progress in our logistics refinery and chemical investments that leverage Permian production giving us greater value through an integrated approach where the whole exceeded the sum of the parts We had another good year exploring with six major deepwater discoveries five in Guyana and one in Cyprus The Guyana discoveries resulted in a 2 billion barrel increase in estimated recoverable resources which now exceeds 8 billion oil equivalent barrels In fact we had four of the top 10 discoveries in the world and five out of the six largest oil discoveries In recognition of this success for the second year running ExxonMobil was named Explorer of the Year We also made progress in our work to develop new lower emissions technologies to help address the risk of climate change While renewables like wind and solar play an important role they don t solve the emissions challenge for every market geography or application deciding these new technologies that will reduce emissions while meeting the growing demand for affordable and reliable energy We re leveraging our research organization to help develop them In 2019 we signed or extended eight agreements with a variety of companies and institutions to expand research into lower emissions technologies This adds to the more than 80 collaborations we have in place across academia national labs and energy centers to scale up advanced biofuels carbon capture technology and less energy intensive manufacturing processes These efforts address sectors that account for 80 of emissions commercial transportation power generation and industrial In summary looking at the year in total I m pleased with the progress we ve made particularly in light of the challenging market conditions Almost two years ago we outlined a plan to grow the value of our Corporation robust to the price cycles inherent in our industry Two years down the road we re delivering on those plans doing what we said we would With the increased supply and corresponding drop in margins we ve increased our focus on efficiencies while we continue to optimize our investment portfolio again taking advantage of the optionality that comes with a large number of opportunities which I d like to turn to next In the upstream I ve already mentioned our success in Guyana which I ll come back to in a few moments Development of our deepwater portfolio in Brazil another key asset remains on track with exploration activities planned over the next couple of years to better quantify this high potential resource We re also making good progress in the Permian which I ll talk more about when we get to a slide later in the deck In the downstream three of our major projects are online and contributing to earnings and cash flow even in last year s challenging market These projects position us well for the growth in demand of higher value distillates and lubricant basestocks The remaining projects in our downstream portfolio progressed consistent with our plans These projects have all been tested against the margin environment we saw in 2019 and all would be earnings and cash accretive In our chemical business eight of our 13 growth facilities are online and we reached final investment decisions on another four last year which again remain attractive even when tested against the 2019 market environment Across the board we remain extremely confident in the value of our project portfolio Each project leverages our competitive advantages and is underpinned by growing demand which is shown on the next chart Demand fundamentals remain strong supported by a growing population economic expansion and higher standards of living You can see these fundamentals reflected in historic growth in demand for the energy and products that we provide including demand growth in 2019 Of course growing demand is only part of the equation In our business large capacity additions can come online and overwhelm the growth in demand for the short term which pushes margins down That s the story of 2019 and is built into the planning basis for our projects Our investment strategy builds on long term fundamentals leverages our competitive advantages and delivers projects robust to downcycles This will structurally improve ExxonMobil s capacity to generate earnings and cash flow which we laid out at last year s Investor Day This approach has resulted in our most attractive investment portfolio since the merger 20 years ago It has also generated a portfolio with an average return of 20 We ve seen no market developments over the course of 2019 that have changed this However we are using the 2019 price environment to challenge ourselves to further optimize the portfolio and drive greater efficiencies While we expect to benefit from this effort it hasn t led us to change our 2020 capex guidance Our projects remain advantaged and the economics are robust to industry price cycles Let me use our most recent start ups to demonstrate this starting in the downstream and chemical Leveraging the capabilities of our organization our scale and our technology are essential in developing industry leading projects but the benefits are only realized when executed efficiently another ExxonMobil strength You may recall that we shared a version of the chart on the left during our Investor Day The gray area represents our estimate of the net cash margin for every refinery in the world at 2019 prices The blue line represents our Rotterdam refiner prior to our recent investment Second line represents the yield improvement we executed with the first ever deployment of the process and catalyst that we developed This final line is what we actually realized after a year of run time no different than what we planned Now this would be expected for an industry standard proven technology However it s a significant accomplishment for a new to the world of technology one that significantly improved Rotterdam s earnings last year This next line shows the Antwerp margin before our coker investment Next we show the expected margin improvement assumed in the project basis Finally the actual margin improvement As you can see the project is performing better than expected in a very low margin environment The Beaumont polyethylene expansion started up ahead of schedule and is exceeding design rates by 5 while the new Baytown steam cracker and polyethylene lines are operating 10 above design rates Combined these projects contributed over 600 million in 2019 s very low margin environment When markets recover their contributions will be even more significant Bottom line of this chart we delivered these investments in line with our commitments they are meeting or exceeding expectations and are adding value in extremely challenging market conditions Let me turn to the upstream and Guyana Reaching first oil in Guyana was a major achievement for all stakeholders and is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication by the people of Guyana and our project team First oil was achieved ahead of schedule about five years faster than the average timeline for the industry and at a Industry leading development cost Liza Phase 1 will continue to ramp up production to 120 000 barrels a day over the next couple of months while Liza Phase 2 is progressing well with the start up in early 2022 in line with our commitments and at the leading edge of industry The chart on the left provides a perspective on industry cost and schedule We re continuing to work with the government toward FID of Phase 3 Payara with a targeted start up in 2023 Looking more broadly as I ve already mentioned we ve increased the estimated recoverable resource from the Stabroek block to more than 8 billion barrels an increase of 2 billion oil equivalent barrels We ve now had 16 successful wells out of 18 drilled including our recently announced discoveries at Mako and Uaru Resource size across these 16 successful wells equates to an average of more than 500 million barrels per discovery for the equivalent of a giant for each discovery We recently brought in a fourth drillship to the basin and are making plans for a fifth Significant potential remains beyond these first few phases as we move to test Kaieteur and Canje blocks to the north and East of Stabroek Increasing the scope of our exploration activity and development and appraisal drilling when costs are low relative to recent years enables us to increase the value of this substantial resource which is good news for the country and for the investors Let me turn now to another major growth play our integrated Permian development which made significant progress in 2019 again in line with our commitments Let me start by saying that we are still in the relatively early days of this development particularly in the Delaware Basin For perspective we ve developed roughly 20 of our resource in the Midland and only around 3 of our resource in the Delaware We re continuing to learn as we delineate and develop this resource Having said this we are making very good progress Production for the year increased by 120 000 oil equivalent barrels per day or nearly 80 relative to 2018 As we ve said previously our development program is driven by balancing production rates resource recovery and capital efficiency to maximize value We are seeing continued improvements in drilling and completions significantly improving cost while our Delaware well performance is at the leading edge of industry We are continuously optimizing our cube development drilling and our subsurface technology is enabling us to tailor well spacing which is resulting in higher production improved recovery and capital efficiencies Last year we made considerable investments in above ground compression separation and logistics infrastructure This not only supports the current drilling program but it is building cost efficient infrastructure for future drilling This follows the comprehensive development plan that we laid out last March and captures the capital efficiency of scale development I know that Neil Chapman and his team are excited about the potential and are looking forward to discussing the magnitude of the improvements we are seeing at our upcoming Investor Day I do you want to touch briefly on our expectations for 2020 though again we ll have more detail in March As I mentioned before the Guyana Phase 1 ramp up and Phase 2 construction will continue and we will broaden our exploration efforts as we work through the considerable undrilled potential in the basin with five additional wells planned We expect to make considerable progress in the Permian with completion of the Cowboy Central Delivery Point execution of the first large scale cube development and volumes growth of 200 000 oil equivalent barrels per day by year end We re anticipating FID for the next wave of our major growth projects including Guyana Phase 3 and Brazil We re also planning for significant exploration activity over the next two years in Brazil We begin to test the tremendous potential of our acreage position In the downstream our recent projects start ups will capitalize on the margin uplift associated with higher value products and coming off a year of significant scheduled maintenance we expect higher refinery utilization in 2020 In the chemical business we will continue to grow sales of performance products and even with the near term margin pressures we expect our recent project start ups will continue to deliver earnings and generate positive cash Across the corporation we ll maintain a sharp focus on improving our base businesses driving efficiencies and optimizing the value of our investment portfolio We ll continue to actively market less strategic assets in an effort to high grade our portfolio through value accretive divestments and of course we ll continue to leverage a key competitive advantage our financial capacity capture industry leading value across the price cycles Given the attractiveness of our organic investment opportunities this was an important advantage last year As you can see in this chart as the margins in the downstream and chemical business dropped to historic lows we utilized our financial capacity to fund projects that improved our competitiveness and positioned us to capture the eventual upswing With this our leverage increased slightly during the year but remains well below our peer group and the broader energy sector To give you a sense of our scale advantage 1 of incremental leverage equates to about 4 billion in additional debt While our financial capacity is an important advantage it is one we use very thoughtfully given the volatility of our industry and the opportunities that come with it we strive to maintain a significant buffer to preserve optionality Now before I hand it back to Neil I ll offer a few closing thoughts As we ve demonstrated over the past two years we are committed to delivering on our investment plans in high grading our asset portfolio to strengthen the earnings and cash generation of our business across a broad range of price environments We have a very rich set of investment opportunities and as we work to develop these opportunities we remain focused on optimizing total value over the long term 2019 price and margin environment we ve increased our efforts to drive further capital efficiency and optimize pace without compromising value We will remain thoughtful in utilizing our financial capacity but will take full advantage of it to capture value accretive opportunities without compromising our flexibility Finally we ll continue to focus on improving our base business and driving efficiencies across the entire corporation With that I ll hand things back to Neil Thanks for your comments Darren We ll now be happy to take any questions you might have Questions and Answers OperatorThank you Mr Hansen and Mr Woods The question and answer session will be conducted electronically Operator Instructions We ll take our first question from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs Neil Mehta Goldman Sachs AnalystGood morning and Darren again we appreciate you jumping on the call and doing these with us So I guess my first question is around the capital spend and so I think what you re signaling is is capital spend in line with the prior guidance which if I remember was 33 to 35 billion and can you just talk about the framework if the environment stays challenging especially across downstream and gas is there downward flex on that spend or is the Exxon framework that you spend through the cycle with the long term orientation Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerSo good morning Neil and thanks for your comments Yeah so as I said we have with the price environment and the cash draw really taken advantage of some of the organizational changes that we made last year We formed a corporatewide projects organization bringing together the experience and capability in that space into one organization that can then be deployed across our entire asset portfolio The upstream reorganization has given us a real good line of sight across the business one that wasn t as clear in the past with the functional organization So we re using those changes to take a real hard look at the opportunities we ve got Of course the chemicals and downstream business is doing the same thing and looking for additional efficiencies to shape that portfolio We re also looking at options to pace and to move projects around and out if we can do that without compromising the long term value that we built those projects on the basis that we built those projects on So I think there is opportunity in that space and if we continue to see very low margins and cash draw that we want to address we ve got optionality to do that we can move some things out and we can also slow down the pace in the Permian We don t want to compromise the scale of the development in the Permian so there s a balance to be struck there but we ve got optionality and I think as we go through the year to come we ll keep a real close eye on kind of how the market develops and then keep a hand on the lever to make sure that we make adjustments as we need to I think it s one of the great advantages of having a very large portfolio we ve got lots of optionality here and so I think we re comfortable with it and the one criteria is that we won t we may defer some value capture but we re not going to we don t want to eliminate or pass up any value capture Neil Mehta Goldman Sachs AnalystYeah that s very clear and then just a follow up on your comments on the Permian we were looking at the red line versus sort of the green bars if you will in the Permian slide and it s hard to extrapolate too much quarter to quarter but the production was a little bit more flat Q4 versus Q3 Is that just the timing of completions associated with the cube design and should we expect that acceleration at some point earlier this year and then just how do you think about Midland versus Delaware I think one of the comments that was made on this conference call a couple of quarters ago was that Midland is going really well but Delaware is not performing as well as you would like on the drilling side So any color there would be helpful Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerI think with respect to the first point you made around the difficulty of extrapolating from any one quarter is exactly right I think when we introduced that and Neil Chapman talked about it we said it wasn t going to be a smooth development and that we would see a lumpy progress with respect to the volumes growth So I don t I wouldn t draw a whole lot we re not we haven t seen anything in that development which would suggest anything other than continuing on that path but again it will be lumpy and I think if you look back at that red line you will see that lumpiness has been playing out historically and I think you re going to see that as you continue to go forward I think a really important point if you look at the volumes that we delivered in the Permian we re above what we said we were going to do last year at the Investor Day by about 20 000 barrels a day So that s clearly on track With respect to the Permian and the Delaware of course as I said the Delaware is much earlier in its development cycle The organization continues to learn as we re going through that development I would tell you we re making really good progress in what we re seeing there Neil did talk about the Delaware being more difficult in the Midland but I would also say again another advantage of the reorganization that we did last year and bringing kind of the best of ExxonMobil with the best of our XTO organization into this space is that we re making really really good progress with respect to that and like what we re seeing and as I said I ll tell you the guys and Neil are real real excited by the potential here and I know they are anxious to spend some time in March taking you through some of the proof points of that but I would tell you we like what we re seeing in the Delaware and while it is different than the Midland nothing to suggest that the opportunity there is not as great if not better frankly Neil Mehta Goldman Sachs AnalystThanks very much Darren Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerSure Neil thank you OperatorYour next question comes from the line of Jon Rigby with UBS Jon Rigby UBS AnalystThank you and hello Dan I just wanted to go to I think the fourth bullet point on your key messages You do flag up driving efficiencies and improving the base business and although I think a lot of the focus does fall on your investment program I mean you need to fund it and it seems to me the evidence suggests that there may have been some shortfalls in generating the earnings and cash Technical Issues base business to fund that investment Is that a fair observation It s difficult to disaggregate underlying performance from the cyclical conditions but are you able to sort of identify where there have been some unexpected shortfalls and whether there are sort of business improvement plans et cetera to go after changing that into 2020 Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah thank you Jon and good morning Just on that with respect to the shortfalls as I said in my prepared comments it s really a function of the margin environment that we ve seen out there and the the sectors that we ve invested in terms of our production capacity in the configuration of that capacity As you look around the different chemical businesses and downstream businesses what you typically see quarter on quarter and year on year and the big drivers of change in movement is how the margins vary and impact each of the configurations in the investment So as an example and as Neil Hansen mentioned we have liquids cracking in the chemical business in the quarter of the charts that he showed that clearly had an impact on the quarter and so there s a lot of structural change and as we look across the businesses that s basically what we re seeing is the spreads that have changed across both the chemical and downstream business given our configuration has impacted us That doesn t worry us particularly in fact if you go back in time in chemical that configuration was very attractive it made us really good money over a number of years We ve had some significant investments in that space here recently which has created this imbalance in supply and demand but the business is growing fast and we ll come out of that So we expect to see the chemical business and our base business returned to where it was in the past as that demand growth continues and that excess supply capacity is coming down Don t forget too in the downstream significant turnaround here last year As Neil said highest level of turnaround spend in the last 15 years So a lot of capacity was offline last year You can t overcome capacity that s shut down So this year we re back to more normal levels we should see the business return toward that So I think as you couple of that low environment with some of the growth projects that we ve got in place and the expenses that come with that you see the impact with that but beyond that I think the business is running soundly We ve always had a focus on efficiencies and becoming better operators and we find in margins in environments like this it just sharpens that focus and makes it even clearer to the organization why that is so important and so that s what I referenced I d tell you our folks are motivated to roll their sleeves up and dig deep and hard and support the growth plans that we ve got going forward I think the final point I d make there just in terms of our operations and execution you don t have to look much further than the projects and the points I ve tried to make and what we delivered across our entire portfolio that was in refining that was in chemical and that was in the upstream the things we talked about two years ago were very large projects basically delivered as we said and working as we said So that s significant and I would just again reemphasize the project in Rotterdam which was a brand new technology in process never before implemented in any refinery around the world We brought that on it came up and it is operating today exactly as designed That s a pretty astounding accomplishment that I don t think any of our competitors could make today Jon Rigby UBS AnalystRight Thank you And just a quick follow up you mentioned FIDs for Guyana and Brazil in 2020 So could we expect Mozambique as well at some point in the year Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerMozambique we re working with our partners on We re making progress with respect to that but I would think as we make progress we ll FID that when we get to the right stage I think right now we re working toward a timeline that would give us production somewhere back in 2025 something like that Jon Rigby UBS AnalystOkay Thanks a lot Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYou bet Thanks Jon OperatorNext we ll go to Doug Terreson with Evercore ISI Doug Terreson Evercore ISI AnalystGood morning everybody Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerGood morning Doug Neil Hansen Vice President of Investor Relations and SecretaryGood morning Doug Doug Terreson Evercore ISI AnalystDarren declining dispersion of returns on capital for the bigger wells suggest that competitive advantages may be converging between the different industry players over five to 10 years and on this point you guys have historically indicated and I think you did a few minutes ago I think technology and scale and integration were key advantages that differentiated ExxonMobil and will lead to value creation over longer term periods So my question is whether this premise is still as valid in your view meaning while your portfolio of opportunities is arguably the best in the peer group maybe the strongest in a long time are you still as confident as ever about the strength of your competitive advantages and the returns profile and that results will prove this over time or has it changed and if it has changed which areas are becoming more difficult to defend Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah thanks Doug I appreciate the question Obviously competition always makes this a challenging area and you ve got to continue to innovate if you want to try to maintain a premium above and beyond what the rest of competition is doing and we remain convinced that that premium will be driven by technology and technology developments and I would also tell you we re convinced that premium will be earned through our other competitive advantages I ve talked a lot about the project execution that we ve got in place I think that is a huge competitive advantage So I continue to believe that we will have returns on capital employed that are higher than our competitors driven by those advantages I think though you ve got to step back and look at that over a broader timeline If you look at where we re at today and the investments that we re making those projects are very accretive and very high returns but we re in the early stages of the capital without realizing the benefits of those and so I think as you go through time you re going to see that move in any one year but over the longer cycle you re going to see the advantages of those begin to accrue I mean look at what we re doing in Guyana and the comments I made around the discoveries an enormous amount of resources that the organization has found and are bringing on with leading edge developments That s got to drive better returns I mean the chart that we ve showed demonstrates that Look at what we re doing in the downstream business historically a low margin low return business One of the reasons why we haven t invested heavily in that business in the past is we couldn t find advantaged investments to change that yield profile With the breakthroughs that we ve had in some of our process technology work and catalyst we re now unlocking some of that as you ve seen with Rotterdam Again this technology that s giving us an upgrade in value at a capital cost much lower than what the rest of industry could achieve We re taking that same process technology into Singapore and upgrading even lower value streams to higher value product So again at a lower capital cost We re going to see those that are higher returns And if you look at the on the chemical side we re very focused and the investments we re making are all driven by performance products You start with large scale facilities you fill them initially with commodity and then you grow performance products and eventually those plants switch over to all performance products and so again a higher return So each one of the businesses we have a clear line of sight of how we gain advantage across competition and the question is when will those manifest themselves it will be one a function of where we re at in that investment versus production cycle and where the any one years Phonetic those margins are at but ultimately I don t see a change in the recipe or the dynamics that would change where we ve been historically Doug Terreson Evercore ISI AnalystOkay and then also the integrated business model has been the most productive model in the energy sector for several decades although I guess changes to competitive structure could always change that in the future So consistent with the points I think you just made about technology and execution multinational experience et cetera do you still consider the integrated model to be optimal and the one that holds the greatest potential for superior returns and shareholder outcomes and also Darren has your thinking changed any on this topic over the past several years Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerI would tell you I still believe this is an area of value and the only change in my thinking is how much more potential there is to be realized in that process I think you re aware Doug that we brought the entire organization together on the Houston campus starting in 2014 First time in the history of our company where we had all of our businesses on one location which allows those organizations to continue to explore and look for synergies and I would tell you that we re in the early stages of finding a lot of significant opportunities The projects organization is a great example of that First time in our history that we had our upstream chemical and our downstream projects organization together and a lot of opportunities to take advantage of each of the strengths of those organizations applied to the other parts of the organization So we like what we re seeing there I d tell you if you want to look to a concrete example of what integration has brought to the company look no further than the logistics that we started investing in to connect our upstream developments with our downstream and chemical assets In 2018 as the differentials opened up we made 1 8 billion on that disconnect which I think only an integrated company could capture and that comes and goes and as we talked about in 2019 those differentials weren t there but we anticipate that there ll be back and the final point I would make with integration if you look at what we re doing in the Permian and the investments that we re making in chemical and refining those are geared toward the barrels coming out of the Permian and some of the opportunities we see with those barrels That would have been hard to do if we were a stand alone downstream company or a stand alone upstream company Only having both of those and being able to understand what s happening in each of those areas that you can find some unique value So I m convinced we have a lot more advantages to bring to the table that over time begin to manifest themselves as we continue to exercise the organizations that we ve put in place down at the campus Doug Terreson Evercore ISI AnalystYeah it sounds like the case is as strong as ever at least for you guys and thanks again for joining us Darren Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYou bet Doug Nice talking with you OperatorNext we ll go to Roger Read with Wells Fargo Roger Read Wells Fargo AnalystYeah thank you Good morning and welcome to the call Darren Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerGood morning Roger Read Wells Fargo AnalystI guess so much of what we ve heard from Exxon and from some of your peers is it s definitely an unfavorable call it I guess generally cyclical downturn here across all the various pieces but the one area I was kind of curious about and is as weak as anything else seems to be on the global gas side you re one of the major players in the LNG markets you ve got several different locations where you re looking to expand over the next couple of years I was just curious how you see that sort of playing its way out and whether or not there are any issues on the demand side there Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah I would you look at I think separate out maybe the LNG business with domestic gas business so have some slightly different dynamics associated with them Overall continuing to see a very good growth in the gas business LNG I think we re seeing and projecting about 4 growth annual growth in LNG I think both stories both domestic and LNG is again it s very similar to the discussions that we re having in the downstream and chemicals which is fairly solid and good growth but we re seeing short term oversupply and therefore lower margins and our expectation is that that demand will continue to grow in part driven by concerns of climate change in replacing coal for gas but also just as economies grow and people s standards of living grow and more power is needed gas is a very reliable and secure source of supply for power generation So I think that dynamic is going to continue to happen I think the LNG oversupply over time will work itself out and I think investments in that space will probably slow and eventually the demand will catch up to the supply and things will improve Again it s the same dynamic of capital intensive long cycle investments and as those come on to the market adjusts and compared to demand it just takes some time for those two to reach in balance Phonetic but you typically see that and I don t think that dynamic is going to change That s why of course we re very focused as we look at these investments of making sure that as you look across the global supply curve that we are on the left hand side of the cost of supply curve that the projects that we re investing in will have advantages and be lower cost than the broader industry and competition so that as that oversupply impacts margins we re on that left hand side and can still see advantages to having those investments the same dynamic that I ve talked about in our downstream and chemical investments the large investments that we ve brought online and yet we are making money in bottom of cycle conditions why Because they were advantaged and we wouldn t invest in those until we found a way to get them advantaged Same is true in the LNG business Roger Read Wells Fargo AnalystGreat thanks and then kind of along the lines of some of the other things you ve talked about on potential for deferring capex if needed to keep things in balance As we think about the dividend growth and I know you can t give us the number whatever it goes to the Board but how should we think about dividend growth in a kind of cash flow constrained environment with the larger commitment here to the capex side Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerWell I think as I ve talked about before as we look at the business from a macro standpoint in allocation of capital We start with in order for this business to maintain a long term value proposition we have to continue to invest and we have to continue to develop projects and opportunities that are advantaged versus industry So that s a priority making sure that we invest in this capital too and certainly in the upstream to offset the depletion that we know occurs in both the crude and gas side of the house and in the downstream making sure that we are using technology to improve the yields as society s demand patterns change and those yield profiles change on a barrel of crude and then in chemical is to keep up with the pace of high performance products that meet the needs of growing economies and populations where the standards of living are improving And so that s kind of job number one and we got to make sure that we continue to do that to keep pace and to have a long kind of prosperous business as we look into the future We also feel very firmly that we ve got a commitment with our shareholders to provide a reliable and growing dividend So we would continue to look to do that and ride through these price cycles Given the strength of the long term fundamentals we think that s an appropriate thing to do and so we would look to continue that trend of steady and reliable growth And then of course is maintaining the balance sheet and our financial capacity with where it needs to be to ride through these cycles and to take advantage of the opportunities that we see in the down cycles and then to also mitigate and manage the volatility that we ve seen and recently experienced So that s kind of as we think about it the primary criteria for how we use cash and at the end of the day we narrow Phonetic that criteria and we ve got additional cash and then we go into buybacks and return excess cash to the shareholders That s been the model for a long time and I would tell you that that model remains pretty effective as we think about what we need to do in this business Roger Read Wells Fargo AnalystThank you Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerThank you OperatorNext we ll go to Phil Gresh with JP Morgan Phil Gresh JP Morgan AnalystHi Darren thanks for taking my question So as we look at where you are on the asset sale plan you talked about 15 billion over over years 25 billion longer term There has been some reports out talking about maybe the plan is moving faster than that in terms of the three year plan So I just want to get your latest thoughts as to relative to the risks of plan that you laid out there how you re feeling about that now and in terms of if it does come in better is the first use of asset sale proceeds basically going to be to fund any dividend coverage gap to this investment phase if we re at the bottom of the cycle here again in 2020 or to your point on buybacks is that even in the cards in that type of scenario Thanks Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerSure Phil Good morning to you I would tell you as we introduce the divestment program and Neil Chapman talked about that last year we always said it was a risk program and the intention was to put we would have more assets out because we didn t expect to transact on all of those opportunities and so I think the reports that you re seeing reflect the fact that there are we are looking we ve got a number of assets out in the marketplace today Again we don t expect to transact on all of those and so we ve made some risking in judgment and whether or not we exceed the numbers that we ve talked about or in fact fall below this will be a function of the buyers and the deal space we find with those buyers Clearly last year we found an opportunity where a buyer had saw a higher value than we thought we could realize with our Norway assets that resulted in a transaction I think a win win for both of us If we find more of those more than we have anticipated then I think we ll be above On the other hand we ve had deals that we ve worked and couldn t find the deal space and didn t transact and that was the point I m trying to make in my comments this is really around a portfolio of high grade and the only way I can convince myself that we re upgrading the portfolio is if we realize a value for an asset that s higher than what we think we can realize by keeping it in our portfolio And so I would just tell you how fast that goes and how far we go is really going to be a function of the buyers and the opportunities that we find and we re going to look at it that way I m not while we try to estimate what we think we ll bring in I m not going to sacrifice the value proposition to hit any particular number and I m not going to pace it you know I m not going to worry about the pacing as much as I am around the value proposition associated with it And then with respect to the proceeds as I mentioned when we rolled this out it s all really a function of the broader environment If we see margins improve in our businesses if we see prices rise in the upstream and we bring in more revenue we ll look at those balances We certainly want to keep our projects funded We re going to continue to grow reliable dividend So those are going to be the first calls on that cash and then we re going to make sure that we keep the balance sheet whole and where we need it to be And so I think those will be the priorities and at the end of the day we ll see where we re at with that and make decisions on buyback after it Phil Gresh JP Morgan AnalystSure Okay Second question just I think probably the standard one we ask every quarter but just it seems like the energy sector valuations continue to deteriorate here at least for the public companies we re looking at on our screen So from your perspective is this an environment where you think valuations are getting more compelling to you in terms of potential M A opportunities or just how do you think about that today Thanks Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah thanks Phil I think you know well first I would say I believe that the highest value opportunities are the ones that you can generate organically because almost by definition you re not paying a premium for them and so I think we ve got a really attractive portfolio that we ve talked about and that s what anything that we do has to compete against is those organic opportunities and so that s my starting point and then we look to see if there are opportunities out there that we can transact on that compete or are better than those organic opportunities and while the short term market fluctuations are moving around and you see that valuation change obviously the ability to capture that will be a function of people who are in the market selling and their longer term views of their business and whether or not what position they are in and whether they are forced to take the current valuations or whether they think longer term and look at the value somewhat differently So I think again it s kind of a difficult to talk about generically it will be a very specific case by case basis We just as we re active in the divestment side of the house and have got assets that are out there marketing we keep a very firm finger on the pulse of the industry and the opportunities and keep our eyes open for opportunities that could bring additional value to the company Phil Gresh JP Morgan AnalystOkay thanks Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerGood talking to you Phil OperatorAnd next we ll go to Biraj Borkhataria with RBC Biraj Borkhataria RBC AnalystHi thanks for taking my question I have a question going back to the financial capacity The numbers you referenced in your chart I think were net debt to market cap What we normally kind of look at is either net debt to capital employed or net debt to cash flow When you think about the capital employed number or the equity I guess investors need to be confident in the value of equity and what we ve seen in the last year or so a number of your peers announced impairments due to lower price decks so could you are you willing to share what price deck you re using for oil and gas to test for impairments That would be my first question Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah thanks Biraj We don t typically put out a price deck and I wouldn t I don t have any desire to kind of start doing that Let me maybe tell you a little bit about how we think about pricing going forward and the first thing I would say is I don t think any of our peers and certainly within ExxonMobil we feel like we can predict prices I think there are just way too many variables involved too many developments that occur over time to really I think get firm handle on where short term prices are going to go What we do do though is looking forward in the future we start with kind of building up what I would say is a very fundamental approach to what will drive oil and gas demand which comes back to economic growth and policies and all of those assumptions and how we think about how the world will evolve with respect to our industry we publish in our energy outlook So if you re interested in understanding what s driving our pricing assumptions I would start with our energy outlook because that forms the basis of everything that we do with respect to how we think about the future and how we make investment decisions Again since that s our basis and then since our business is commodity we continue to believe that in the medium to long term that market prices will be set by the marginal the cost and return criteria of the marginal barrel that s needed to meet that demand and so it s classic economics supply and demand marginal producer sets the market price We try to take a kind of a high level view of that What will be the resources that come on and meet that last barrel of demand and that is the view that we take around what will kind of be the price setting mechanisms in the market and of course that evolves over time and that s what sets generally our price outlook is the economic and the demand side of the equation including advances in technology including additional regulations and policy around the world and then we look at where technology could go and what supply sources will come on and what will set the kind of the cost of supply and then set our pricing When we finish that exercise we step back and compare our view with other published views third party reviews and check for reasonableness to the extent that other companies publish their numbers we look and compare to make sure that our estimates at least appear reasonable and generally they are always within the range maybe perhaps on the low side of what we typically see out there but that s how we do it and you can imagine that process does not lead to huge changes year on year simply because the fundamentals that I referred to don t dramatically change year on year They do evolve obviously Certainly if you think about the tight gas or the shale revolution that was an evolving and developing story and that obviously had impacts on the marginal tiers of supply which had impacts on pricing but that has been kind of an evolution that s been built into the price deck over the years and is pretty constant now So that s how we do it and that s how we think about it and then we make our investment decisions based on that and then test really on the low side and the high side to make sure that the investments that we re putting in place are robust to cycles that we know we re going to see Biraj Borkhataria RBC AnalystOkay noted The second question I just wonder if you could give us an update on Papua New Guinea There were some articles this morning about negotiations with the government not going according to plan for the expansions Can you just update us on where that project is and what that means for the FID Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerSure let me just start with maybe the bigger picture of Papua New Guinea Obviously we re the operator of the PNG LNG project which was a 19 billion project It s brought employment to about 3 200 people in Papua New Guinea Since 2010 we ve spent about over 4 billion on Papua New Guinean services including about 2 billion spent with the landowner companies We ve invested almost 300 million in community and infrastructure programs focused on education health women s empowerment a number of other areas So the established business that we have there I think has been a real benefit to Papua New Guinea and obviously a benefit for us We re looking at this expansion and we re looking at bringing in the Papua project with Total along with P Nyang and have been in negotiations with the government We re disappointed here recently that we weren t able to reach agreement with the government on P Nyang but we re very hopeful that those discussions can move forward and continue I think from our perspective we ve got to find a way to get to a win win proposition We ve got a big portfolio of opportunities as I ve been referring to here this morning and anything that we decide to FID and move forward has to compete within that portfolio So that s the basis on which we re looking at this negotiation and working with the government It needs to be a win win I think we ll continue to try to establish that with the government but I also think we ve got some time given all the other opportunities in front of us and frankly given where we re at today in the supply demand balance of LNG I think we can we ve got time to work it with the government and I m hopeful and I m fairly confident that at some point we ll find a way forward with them Biraj Borkhataria RBC AnalystThat s very helpful Thank you OperatorYour next question comes from the line of Jeanine Wai with Barclays Jeanine Wai Barclays AnalystHi good morning everyone Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerGood morning Jeanine Neil Hansen Vice President of Investor Relations and SecretaryGood morning Jeanine Jeanine Wai Barclays AnalystSo I guess my first question is on the Permian and its dovetailing off of Neil s question and then specifically on the rig count so can you provide a little more color on how operations are going and if there is any change in the number of rigs you see required to make the million barrels a day that you laid out earlier So when we look at the data the rig count has been trending flat to down over the past six months and I know that the rig counts can be pretty deceiving given improving efficiencies and all but have you encountered anything unexpected in particular we re referring to the subsurface in the Delaware Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah let me I ll talk high level First of all I m not a big believer in extrapolating rig counts into kind of what we re doing in the business and the approach that we re taking and the progress we re making in the development I think it s a fairly crude measure particularly for the work that we ve been doing there As you recall what we laid out in the Permian and particularly in the Delaware was a large scale approach which was unique to industry that leverages the scale that we have as a corporation leverages the technology some of the resources that we have within the company and we have been developing the tools to model and develop that resource that we think is pretty unique in the industry We ve used a lot of rigs to help delineate what we re doing in that space and as we collect that information build those models and optimize I think you re going to see movements around what we re doing there So I would not again take too much draw too many conclusions from strictly speaking the rig count With respect to that work that we ve been doing as I mentioned in my prepared comments we feel really good about the progress that we re making and are seeing significant improvements in the initial production across 365 days and longer We like what we re seeing with the recovery rates We like what we re seeing with the D C costs and those are coming down and we like what we see around some of the well performance particularly in the Delaware I think if you look at the results that we re getting we re leading industry I think it s fair to say So good progress there and it s just really a question of how we want to continue going forward and pace that and I know that Neil and his team are looking at that in light of the environments that we ve come out of in 2019 and when we get to March I think the folks will spend some time kind of sharing some of the proof points some of the data with you to help you get a better picture of that and then we ll talk more about kind of how we see the path going forward here but bottom line the potential of that and the value propositions that we ve talked about haven t changed if anything we like it better Jeanine Wai Barclays AnalystOkay great that s really helpful Thank you And then just switching gears here quickly As far as the light sweet heavy sour spreads being slower than expected to adjust and the crude discounts maybe not being at full parity with the product pricing you indicated in your prepared remarks that ultimately you expect these issues to improve or reverse And so my question is could this be a potential tailwind for as early as 1Q and any additional comments you have on just timing and how you see that developing would be really helpful Thank you Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerSure I don t when you say its developing slower than predicted I don t know that we ever had a real firm prediction on how this is going to play out The markets have got a lot of variables that go into it This was a known event that was going to happen and so a lot of different players a very fragmented market lots of different actions with storage and inventory and so I think really difficult to predict exactly how all those variables and all those independent actions come together and results in what we re seeing in the marketplace I can tell you what you see is explainable You can certainly put a rationale behind how long it takes to play out and get back to what we think eventually will be more market parity I think it s really a function of where the different inventories and how people are choosing to optimize around the new requirements with respect IMO The reason why we re convinced that eventually we ll get back to parity is because the fundamentals associated with IMO are pretty clear and the kind of the economics of refining aren t real hard to figure out As you ve taken sulfur out and the valuation of high sulfur feedstocks and products have dropped down that s got to make itself back into the crude and crudes that are higher sulfur and heavier they re producing more of those lower value products ultimately have to reflect the fact that their product the yield profile of that barrel of crude is less attractive So I think that s a pretty foundational element of crude markets in refining and eventually those will hold And then in the short term depending on the different actions that folks have taken and what their position is and what moves it did earlier and what inventories look like it s going to take time to work itself out I would tell you from our perspective we manage this based on the longer term fundamentals We made investments based on the longer term fundamentals We didn t make any investments that assumed credit for this transition and the benefits that might come along with it given a particular investment we just recognized it would come but the decisions that were made were based on more of the longer term fundamentals Jeanine Wai Barclays AnalystOkay very helpful thank you very much Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerThank you Jeanine Neil Hansen Vice President of Investor Relations and SecretaryAnd operator I think we have time for one more question OperatorRight we ll take that question from Ryan Todd with Simmons Energy Ryan Todd Simmons Energy AnalystThanks Maybe a quick follow up on some of your comments earlier on the LNG markets are you seeing can you comment on whether you re seeing any pressure on existing or currently negotiated contracts and also some of your European peers have been successful in offsetting at least some of the ongoing price weakness and the medium term price weakness via active portfolio trading globally I believe you ve looked to increase those capabilities across your organization globally Can you maybe talk about progress in that direction and how you may be able to mitigate medium term weakness in global LNG prices Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah Thanks Ryan I think you re right Your observations are pretty solid in terms of there are opportunities with portfolio trading to try to mitigate some of that shorter term weakness and I think as you look at the markets you see the market is kind of slowly evolving along those lines At the same time a lot of the buyers in LNG market are interested in ensuring long term deliveries and surety of supply and so there is still a desire for the longer term contracts as new projects are FIDed and developed often times a financing requires secured outlets and terms on that So there are a lot of underlying dynamics that keep what I would say is the more traditional longer term transactions in place And so while I think the markets will continue to develop and there ll be more trading on top of that I think they will still be a layer of what I would say is the historical approach to LNG and that will be a very slow moving transition over time With respect to the LNG trading that we have it s been widely reported and I ve talked about it the last time I was on We have begun looking and moving more into some of the trading as that market evolves but our intention is to kind of evolve with the needs of the market and that will just become a the bigger piece of our business as that becomes a bigger piece of the market and more relevant to the market Ryan Todd Simmons Energy AnalystOkay Perfect thanks And then maybe one quick follow up on chemicals Obviously it s been a tough environment and you talked about the eventual rebalancing from a supply demand point of view Can you talk about I guess as we look over the next 12 months to 18 months what you see maybe in terms of some of the market dynamics and the recovery from that point of view and you highlight in your presentation growth related expenses of 160 million at least on a delta basis in the quarter You have a pretty active growth program any help on maybe the direction of magnitude of those growth related expenses going forward Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerYeah sure I think so let me start with your last point around growth related expenses I mean obviously as large capital projects or large manufacturing investments as you progress those there are costs that come along with them I think you can think about those growth related costs in three basic buckets The first is as you bring on new investments so the steam crackers that we brought the polyethylene lines that we brought on those different investments that are up and running obviously there are costs associated with those new investments and as we first bring those up we categorize those as growth expenses because they are new facilities and we want to make sure as we look at those we think about those different than what the basic expenses are since we are driving base cost down We ve got at same time recognize that more costs will come in from operating new facilities So that s one bucket Other projects that are in construction So as an example our cracker in Corpus Christi area there are expenses associated with in progress projects which is another bucket to think about with growth That s oftentimes not as large because a lot of the costs associated with that development gets capitalized but there are expenses to go along with it So that s within the bucket and then the third growth expense is as we look at further into the future and look at opportunities and project teams are working the next project to fill the pipeline further out that s a growth expense and so in the chemical business is that s how you should think about those growth expenses and obviously we keep a pretty close eye on those and are making sure that as we grow we re growing as efficiently as possible but also recognize that activity has to be funded and therefore recognize and accept those expenses With respect to the when the cycle and how we see things playing itself out It s really a function of where growth goes I mentioned really strong growth in the polyethylene business the polypropylene business We continue to see that that to see We have to see how the world economies evolve here China obviously has got some challenges here in the short term that may manifest themselves in the quarter So difficult to see how long and what impact that will have on and where China goes that s obviously a big player in the chemical business Our perspective is while we re interested and try to look at where that cycle how long that cycle is going to last and where it goes to we recognize we don t control it and so focusing on the things that we can do to make sure that as we are in that down cycle that we re successful by making sure we re running efficiently keeping our cost down really ensuring that all of our production on the margin is profitable is what the organization is focused on I think this year will continue to be a challenging year for our chemical business but I think as we get in the year further out we ll start to see some things improve and then it s just the slope of that improvement will be a function of a lot of different things that frankly it s hard to predict that far out I ll come back to you though we know these cycles are going to happen and we know it s the impact on our business is driven by the the sectors that we ve chosen to invest in and market in If you go back in time those decisions have proven to be very beneficial to the company and in fact one of the reasons we find the margins where they are is because that s attracted a lot of additional investment Growth will take us out of that and it s just a function of while we re waiting for that growth to catch up and exceed that capacity we got to make sure that we re managing this business as tightly as we can so that we can stay as profitable as we can Ryan Todd Simmons Energy AnalystAll right thank you Darren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerAll right thank you for your time and thoughtful questions this morning We appreciate you allowing us the opportunity to highlight our fourth quarter and full year that included a number of key milestones and continued progress across our portfolio and we look forward to seeing everyone on March 5th at our Investor Day in New York We appreciate your interest and hope you enjoy the rest of your day Thank you Operator Operator Closing Remarks Duration 86 minutesCall participants Neil Hansen Vice President of Investor Relations and SecretaryDarren W Woods Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerNeil Mehta Goldman Sachs AnalystJon Rigby UBS AnalystDoug Terreson Evercore ISI AnalystRoger Read Wells Fargo AnalystPhil Gresh JP Morgan AnalystBiraj Borkhataria RBC AnalystJeanine Wai Barclays AnalystRyan Todd Simmons Energy Analyst
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XOM | Oil majors request more Mozambique troops after Islamist attacks sources | By Emma Rumney and Bate Felix
JOHANNESBURG PARIS Reuters Exxon Mobil Corp N XOM and Total PA TOTF have asked Mozambique to send more troops to guard their operations in the far north after a surge of attacks by Islamist militants an industry source and two security consultants said
Mozambique s northern province of Cabo Delgado is home to one of the world s biggest gas finds in the past decade and both oil majors are working on massive LNG projects that could transform the economy
The area is also the center of an Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds since 2017 Fighters have destroyed villages clashed with soldiers and often beheaded captives
The three sources said that the companies were negotiating with the government to try to increase the number of soldiers protecting their operations
One of the security consultants said there were around 500 troops in the region and the companies wanted another 300 An industry source with knowledge of the situation and another security consultant said more security had been requested but did not provide numbers
Exxon said it did not comment on discussions with the government and referred Reuters to Mozambique s Ministry of National Defence
Mozambique s government communications department did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment outside usual business hours while calls to the department and ministry of defense went unanswered
Total declined to comment on whether it had requested an increase in troops but said the safety of its employees was paramount
We continue to monitor conditions closely and work with the relevant authorities and other stakeholders to provide a safe and secure working environment for our workforce and local communities it said it a statement
The militants called themselves Ahlu Sunnah Wa Jama when they started launching attacks in 2017 More recently Islamic State has claimed responsibility via its media outlets though there has been no independent confirmation of a link
The fighters who tout their brand of Islam as an antidote to what they describe as a corrupt ruling elite have been stepping up operations in Cabo Delgado analysts say
There are concerns they might also be moving south after an assault in the district of Quissanga last week
One of the security consultants said the oil and gas companies were no longer satisfied with the security provided and were requesting more support in response to a changing threat |
XOM | Exxon Baytown refinery union workers reject contract offer sources | HOUSTON Reuters Union workers at Exxon Mobil Corp s N XOM Baytown Texas refinery rejected a contract extension in voting completed on Friday said sources familiar with the vote Members of the United Steelworkers USW local 13 2001 in the refinery and laboratory voted down the three year extension because it included a 6 month expansion of the current four year period that starting workers must wait before their pay reaches parity with veteran hourly employees the sources said An Exxon spokesman was not available on Sunday night USW representatives were also unavailable USW represented workers in the adjoining Exxon Baytown chemical plant accepted the extension according to the sources The refinery and lab were unwilling to sell out future new hires for a 2 000 one time lump sum bonus said one of the sources It would have cost new hires a lot of money over the course of their career The contract proposal would raise pay by 3 5 in the first year and 4 in the second year In the third year the increase would match the pay hike in the new national agreement the USW will negotiate for oil industry workers with energy companies in January 2022 according to the sources The current contract for workers at the Exxon Baytown refinery and laboratory expires on May 15
The 560 500 barrel per day Baytown refinery is Exxon s largest in the United States |
WMB | Williamson wins Naismith player of year honor | Duke forward Zion Williamson continued his collection of accolades on Sunday when he won the 2019 Citizen Naismith Trophy as the top college basketball in the country the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced during a press conference in Minneapolis Williamson is the third freshman to win the honor joining Kevin Durant of Texas in 2007 and Anthony Davis of Kentucky in 2012 The other three finalists were Gonzaga junior forward Rui Hachimura Tennessee junior forward Grant Williams NYSE WMB and Murray State sophomore point guard Ja Morant Williamson won the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Associated Press Player of the Year honors on Friday He also was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Williamson averaged 22 6 points 8 9 rebounds 2 1 assists and 1 8 blocks per game Williamson is the eighth Duke player to win the prestigious award I want to thank the Citizen Naismith Trophy committee for selecting me as the Player of the Year It is truly an honor to receive this and join such an elite list of former Blue Devils to have also won the award Williamson said in a statement There were so many great players who could have won this award this year I can t thank my teammates coaches and family enough for helping me This is a team award and it s an honor for me to accept this on behalf of my brothers Williamson led Duke to a 32 6 record The Blue Devils advanced to the Elite Eight where they lost to Michigan State Zion is absolutely deserving of this year s Citizen Naismith Trophy He handled himself with such class and humility this season especially given what he accomplished both individually and with his team Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement Zion is a great representative of the game and is a pleasure to coach Duke has a long history of Naismith winners and Zion certainly belongs in that elite company
Duke s most recent Naismith winner was JJ Redick in 2006 The other Blue Devils to earn the honor are Jason Williams 2002 Shane Battier 2001 Elton Brand 1999 Christian Laettner 1992 Danny Ferry 1989 and Johnny Dawkins 1986 Williamson is expected to declare for the NBA draft and is projected to be the No 1 overall pick Field Level Media |
WMB | Tennessee s Barnes wins Naismith coaching honor | Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was named the winner of the Naismith Coach of the Year Award the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Sunday during a press conference in Minneapolis Barnes is the first Tennessee men s coach to win the award Legendary women s coach Pat Summitt won it five times Barnes was selected over Texas Tech s Chris Beard Virginia s Tony Bennett and Houston s Kelvin Sampson To say the least I m honored I m humbled really Barnes said in a statement When you re able to receive an award like the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year you know it goes to your players and your assistant coaches Barnes guided the Volunteers to a 31 6 mark matching the school record for victories Tennessee notched a school record 19 straight wins during a season in which it reached the Sweet 16 before losing in overtime to Purdue
The Volunteers also spent four weeks at No 1 during the campaign That made Barnes only the sixth coach to lead multiple programs to the top spot joining John Calipari Frank McGuire Rick Pitino Eddie Sutton and Roy Williams NYSE WMB Barnes had Texas at No 1 for two weeks in January 2010 Field Level Media |
WMB | Southern Roots | Ben Hunt author of Epsilon Theory joins Real Vision s Grant Williams NYSE WMB to discuss what attracted him to the financial world and how his roots in Huntsville Alabama helped to develop his investment philosophy This video is excerpted from a piece published on Real Vision on July 27 2018 Watch more at |
WMB | Murray meeting again with Cardinals report | Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray reportedly headed to Phoenix on Tuesday for another meeting with the Arizona Cardinals who hold the No 1 pick in this month s draft The NFL Network reported that the former Oklahoma quarterback and his agent are visiting the team on Wednesday Murray previously met with the Cardinals at the NFL Combine and again last month at his campus workout in Norman Okla Murray s agent Erik Burkhardt also represents Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury Arizona has met with other potential top picks including Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa and Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams NYSE WMB
Murray passed for 4 361 yards and 42 touchdowns and rushed for 1 001 yards and 12 touchdowns in 14 games last season for the Sooners Field Level Media |
WMB | Tennessee s Williams testing NBA draft process | Two time SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams NYSE WMB announced Tuesday that he is entering the NBA draft but will remain open to returning to school for his senior season The 6 foot 7 Williams said he will go through the process and make a decision at a later date about whether to stay in the draft He has until May 29 to make up his mind My whole thing is I want to go into the process with an open mind and understand what I need to improve on and what I need to get better at while also understanding I have to make the most informed decision possible Williams said during a press conference If it is the right time then it is the right time It is just a matter of going into it with the mindset that I m going into it to improve myself Williams averaged 18 8 points and 7 5 rebounds this season while earning first team All American honors The Volunteers 31 6 matched the school record for victories and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to Purdue Williams allows that there is unfinished business No doubt There s always that thought process of there s more that we can do more that we can accomplish Williams said That s something that is always going to be in your mind throughout the process no matter what is going on You have to understand that it s a win win If you come back there s a lot more you can do as a team and individually in the future it can be a win in that aspect as well Williams decision to test the NBA waters comes one day after coach Rick Barnes decided to turn down overtures from UCLA to remain at Tennessee I talked to him three or four times Williams said of Barnes I reached out to him and he reached out to me I let him know I trusted him because he is a guy who had never been about himself it has never been about money It has never been about anything of that sort It has been about how he can impact people s lives I know that Coach Barnes his goal is he wants a championship In order to make that happen he knows he can do it here He knew he could do it wherever he went I think being here at the University of Tennessee is something that helps him be comfortable
Tennessee point guard Jordan Bone also recently entered the draft He also is open to returning to the Volunteers Field Level Media |
WMB | Airbnb reverses on delisting Israeli settlements won t profit off West Bank | By Dan Williams NYSE WMB and Brendan Pierson JERUSALEM NEW YORK Reuters Airbnb said on Tuesday it would not implement a planned delisting of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and would donate proceeds from any bookings in the territory to international humanitarian aid organizations Heeding calls from Palestinians who want the West Bank for a future state Airbnb had said in November it would remove the listings of some 200 settlement homes That decision was deplored by Israel and challenged in some U S jurisdictions Announcing a resolution of lawsuits brought against it Airbnb said it will not move forward with implementing the removal of listings in the West Bank from the platform But Airbnb will take no profits from this activity in the region said a statement posted on the company website implying the new policy would not distinguish between settlement listings and Palestinian listings in the West Bank Any profits generated for Airbnb will be donated to non profit organizations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world There was no immediate reaction from Israeli or Palestinian officials Most world powers view Israel s construction of settlements on occupied land as a violation of international law and Palestinians say it is wrong for companies to profit from them Airbnb s disappointing decision appears to reverse their stance to fully respect rights Human Rights Watch said in a statement By continuing to do business in settlements they remain complicit in the abuses settlements trigger Airbnb was sued over its proposed delisting of West Bank apartments last November in Jerusalem District Court and separately in a U S federal courts in Delaware and California The Israeli lawsuit a class action accused the company of outrageous discrimination and demanded monetary damages The Delaware lawsuit accused Airbnb of violating U S housing discrimination law by redlining Jewish owned properties while letting Muslims and Christians continue to use the company s service The California lawsuit made similar claims The Shurat HaDin Law Center in Israel which was involved in the U S lawsuit against Airbnb called the company s about face a powerful defeat for the anti Israel boycott movement The policy Airbnb announced last November was abject discrimination against Jewish users of the website Nitsana Darshan Leitner one of the lawyers in the U S case said in a statement We commend Airbnb for recognizing that it had landed on the wrong side of this issue and changing the policy Lawyers for the California plaintiffs could not immediately be reached
Airbnb has denied that its West Bank delisting plan had targeted Israel in general Airbnb has never boycotted Israel Israeli businesses or the more than 20 000 Israeli hosts who are active on the Airbnb platform the company statement said |
WMB | Draft notebook SEC stars Washington Williams enter draft | Kentucky standout sophomore PJ Washington declared for the NBA draft on Tuesday and will hire an agent the school announced This place has been my home for two years and it s hard for me to put in words how much I ve grown in my time at Kentucky The staff challenged me from day one to become the best version of myself and to work hard to become one of the best players in college basketball I feel like I ve done that Washington said in a statement posted on the Wildcats website The 6 foot 8 forward ends his career with 932 points 476 rebounds 120 assists and 74 blocks He led the Wildcats in scoring 15 2 and rebounding 7 5 in the 2018 19 season He also posted nine double doubles and shot 52 2 percent from the floor including 42 3 percent from the 3 point line Washington earned first team All SEC and third team All America honors He is projected to be a mid first round pick by ESPN Two time SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams NYSE WMB said he is entering the NBA draft but will remain open to returning to school for his senior season My whole thing is I want to go into the process with an open mind and understand what I need to improve on and what I need to get better at while also understanding I have to make the most informed decision possible said Williams who has until May 29 to make up his mind If it is the right time then it is the right time The 6 foot 7 Williams averaged 18 8 points and 7 5 rebounds this season while earning first team All America honors Michigan forward Ignas Brazdeikis the 2018 19 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and teammates Charles Matthews and Jordan Poole announced they will declare for the draft As long as I can remember I ve wanted to be an NBA player not just an NBA player but an NBA All Star said the 6 foot 7 Brazdeikis a Canadian who averaged 14 8 points and 5 4 boards in 37 starts with the Wolverines Matthews a junior guard averaged 12 2 points and 5 0 rebounds this season while Poole a sophomore guard averaged 12 8 points St John s junior guard Justin Simon declared for the draft and his decision was announced by RZA Sports the entity that will represent him Simon averaged 10 4 points and posted 50 steals while earning Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors Israel s Yovel Zoosman has submitted paperwork to the league office to become eligible for the draft according to ESPN
Ranked No 58 in the ESPN Top 100 the 20 year old wing player was named MVP of the FIBA U20 European Championship last July after leading the Israeli national team to the championship in Germany Field Level Media |
WMB | Tennis Crisis What crisis Briton Moore completes amazing comeback | Reuters Britain s Tara Moore stared the dreaded double bagel in the face as she trailed 0 6 0 5 30 40 to French third seed Jessika Ponchet in this week s ITF World Tour event in Sunderland and could have been excused for wanting the ground to open up Instead she produced a great sporting comeback recovering to win from a seemingly impossible position Languishing at nearly 500 in the WTA rankings Moore saved the match point with a smash that skimmed the net tape before landing on the line then set about clawing her way back into contention before winning 0 6 7 6 6 3 Never in doubt the 26 year old who reached the second round of Wimbledon in 2016 said on social media Tennis has seen many great comebacks in the past Andre Agassi won the 1999 French Open final against Andrei Medvedev after winning only three games in the first two sets Before that in 1987 his fellow American Jimmy Connors aged 34 trailed Swede Mikael Pernfors 6 1 6 1 4 1 at Wimbledon before pulling off a remarkable victory This year Czech Karolina Pliskova trailed 5 1 in the final set of her Australian Open quarter final against Serena Williams NYSE WMB but won the last six games to triumph While Moore s snatching of victory from the jaws of defeat perhaps surpasses those American Lisa Raymond went one better at the 2004 French Open
She trailed 6 0 5 0 and faced two match points against Czech ubomira Kurhajcova before winning 0 6 7 5 6 3 |
VZ | Sprint Deploys Enhanced Applications To Thwart Robocalls | Sprint Corporation NYSE S recently announced the deployment of two robocall blocker applications Sprint Call Screener Basic and Sprint Call Screener Plus across its network The trailblazing technology will flag high risk robocalls trace unsolicited callers and allow users to block the same A robocall is an unwanted phone call that typically uses a pre recorded message to market various products and services or serve reminders for pharmacy visits or debt payments Using an automated dialing system these calls are made without customer consent and are often viewed as nuisances as customers are inundated with several such calls a day In addition to infringement of privacy robocalls try to siphon off personal data to con individuals This eventually leads to scams robbing unsuspecting customers of their hard earned money Sprint Call Screener Basic identifies only the high risk robocalls and displays Spam Caller on the incoming call screen to verify the legitimacy of the caller It also enables customers to report complaints by phone and get business caller ID The application is free and is accessible to all customers both new and existing In order to avail a fully featured spam block customers can avail Sprint Call Screener Plus which flags all spoofed calls and displays Potential Spam Robo Caller or Potential Fraud on the incoming call screen of the user s android phone It also offers several other facilities like complaint reporting by phone number storing a list of blocked numbers tracing the source of unsolicited phone calls by displaying the caller s name city and state even if they are not registered in the contact list and setting a reminder to call someone back Initially Sprint customers will be offered a 15 day trial of the paid service post which they are required to pay 2 99 per month FCC Regulatory FrameworkTo thwart spoofing the Federal Communications Commission FCC had implemented an industry standard call authentication technology SHAKEN STIR or Signature based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited standard Notably this FCC mandated technology provides the best available information making it easier for telephone companies and consumers to decide which calls are to be received or blocked Current ScenarioWith robocalls totaling almost 3 billion each month unsolicited robocalls rank among the top complaints to the FCC Given the major apprehension surrounding this issue Sprint remains committed to tracing robocalls with the implementation of effective risk management and security solutions This in turn will help in reducing operational costs with increased resilience against network disruptions and cyber attacks Apart from Sprint major telecom companies like AT T Inc NYSE T Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA Corporation NYSE S TELUS and Ribbon have already taken necessary steps to prevent customers from receiving spurious calls The FCC has proposed a couple of measures to end this menace These include creation of a national database of disconnected phone numbers that are reassigned to other users to avoid dialing the wrong customers repeatedly This has enabled telecom service providers to block and filter text messages identified as spam It has also demanded a digital validation by carriers to curb this issue Sprint s endeavor in this regard is likely to deliver trusted call solutions to consumers Zacks Rank Price MovementSprint currently has a Zacks Rank 3 Hold The stock has lost 10 6 compared with the s decline of 18 year to date You can see 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 DaysJust released Experts distill 7 elite stocks from the current list of 220 Zacks Rank 1 Strong Buys They deem these tickers Most Likely for Early Price Pops Since 1988 the full list has beaten the market more than 2X over with an average gain of 24 6 per year So be sure to give these hand picked 7 your immediate attention |
VZ | T Mobile Sprint lobby regulators to win U S approval for tie up | By David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters Senior executives at T Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp made the case to U S officials in Washington last week that they should approve a planned tie up between the two wireless companies arguing a combined firm would have incentives to aggressively lower prices T Mobile US Chief Executive John Legere Sprint executive chairman Marcelo Claure T Mobile US chief operating officer Michael Sievert and other senior executives met with Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on Thursday according to a federal filing on Monday In a presentation made public on Monday the firms said they would focus on taking share from Verizon and AT T NYSE T through lower prices If completed the 26 billion merger would create a carrier with 127 million customers that would be a formidable competitor to the No 1 and No 2 wireless players Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ and AT T respectively A group of eight Democratic senators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders in February urged the Justice Department and FCC to reject the deal saying monthly bills for consumers could rise as much as 10 percent Consumer advocates warn the deal will reduce the number of national wireless carriers to three from four Sources told Reuters last week that the Justice Department had concerns about the merger in its current structure A person briefed on the matter confirmed Legere met on Thursday with the head of the Justice Department s antitrust division Makan Delrahim as the government s review nears a conclusion A decision is likely by early June people briefed on the matter said The Justice Department declined comment T Mobile has said the combined company would be better and faster at building 5G the next generation of wireless to compete with AT T and Verizon In its presentation to Rosenworcel T Mobile cited Verizon s decision to charge 10 extra per month for 5G service This won t happen when new T Mobile introduces 5G the presentation said The agreement to combine the carriers struck in April 2018 was approved by both companies shareholders in October and has received national security clearance but still needs approval from the Justice Department and FCC A number of state attorneys general are also reviewing the deal
To win support for the deal T Mobile had said it would not increase prices for three years and has pledged to use some spectrum for wireless broadband in rural areas The firms say the combined entity would add 11 000 additional employees by 2024 compared to the standalone firms |
VZ | Verizon Earnings Beat Revenue Misses In Q1 | Investing com Verizon NYSE VZ reported first quarter earnings that Beat analysts expectations on Tuesday and revenue that fell short of forecasts
The firm reported earnings per share of 1 2 on revenue of 32 13B Analysts polled by Investing com forecast EPS of 1 17 on revenue of 32 15B That compared to EPS of 1 17 on revenue of 31 77B in the same period a year earlier The company had reported EPS of 1 12 on revenue of 34 28B in the previous quarter
Verizon shares gained 0 89 to trade at 58 89 in pre market trade following the report
Verizon follows other major Services sector earnings this month
On April 16 Netflix reported first quarter EPS of 0 76 on revenue of 4 52B compared to forecasts of EPS of 0 58 on revenue of 4 5B
Las Vegas Sands earnings Beat analysts expectations on April 17 with first quarter EPS of 0 91 on revenue of 3 65B Investing com analysts expected EPS of 0 87 on revenue of 3 51B
Stay up to date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing com s earnings calendar |
VZ | Verizon Falls 3 | Investing com Verizon NYSE VZ fell by 3 48 to trade at 56 33 by 10 34 14 34 GMT on Tuesday on the NYSE exchange
The volume of Verizon shares traded since the start of the session was 6 91M Verizon has traded in a range of 56 31 to 57 69 on the day
The stock has traded at 58 9800 at its highest and 56 3200 at its lowest during the past seven days |
XOM | Exxon Mobil s fourth quarter earnings fall short of expectations | Exxon earned 5 69 billion in the fourth quarter down from 6 billion in the same period as weakness in the company s chemicals and downstream divisions as well as consistently lower oil prices pressured profits The company s quarter was boosted by one time events including a 3 7 billion gain from Exxon s Norway divestment Excluding these items profit for the quarter missed analyst estimates by 2 cents per share Here s how the energy giant s results fared relative to Wall Street expectations Adjusted earnings 41 cents per share vs 43 cents per share expected by RefinitivRevenue 67 17 billion versus 64 166 billion expected by RefinitivUpstream income 2 19 billion vs 2 44 billion expected by FactSetDownstream income 898 million vs 457 2 million expected by FactSetChemicals income 355 million loss vs 174 6 million loss expected by FactSetOil equivalent production was 4 million barrels per day which was in line with the same quarter a year earlier Production in the oil rich Permian spiked 54 year over year and during the fourth quarter production began in the company s offshore Guyana operations The company said that capital and exploration expenditures grew 8 year over year to 8 46 billion The stock shed 4 13 during Friday s trading session after the company said that its downstream operations margins were significantly lower than in the prior quarter while margins in the chemicals business weakened further during the quarter from already depressed levels The company completed the sale of its upstream assets in Norway which added 3 7 billion to earnings and is part of the company s plan to divest around 15 billion worth of non strategic assets by 2021 Our operations performed well while short term supply length in the downstream and chemicals businesses impacted margins and financial results Darren Woods chairman and chief executive officer said Growth in demand for the products that underpin our businesses remains strong We remain focused on improving our base businesses driving efficiencies and optimizing the value of our investment portfolio Last quarter the company reported earnings of 75 cents per share on revenue of 65 05 billion and in the same quarter a year earlier the company reported earnings per share of 1 41 and revenue of 71 90 billion On Thursday shares of Exxon sank to their lowest level since Oct 2010 as declining oil prices have continued to hit the company s operations |
XOM | Exxon Mobil Stock Falls 3 | Investing com Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM Stock fell by 3 12 to trade at 62 75 by 09 32 14 32 GMT on Friday on the NYSE exchange
The volume of Exxon Mobil shares traded since the start of the session was 2 26M Exxon Mobil has traded in a range of 62 74 to 63 20 on the day
The stock has traded at 66 9300 at its highest and 62 7500 at its lowest during the past seven days |
XOM | Exxon quarterly profit falls 5 2 on weak refining chemical margins | By Jennifer Hiller HOUSTON Reuters Exxon Mobil Corp N XOM on Friday reported a 5 2 drop in fourth quarter profit on weakness in its refining and chemicals business and flat year on year oil and gas output with asset sales helping to stem the decline Oil companies last quarter suffered from weaker prices for their products and in Exxon s case it has been spending heavily to boost its oil output to reverse production declines Shares were down 2 3 to 63 30 in premarket trading The stock is down about 29 since Chief Executive Darren Woods took over three years ago Its production in the Permian Basin the largest U S shale field was up 54 from a year ago But quarterly profits on U S production were down 74 as the company spent heavily to boost output and suffered from lower natural gas prices Overall the exploration and production business its largest benefited the most from the sale of production assets in Norway for 4 5 billion to V r Energi AS Analysts said the weakness across its businesses means Exxon will still have to borrow to cover its shareholder dividend Investors have been pushing oil companies to improve their returns by increasing dividends or share buybacks Exxon has frozen its share repurchases except for offsetting dilution for employee awards Unlike its peers the company is not generating free cash flow given its large capital spending program said Jennifer Rowland analyst with Edward Jones Exxon s 355 million loss in chemicals mirrors that of rival Royal Dutch Shell LON RDSa and was the first loss in that business in at least 13 years said Biraj Borkhataria analyst with RBC Capital Markets adding we do not expect a significant recovery in 2020 Oil majors have added and expanded plants to boost plastics production but now face a global chemicals glut and tariffs on U S exports to China Exxon s chemicals business regularly generated 1 billion in quarterly profits as recently as 2018 Its refining business earned 898 million down 67 from last year on lower margins Net income attributable to Exxon fell to 5 69 billion or 1 33 per share in the three months ended Dec 31 from 6 billion or 1 41 per share a year earlier Excluding one time items per share earnings were 41 cents below Wall Streets consensus expectation of 43 cents according to Refinitiv Analysts earlier this month had slashed estimates from 71 cents after the company warned of weakness in chemicals and refining The largest U S oil producer s oil and gas output rose less than 1 to 4 02 million barrels per day in the quarter the sixth quarter in a row of year over year gains Earlier this week the company raised its Guyana oil estimates by 2 billion barrels bringing total recoverable oil and gas resources from the discovery to more than 8 billion barrels |
WMB | Reports Raiders release WR Roberts | The Oakland Raiders released wide receiver Seth Roberts according to multiple reports The move comes a day after the Raiders signed WR Ryan Grant The Raiders have also added Antonio Brown Tyrell Williams NYSE WMB and J J Nelson to their receiving corps Roberts 28 was set to make 4 45 million this season He caught 45 passes for 494 yards and two touchdowns last season for Oakland
Roberts has 158 receptions and 13 touchdowns for his career all with the Raiders Field Level Media |
WMB | Fed Officials Resist Rate Cut Idea Pushed by Trump s Advisers | Bloomberg Federal Reserve officials are pushing back against the notion that the central bank should cut interest rates soon with several policy makers saying in recent days their next move still may be another hike
I would never say never to a cut But in this point in my forecast I don t foresee it for this year or next year Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker who is scheduled to vote next on rate decisions in 2020 said Thursday in Philadelphia At this point we have no need to rush any changes in the federal funds rate he said
The comments come after President Donald Trump said he will nominate Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore to fill one of two vacant seats on the seven member Fed board in Washington Moore long an ally of the president told the New York Times in an interview that he favored cutting rates by as much as a half percentage point though he s also said he needs to do more research His initial call for a rate cut has been echoed by White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow
Moore s could be colleagues at the central bank do not agree Several policy makers have said in recent days that they still see future rate increases as the most likely outlook and even those who do not expect an imminent hike are calling for a prolonged pause in which monetary policy remains on hold
Could we be done with policy rate increases this cycle It is possible Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Thursday in Columbus Ohio She added that if the economy performs in the way she thinks is most likely with economic growth picking back up after a soft first quarter the fed funds rate may need to move a bit higher than current levels
After months of hectoring from Trump amid four rate hikes in 2018 Fed officials put rate increases on hold earlier this year to take stock of slowing global growth and muted inflation Like Mester several officials have signaled optimism that the economy might still merit a rate increase later this year if risks from to China Europe and trade don t further dent the expansion
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren still thinks the central bank s next rate move is more likely to be a hike than a cut he told Bloomberg News in a late March interview
Others including Chairman Jerome Powell sound less confident indicating a rate cut may be as likely as a rate increase But all of the officials who have spoken since the Fed s March meeting agree that no decisions are required in the short term
Monetary policy is in the right place New York Fed chief John Williams NYSE WMB said on Thursday The outlook is positive GDP growth is on track unemployment remains low and there are no signs of inflationary pressures building
Moore who has not yet been formally nominated was a major critic of the Fed s 2018 rate increases which he at one point called economic malpractice
Trump also intends to nominate Herman Cain the former pizza company executive who ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination for the other vacant governorship Bloomberg News reported on Thursday
The president is unhappy that the Fed has raised rates If approved by the Senate Cain and Moore s appointments would give him two political loyalists around a decision making table that is meant to be politically independent and guided by consensus |
WMB | NFL notebook Report details toxic Rodgers McCarthy dynamic | A day after ESPN aired an interview with former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy discussing how he was dismissed by the team last December an explosive report looked at the complicated and disastrous relationship between McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers and how it impacted the team The lengthy Bleacher Report story published Thursday concluded that the coach quarterback duo had a frosty relationship since McCarthy s tenure began in 2006 That was the year after McCarthy previously offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers favored Utah s Alex Smith over Cal s Rodgers with the No 1 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft Aaron s always had a chip on his shoulder with Mike said Ryan Grant a Packers running back from 2007 12 The guy who ended up becoming your coach passed on you when he had a chance Aaron was upset that Mike passed on him that Mike actually verbally said that Alex Smith was a better quarterback Several players and coaches were quizzed over the complicated relationship in trying to explain why the Packers never turned into a New England Patriots like dynasty Allegations included McCarthy missing team meetings to have massages in his office ex general manager Ted Thompson falling asleep in meetings and Rodgers routinely changing play calls Cornerback Keith Reaser became the first player from the Alliance of American Football to move to an NFL team signing with the Kansas City Chiefs according to multiple reports The AAF announced earlier Thursday that league players now could sign with NFL teams The AAF played eight of its 10 scheduled weeks of the regular season Reaser who played for the Orlando Apollos was a fifth round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2014 In three plus seasons with the 49ers he played in 29 games recording 34 tackles He also played one game for the Chiefs in 2017 making four tackles and one sack but was placed on the waived injured list in 2018 De Vante Bausby who tied for the AAF lead with four interceptions signed with the Denver Broncos according to multiple media reports He played for the San Antonio Commanders in the AAF Bausby 26 appeared in four games with the Chicago Bears in 2016 and six games one start with the Philadelphia Eagles last year He has 26 career NFL tackles The Carolina Panthers also reportedly signed an AAF player adding former Arizona State wide receiver Rashad Ross who had been playing for the Arizona Hotshots ESPN s Adam Schefter reported that the 29 year old Ross who caught 36 passes for 583 yards 16 2 yards per catch and a league best seven touchdowns will be a candidate to win the team s final receiver roster spot Ross spent parts of three NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins last playing a game in 2016 with Washington He has never caught an NFL pass but has returned 34 kickoffs in his career including one for a touchdown in 2015 The Arizona Cardinals hosted top defensive line draft candidates Nick Bosa and Quinnen Williams NYSE WMB NFL Network reported Bosa met with Cardinals brass last week in Fort Lauderdale Fla and his visit to the team facility Thursday had been reported earlier this week Each team may bring 30 players to its facilities for a visit which cannot include a workout Bosa a defensive end is considered the top defensive player if not No 1 overall in the draft and Williams the top interior defensive lineman The Cardinals are being almost universally predicted to take former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first pick of the draft later this month The Oakland Raiders released wide receiver Seth Roberts the team announced The move comes a day after the Raiders signed wide receiver Ryan Grant The Raiders have also added Antonio Brown Tyrell Williams and J J Nelson to their receiving corps Roberts 28 was set to make 4 45 million this season He caught 45 passes for 494 yards and two touchdowns last season for Oakland Roberts has 158 receptions and 13 touchdowns for his career all with the Raiders Free agent linebacker Kyle Emanuel announced his retirement from the NFL in a Twitter post Selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft Emanuel spent four years with the franchise He appeared in 63 games for the Chargers A Nebraska native he played at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State He played out his four year 2 5 million rookie contract and had visited the Detroit Lions and had drawn other interest from other teams according to multiple reports Emanuel ends his career with 147 tackles 11 for loss 10 quarterback hits four sacks and two interceptions Cincinnati Bengals running back Mark Walton surrendered to police in Florida marking his third arrest of 2019 The Miami Herald reported that Walton was arrested on felony charges of carrying a concealed weapon along with marijuana possession and reckless driving in connection with an incident that occurred March 12 in North Miami Dade On Feb 16 he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery in Florida after what police reportedly said stemmed from an argument he had with a couple at his condominium complex over his car blocking the entrance to a parking garage He also was arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge in January and is awaiting trial The New York Jets confirmed they will play the 2019 season and beyond with new uniforms helmets and logos The team revealed the new look on its Twitter account marking the first uniform change for the franchise since 1998 calling it the beginning of a new legacy
The Jets called their new colors Gotham Green Spotlight White and Stealth Black Field Level Media |
WMB | Soccer Morgan nets 100th goal as USWNT tops Australia | Alex Morgan scored her 100th international goal and substitute Mallory Pugh scored twice when the U S Women s National Team rallied to defeat Australia 5 3 in a friendly at Dick s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City Colo on Thursday Megan Rapinoe broke a 2 2 tie in the 61st minute with a strike from 22 yards out for her 44th goal Pugh from Highland Ranch Colo replaced Rapinoe and her first touch extended the lead to 4 2 in the 67th minute with Emily Sonnett earning her second assist Samantha Kerr s header pulled Australia to a 4 3 deficit in the 81st minute but Pugh chipped in the insurance goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time Morgan opened the scoring in the 14th minute to become the 17th woman to reach the century mark She is tied for sixth on the all time U S list with Tiffeny Milbrett and has 27 goals in her past 32 matches She has scored in 70 of her 159 games with the U S going 60 0 10 Morgan controlled an overhead ball by bodying defender Clare Polkinghorne She dribbled the left flank toward the top of the penalty area before making a cutback on defender Alanna Kennedy to create space for the shot from 16 yards that went into the far netting Lisa De Vanna made it 1 1 in the 29th minute from the left side following a layoff by Caitlin Foord The U S responded but couldn t break the deadlock Ellie Carpenter cleared a shot by Rapinoe in the 32nd minute goalkeeper Lydia Williams NYSE WMB denied Colorado native Lindsey Horan in the 34th and Rose Lavelle a minute later Foord gave Australia a 2 1 lead in the 47th minute but the U S got the equalizer six minutes later with Tobin Heath s header
The U S has three more friendlies before the start of the 2019 Women s World Cup in France in June beginning with Belgium on Sunday at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles Field Level Media |
WMB | NBA roundup Bucks lock up No 1 seed | Playoff intensity showed itself from the opening tip at Philadelphia on Thursday as Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 45 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Milwaukee Bucks 128 122 comeback victory over the 76ers that clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference Khris Middleton scored 22 points for the Bucks who will enter the playoffs as the No 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history They were top seed in the Western Conference three times in their first six years of existence the last in the 1973 74 season Joel Embiid recorded his second career triple double with 34 points 13 rebounds and 13 assists in his return from a three game absence caused by a left knee soreness The mood between two of the top three teams in the East was set early Less than three minutes into the game an on court incident between the Bucks Eric Bledsoe and the Sixers Joel Embiid ended with Bledsoe s ejection because of two technical fouls Warriors 108 Lakers 90 DeMarcus Cousins scored eight of his game high 21 points in the first seven minutes as Golden State blitzed host Los Angeles The win allowed the Warriors to reduce their magic number to two for clinching the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs Quinn Cook came off the bench to score 18 points for Golden State and Kevin Durant scored 15 points Reserve Johnathan Williams NYSE WMB scored 17 to pace the Lakers Kings 117 Cavaliers 104 Buddy Hield scored a game high 23 points to help Sacramento hold off visiting Cleveland Bogdan Bogdanovic added 18 points and De Aaron Fox recorded 16 points and 10 assists for the Kings Marvin Bagley III registered 15 points and eight rebounds and Nemanja Bjelica had 10 points
Jordan Clarkson scored 22 points on 9 of 13 shooting for the Cavaliers who lost their seventh straight game and fell to 6 34 on the road Field Level Media |
WMB | Comedian rips up the play book in Ukraine election success | By Matthias Williams NYSE WMB and Margaryta Chornokondratenko KIEV Reuters As a comedian TV host and actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy knows how to start a show with a bang He proved that by beating all comers in the first round of Ukraine s presidential election As he plans for the grand finale a runoff against President Petro Poroshenko on April 21 aides say he is sticking to an unorthodox campaign routine that has torn up the play book Appearing to turn the tables on Poroshenko Zelenskiy on Wednesday evening accepted his challenge to take part in a policy debate In a slick video with pumping music he set his own conditions and gave his rival 24 hours to respond Poroshenko s campaign team had hinted Zelenskiy would duck out because the comedian who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series would risk showing himself up Within 45 minutes of Zelenskiy s video being posted on Facebook NASDAQ FB it had been seen 141 000 times shared more than 22 000 times and attracted 3 300 comments It left a live countdown for Poroshenko to respond You called me for a debate dreaming that I would run away duck out hide No I m not you in 2014 said Zelenskiy in a reference to Poroshenko not holding a debate during the previous election five years ago Poroshenko responded with a much more sober video in which he accepted Zelenskiy s condition of holding the debate in a huge soccer stadium But he cautioned Debate is not a show This is no time to joke around Being a president and commander in chief is not a game Zelenskiy s response to Poroshenko offered a snapshot of how he has upstaged his more experienced rivals winning nearly twice as many votes as Poroshenko in the first round of the election on March 31 Shunning traditional campaign tactics such as mass rallies or erecting tents in the street to distribute leaflets he has relied heavily on social media and comedy gigs where he pokes fun at rivals presenting himself as an everyman who stands up to corrupt elites a man to whom Ukrainians can relate At stake is the leadership of a country on the frontline of the West s standoff with Russia following the 2014 annexation of the Crimea peninsula and war in eastern Ukraine against Russia backed separatists in which 13 000 people have been killed NOT AFRAID TO BE CREATIVE Part of Zelenskiy s campaign team works in a large house in an upscale area of the capital Kiev Inside the offices have glass walls with messages scrawled on them and are filled with volunteers in their twenties bent over laptops All that we do is to not be like everyone else said 28 year old Michael Fedorov whose team manages various Facebook YouTube and Instagram pages We do not want to write typical posts We do not want to speak the words that all politicians use We want to get away from this as much as possible He said Zelenskiy had from the start opposed traditional ways of doing things As a result we have one platform only that s the internet he said Zelenskiy invites suggestions from Facebook followers on tackling problems such as high utility bills or their choice of prime minister Dmytro Razumkov Zelenskiy s political adviser said the comedian would not hold mass rallies before the second vote because the focus was on ensuring he comes across as authentic and transparent This is a person who is not a weather vane and does not change his position depending on whether it is more comfortable for a voter or less comfortable You have to run for president honestly stating your position and what will you do he said One challenge is attracting voters who are not internet savvy bridging the gap between online and offline Oleksandr Korniyenko another senior member of Zelenskiy s team said one technique to get around this was emailing voters with campaign messages and encouraging them to print out the email and distribute it Another was encouraging Zelenskiy s many young supporters to show his social media videos to older voters such as parents he said Hoping a high turnout will favor Zelenskiy his team is trying to ensure younger voters cast their ballots in email messages with headlines likely to make them click and read Our emails are not the typical You joined such and such a political party Instead we might have a crazy headline Fedorov said In the first round an email was sent out by Zelenskiy s team with the subject line You ve been left out The message itself said everyone has already voted except you and urged those who had voted to encourage others to vote Fedorov said We are not afraid to be creative he said NOT A JOKE Zelenskiy has 3 3 million followers on Instagram more than French President Emmanuel Macron German Chancellor Angela Merkel British Prime Minister Theresa May and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte combined Poroshenko has 234 000 The comedian s posts offer snapshots of his life such as working out in the gym or going for a run and allow him to poke fun at his rivals expense When former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who was eliminated in the first round of voting posted a video of herself eating a hot dog at a popular gas station chain to show her common touch Zelenskiy posted a picture of himself and his team eating a hotdog at the same chain In order to not be considered as just a joke we decided to be serious like everyone else he wrote underneath Zelenskiy is likely to come under more scrutiny over policy before the runoff including in the debate He is wealthy and the image of the fictional president he plays humble and scrupulously honest is likely to be challenged by Poroshenko Zelenskiy has been accused during the campaign of being the puppet of a rich businessman whose TV channel airs his shows Zelenskiy and the oligarch deny this and both say their relationship is purely professional Razumkov says the campaign has shown Zelenskiy is his own man
In the Zelenskiy campaign everything is completely different When he launched his campaign he said I want to show how you can become president but remain a human being |
WMB | The First Down Year | Leon Cooperman chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors sits down with Real Vision s Grant Williams NYSE WMB to discuss his firm s first down year In 1994 his firm did not take profits giving back all of their performance from the previous year Cooperman tells the story of his imperfect timing and the way in which he bounced back This video is excerpted from a piece published on Real Vision on December 14 2018 Watch more at |
WMB | Ravens agree to contract with ex Raiders WR Roberts | Wide receiver Seth Roberts a day after getting released by the Oakland Raiders has agreed to sign with the Baltimore Ravens on a one year deal pending a physical the team announced Roberts 28 was set to make 4 45 million this season with the Raiders He caught 45 passes for 494 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games last season seven starts for Oakland He was released Thursday a day after the Raiders signed wide receiver Ryan Grant The Raiders have also added Antonio Brown Tyrell Williams NYSE WMB and J J Nelson to their receiving corps Raiders quarterback Derek Carr went to Instagram on Thursday to thank Roberts for his production while they played together in Oakland I appreciate everything you did for our team Carr wrote From game winning touchdown after game winning touchdown Your relentless work ethic that took you from an Undrafted rookie to someone who made a team earned a starting spot and always showed up when I needed you From catching passes during the defensives sic set of plays every single day to you even trying to run me over on a reverse haha Thank you After cutting Michael Crabtree and seeing free agent John Brown sign with the Buffalo Bills the Ravens will need additional experience among their receiving corps Willie Snead IV 211 career receptions for 2 622 yards and Chris Moore 44 for 490 are the team s only other wide receivers with a regular season NFL catch
Roberts has 158 receptions 1 826 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns during his four year career all with the Raiders Undrafted out of West Alabama in 2014 he spent his rookie year on the Raiders practice squad Field Level Media |
VZ | AT T T Hikes Dividend Issues Capital Allocation Update | AT T Inc NYSE T recently announced a 2 year over year hike in its quarterly dividend payout The proposed dividend of 52 cents per share or 2 08 on an annualized basis is payable Feb 3 2020 to shareholders of record as on Jan 10 Based on the closing price of 38 26 on Dec 13 the proposed dividend affirms a yield of 5 4 A steady dividend payout is part of the long term strategy of AT T to provide attractive risk adjusted returns to its stockholders In addition healthy dividend increases at periodic intervals have been one of its strengths The company also offered an update of its capital allocation strategy AT T has entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement during the ongoing quarter by virtue of which it aims to retire about 100 million shares in the first quarter of 2020 At the same time the company remains confident to reach its set target of net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio in the 2 5x range in 2019 improving it further between 2 0x to 2 25x by the end of 2022 Year to date AT T has completed 15 billion worth of non core asset monetization including the 4 5 billion sale of a preferred equity interest in a subsidiary that holds cell tower assets This has way exceeded the original target 6 8 billion worth of non core asset sale to reduce its huge debt burden The company presently expects to monetize 4 billion non core assets by mid 2020 Earlier during third quarter 2019 earnings release AT T had offered a three year financial framework to drive significant improvement in margins and bottom line growth with sustained investments and debt reduction For the three year period from 2020 through 2022 AT T expects consolidated revenue growth of 1 2 per year Adjusted earnings are expected to be significantly up to 4 50 4 80 per share by 2022 with adjusted EBITDA margin of 35 While adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be stable in 2020 it is likely to grow in 2021 and 2022 driven by extensive companywide cost reduction plan WarnerMedia synergies continued Mobility growth and AT T Mexico EBITDA growth Free cash flow is anticipated to be within 30 billion to 32 billion in 2022 The company has gained 28 1 in the past year compared with the s rise of 14 8 AT T remains poised to benefit from the impending 5G boom As the first carrier in the industry the company has unveiled its 5G policy framework that hinges on three pillars mobile 5G fixed wireless and edge computing In order to have a seamless transition among Wi Fi LTE and 5G services AT T intends to deploy a standards based nationwide mobile 5G network in early 2020 Its 5G service entails utilization of millimeter wave spectrum for deployment in dense pockets while in suburban and rural areas it intends to deploy 5G on mid and low band spectrum holdings It believes as the 5G ecosystem evolves customers can experience significant enhancements in coverage speeds and devices The telco giant has already introduced mobile 5G networks in parts of 12 cities and further plans to add seven more cities to the tally this year All these positive drivers offer compelling long term growth opportunities for AT T AT T presently carries a Zacks Rank 3 Hold Some better ranked stocks in the industry are GCI Liberty Inc NASDAQ GLIBA Gogo Inc NASDAQ GOGO and Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ each carrying a Zacks Rank 2 Buy You can see GCI Liberty is currently trading at a forward P E of 6 05x Gogo beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters the average surprise being 39 1 Verizon has a long term earnings growth expectation of 3 2 It delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 2 2 in the trailing four quarters Today s Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market beating strategies From 2017 through Q3 2019 while the S P 500 gained 39 6 five of our strategies returned 51 8 57 5 96 9 119 0 and even 158 9 This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon From 2000 Q3 2019 while the S P averaged 5 6 per year our top strategies averaged up to 54 1 per year |
VZ | Yahoo strikes 117 5 million data breach settlement after earlier accord rejected | By Jonathan Stempel Reuters Yahoo NASDAQ AABA has struck a revised 117 5 million settlement with millions of people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen in the largest data breach in history The proposed class action settlement made public on Tuesday was designed to address criticisms of U S District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose California She rejected an earlier version of the accord on Jan 28 and her approval is still required Koh said the original settlement was not fundamentally fair adequate and reasonable because it had no overall dollar value and did not say how much victims might expect to recover She also said the legal fees appeared to be too high Yahoo now part of New York based Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ had been accused of being slow to disclose three data breaches affecting about 3 billion accounts from 2013 to 2016 The new settlement includes at least 55 million for victims out of pocket expenses and other costs 24 million for two years of credit monitoring up to 30 million for legal fees and up to 8 5 million for other expenses It covers as many as 194 million people in the United States and Israel with roughly 896 million accounts John Yanchunis a lawyer for the plaintiffs in a court filing called the 117 5 million the biggest common fund ever obtained in a data breach case He did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment Separately Verizon agreed to spend 306 million between 2019 and 2022 on information security five times what Yahoo spent from 2013 to 2016 It also pledged to quadruple Yahoo s staffing in that area The settlement demonstrates our strong commitment to security Verizon said in a statement Yahoo agreed in July 2016 to sell its internet business to Verizon for 4 83 billion Only later did it reveal the scope of the breaches prompting a price cut to 4 48 billion Verizon wrote off much of Yahoo s value in December U S prosecutors charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers in connection with one of the breaches in 2017 One hacker later pleaded guilty
The case is In re Yahoo Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation U S District Court Northern District of California No 16 md 02752 |
VZ | Trump to hold event Friday on 5G rural broadband White House | By David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters U S President Donald Trump is set to hold a White House event on Friday with the country s top communications regulator on next generation 5G wireless networks and efforts to boost rural broadband internet access A White House spokesman confirmed that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and Trump would deliver remarks on 5G deployment Pai is expected to announce additional funds to help rural areas that lack broadband get access to the high speed service officials briefed on the matter told Reuters The FCC did not immediately comment In August Pai said over 700 000 rural homes and small businesses would gain first ever high speed internet service through the FCC s Connect America Fund Phase II auction In February Trump called on U S telecommunications companies to boost their work to build faster 5G wireless communications networks saying they were lagging and at risk of being left behind other countries efforts American companies must step up their efforts or get left behind Trump wrote in a pair of tweets White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow reiterated last week that the administration opposed any effort to nationalize the U S 5G network and denied the United States was behind other nations in the 5G race The private sector will figure things out far better than the government sector he said Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ AT T NYSE T Corp Sprint Corp and T Mobile US Inc are beginning to deploy 5G service in U S cities and are working to extend their networks as 5G compatible phones slowly become available The Trump administration has been seeking ways to speed the deployment of faster wireless communications systems that could help a number of industries Last year the FCC moved to eliminate regulatory barriers to 5G deployment by capping local fees and requiring faster application reviews The Republican president s administration has also been warning other countries against adopting 5G systems from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd citing security concerns For more than a year the White House has been mulling an executive order that would direct the Commerce Department to block U S companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks Reuters reported in December The FCC since March 2018 has also been considering rules to bar the use of funds from a government program to purchase equipment or services from companies that pose a security threat to U S communications networks
No action on either one of the proposals is expected on Friday |
VZ | Trump says he opposes nationalizing U S 5G network | By David Shepardson WASHINGTON Reuters President Donald Trump said Friday the United States should not nationalize its 5G network and said private companies should move quickly to deploy the faster next generation network In the United States our approach is private sector driven and private sector led The government doesn t have to spend lots of money Trump said Leading through the government it won t be nearly as good nearly as fast The White House mulled the idea of nationalizing the 5G network for more than a year In March Politico reported that Trump s reelection campaign supported a government role in managing the 5G networks even as White House officials including top economic adviser Larry Kudlow have said for months they oppose the idea Trump spoke alongside Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai who disclosed Friday the agency plans to hold its third 5G spectrum auction on Dec 10 the latest effort to make more spectrum available that could transform significant sectors of the U S economy Pai said Trump s comments opposing nationalization was an important signal to the private sector that is investing tens of billions of dollars in the 5G networks CTIA an industry trade group said Friday that Trump s statement puts an end once and for all to any misguided notions of nationalizing spectrum resources or government mandated wholesale 5G markets Pai is also proposing to invest 20 4 billion over 10 years to build out high speed broadband networks in rural America The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund aims to provide funding through a reverse auction to service providers in areas without access to high speed service and aims to connect up to four million rural homes and small businesses to high speed broadband networks 5G networks are expected to be at least 100 times faster than the current 4G networks cut delays and allow for innovations in a number of fields Pai spoke on a call with reporters ahead of the White House event with Trump and rural residents who could benefit from faster networks to tout the administration s efforts to boost 5G wireless networks and funding for rural broadband Since November the FCC has auctioned 1 550 megahertz of spectrum to be used by commercial wireless providers for 5G connectivity The third 5G spectrum auction will be the largest with the FCC selling 3 400 megahertz in three different spectrum bands The FCC voted on Friday to seek comments on bidding procedures for the next auction Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the auction is a good step but the commission must also pivot to mid band spectrum or risk falling behind other countries Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ AT T NYSE T Corp Sprint Corp and T Mobile US Inc are beginning to deploy 5G service in U S cities and are working to extend their networks as 5G compatible phones slowly become available The Republican administration has also been warning other countries against adopting 5G systems from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd citing security concerns For more than a year the White House has been mulling an executive order that would direct the Commerce Department to block U S companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks Reuters reported in December
The FCC since March 2018 has also been considering rules to bar the use of funds from a government program to purchase equipment or services from companies that pose a security threat to U S communications networks Pai said that proposal is still pending |
VZ | U S Justice Department tells T Mobile Sprint it has concerns about merger deal sources | Reuters The U S Justice Department has told T Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp it has concerns about their proposed 26 billion merger in its current structure sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday although no final decision has been made Sprint shares fell about 9 percent after the bell as investors increased bets the deal would not be completed following a Wall Street Journal report the merger is unlikely to be approved as currently structured Shares of T Mobile fell 4 percent The deal had been criticized by consumer advocates and some lawmakers because it would reduce the number of national wireless carriers available to consumers to three from four T Mobile has defended the proposed merger saying the combined company would be better and faster at building 5G the next generation of wireless to compete with industry leaders AT T Inc NYSE T and Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ A final decision on the deal is likely near the end of the 180 day Federal Communications Commission review period that expires in June T Mobile US Chief Executive John Legere was in Washington on Tuesday and has meetings later this week at the FCC two people briefed on the matter said Legere said on Twitter it was simply untrue as had been reported that Justice Department staff had told the companies the deal was unlikely to be approved in its current form The Justice Department declined to comment Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure said the Wall Street Journal report was not accurate We continue to have discussions with regulators about our proposed merger with TMobile That process is ongoing Claure wrote on Twitter A third person familiar with the investigation said the probe was going along as expected adding there had been no serious discussion of any divestitures of spectrum or other assets and that much of the conversation with regulators had been about proposed efficiencies in the development of 5G The agreement to combine the carriers struck in April 2018 was approved by both companies shareholders in October and has received national security clearance but still needs approval from the Justice Department and FCC A number of state attorneys general are also reviewing the deal LAWMAKERS QUESTION DEAL Executives from both companies faced tough questions from lawmakers in February about how the companies planned merger would affect prices and jobs especially in rural America A group of eight Democratic U S senators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders urged the Justice Department and FCC to reject the deal saying monthly bills could rise as much as 10 percent To win support for the deal T Mobile had said it would not increase prices for three years and has pledged to use some spectrum for wireless broadband in rural areas Legere has also pledged to build 5G without using networking equipment from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd or ZTE Corp HK 0763 two Chinese telecommunications firms distrusted by U S national security experts |
WMB | Morant joins Duke s Williamson Barrett on All American team | Freshmen Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett of Duke headline the 2019 college basketball All American team announced Tuesday Murray State guard Ja Morant Tennessee forward Grant Williams NYSE WMB and Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston round out the team Williamson and Barrett are the first freshman teammates named to the first team since John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky in 2010 Williamson was a unanimous selection by 64 Associated Press voters averaging 22 6 points 8 9 rebounds 2 1 blocks and 1 8 blocks per game Barrett averaged 22 6 points 7 6 boards and 4 3 assists Both players are expected to depart Duke for the NBA draft Williamson is projected as the No 1 overall pick while Barrett and Morant are being discussed as likely options for the teams holding the second and third picks Morant is the first All American in Murray State history He averaged 24 5 points and led the nation with 10 0 assists per game as a sophomore Winston was the Big Ten Player of the Year and enters the Final Four averaging 18 9 points and 7 6 assists Coach Tom Izzo said the Spartans went to Winston directly to ask him to carry the load when injuries hit starters Jeremy Langford and Nick Ward The junior did just that and is the lone All American still playing in April
Williams was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year The junior averaged 18 8 points 7 5 rebounds 3 2 assists and 1 5 blocks per game Field Level Media |
WMB | College notebook Duke s Williamson Barrett headline All America team | Freshmen Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett of Duke headline the 2019 college basketball All America team announced Tuesday Murray State guard Ja Morant Tennessee forward Grant Williams NYSE WMB and Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston round out the team Williamson and Barrett are the first freshman teammates named to the first team since John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky in 2010 Williamson was a unanimous selection by 64 Associated Press voters averaging 22 6 points 8 9 rebounds 2 1 blocks and 1 8 blocks per game Barrett averaged 22 6 points 7 6 boards and 4 3 assists Boston College standout guard Ky Bowman announced he is bypassing his senior season and declaring for the NBA draft It has always been a lifelong dream of mine to play in the NBA Bowman wrote on an Instagram post After much thought and consideration with my family I have decided to declare for the 2019 NBA Draft and take the next step toward achieving my dream Bowman averaged 19 2 points 7 6 rebounds and 4 0 assists this season while earning second team All Atlantic Coast Conference honors Former coaches Lute Olson and Rick Majerus and former UNLV star Larry Johnson highlight the nine member class selected for induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame Duke s Shane Battier Indiana s Calbert Cheaney Providence s Ernie DiGregorio Purdue s Terry Dischinger Stanford s Todd Lichti and former Valparaiso coach Homer Drew also were selected Olson went 776 285 in 34 seasons at Long Beach State Iowa and Arizona He won the 1997 national title at Arizona as part of 23 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances Majerus who died in 2012 went 517 216 with stops at Marquette Ball State Utah and Saint Louis His biggest accomplishment was leading the Utes to the 1998 national championship game where they lost to Kentucky North Carolina State recruit Jalen Lecque is weighing whether to enter the NBA draft or play for the Wolfpack next season He has until April 21 to make the decision Lecque a 6 foot 4 guard is considered to be in his fifth year of high school after playing at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire this season Since he turns 19 on June 13 and his original graduating class was 2018 he might be eligible for the draft His family has filed paperwork with the NBA according to multiple outlets ESPN reported that the NBA will review the transcripts of Lecque a four star recruit The outlet said Lecque didn t receive a diploma from the Christ School in Arden N C where he was enrolled in 2017 18 setting up the unique scenario Houston has offered coach Kelvin Sampson a six year 18 million extension the Houston Chronicle reported Sampson 63 guided the Cougars 33 4 to the American Athletic Conference regular season title and their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1984
The school made the offer last week and both sides are reviewing the details the newspaper said It would make Sampson one of the top 25 highest paid coaches in the nation He currently earns 1 4 million Field Level Media |
WMB | PG E Is Near a Deal With Hedge Funds on CEO Board Overhaul | Bloomberg Pacific Gas Electric Co NYSE PCG the bankrupt California power giant facing 30 billion in wildfire liabilities is nearing a deal with a group of investors that includes naming Bill Johnson as chief executive officer and overhauling its board according to people familiar with the matter
PG E is nearing an agreement with the group consisting of Knighthead Capital Management Redwood Capital Management and Abrams Capital Management to hire Johnson the outgoing CEO of the federally operated power agency Tennessee Valley Authority said the people who asked not to be identified because the matter is private The deal which would also keep three current directors and nominate 10 others for the board could be announced as soon as Wednesday the people said
Johnson would be appointed to the board at a later date subject to a shareholder vote they said While an agreement is close no final deal has been reached and talks may still fall apart the people said
A representative for San Francisco based PG E said the company doesn t comment on market rumors or speculation A representative for the investor group declined to comment
TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said the utility isn t aware of Johnson s plans after he leaves the agency Johnson didn t have an immediate comment Hopson said
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
These are the hedge fund guys and out of state people that Newsom was negative about so people might think this will cause trouble with the state Kit Konolige senior utilities analyst
PG E whose shares have fallen 62 percent since October closed down 1 9 percent to 17 66 in New York trading
Bankruptcy Fight
The appointments follow an intense weeks long battle over who will lead PG E out of the biggest utility bankruptcy in U S history The three shareholders which collectively own almost 10 percent of PG E disclosed their plans to push for changes at the company last month
They have squared off against activist investor BlueMountain Capital Management which put forth its own slate of 13 directors Even California Governor Gavin Newsom joined the fight urging the company to resist hedge fund picks and appoint local directors
BlueMountain s nominees include former California treasurer Phil Angelides National Transportation Safety Board ex chairman Christopher Hart and Jeff Ubben chief executive officer of activist investor ValueAct Capital Management It s unclear whether the firm will push ahead with its proxy fight despite PG E s agreement with the other group
The new board will have to guide PG E through what s what s already a contentious reorganization as shareholders creditors wildfire victims and California officials grapple over restructuring a utility serving 16 million people in one of the world s largest economies
Wildfire Deaths
PG E filed for bankruptcy in January while facing 30 billion in liabilities tied to wildfires that its equipment may have caused The company promised a board overhaul and has said its power lines were probably responsible for the deadliest wildfire in California history The state is continuing to probe the cause of the fire which killed 85 people last year
Johnson would succeed Geisha Williams NYSE WMB who resigned as PG E s chief executive officer just days before the filing
Newsom earlier criticized PG E s plans to revamp its board with what he described as hedge fund financiers out of state executives and others with little or no experience in California and inadequate expertise in utility operations regulation and safety He urged the company to consider a board made up primarily of Californians
Johnson has already drawn some opposition
Clean energy advocacy group Vote Solar said in a statement that his track record falls far short of the kind of commitment to promoting a culture of safety and clean energy progress that PG E s customers deserve The group pointed to the lack of solar and wind power on TVA s coal dependent system and said the utility makes it hard for customers to go solar
Coal made up more than a quarter of TVA s portfolio last year with solar and wind accounting for just 3 percent according to the company s website But the utility has been decommissioning some of its oldest coal fired units to make way for new resources
Updates with TVA s power mix in last paragraph |
WMB | NHL roundup Habs sink Lightning pull even with Jackets | The Montreal Canadiens gained a critical victory in their playoff chase with a 4 2 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday The win brings the Canadiens 43 29 8 94 points even on points with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second Eastern Conference wild card slot Both teams have 94 points though Columbus is still ahead on a tiebreaker The Carolina Hurricanes are only a point ahead of Montreal and Columbus for the first wild card position After falling behind twice in the game Montreal finally took the lead on Artturi Lehkonen s goal 7 47 into the third period A looping shot from Victor Mete was batted out of the air by Lehkonen then knocked in on his second attempt for his 11th goal of the season Lehkonen also had an assist in the game while Jordie Benn contributed two assists for the Canadiens The Lightning must win their final two games to equal the 1995 96 Detroit Red Wings for the most wins in a single season Hurricanes 4 Maple Leafs 1 Dougie Hamilton had two goals as visiting Carolina defeated Toronto to leap to the front of the East wild card chase Justin Williams NYSE WMB and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes 44 29 7 95 points who won for only the second time in a five game stretch Staal and Hamilton each scored in the third period including the final one into an empty net by Hamilton Staal also recorded an assist John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs 46 27 7 99 points who secured a playoff spot Monday night with a victory at the New York Islanders Bruins 6 Blue Jackets 2 Jake DeBrusk scored two goals including one of the luckiest he ll ever tally and Brad Marchand reached the century mark for points as visiting Boston routed Columbus The Bruins 48 23 9 105 points solidified their claim for second place in the Atlantic Division while the Blue Jackets 45 31 4 94 points saw their five game winning streak snapped DeBrusk s opening tally 118 seconds into the affair set the tone for the rest of the game for both teams From the slot he swung at a cross ice pass and watched as the puck bounced off the top of the net off the back of Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and into the cage Stars 6 Flyers 2 Alexander Radulov had two goals including the game winner and two assists as Dallas rolled past visiting Philadelphia to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2016 The win was the fourth in the past five games for the Stars 42 31 7 91 points who held on to their three point cushion as the first wild card team in the Western Conference with two games to play in the regular season Friday at Chicago and Saturday at home versus Minnesota Dallas goalkeeper Anton Khudobin recorded 32 saves in the win Esa Lindell and Jason Dickinson each had a goal and an assist Avalanche 6 Oilers 2 Alexander Kerfoot scored two goals Tyson Barrie had a goal and an assist and Colorado scored six unanswered goals to beat Edmonton in Denver Nathan MacKinnon Colin Wilson and Sven Andrighetto also scored and Semyon Varlamov had 27 saves for Colorado 37 29 14 88 points The Avalanche took firm control of the second wild card spot in the West as the Arizona Coyotes 84 points lost to Los Angeles later Tuesday With two games remaining for both teams Arizona must win out while Colorado loses out to get into the postseason on a tiebreaker Kings 3 Coyotes 1 Arizona s playoff hopes took a major hit and the team also lost goalie Darcy Kuemper to an eye injury in a loss to visiting Los Angeles Trevor Lewis gave the Kings a 2 1 lead with a goal at 3 29 of the third period Lewis was bumped from behind by Coyotes defenseman Kevin Connauton just as the puck crossed the goal line and his stick blade went through Kuemper s mask and struck him in the face near his right eye Kuemper lay on the ice in pain while being treated by trainers before departing with a towel held to his face He was replaced by Cal Pickard though head coach Rick Tocchet expressed optimism about Kemper s status after the game Wild 5 Jets 1 Zach Parise scored twice in his return from a four game injury absence as Minnesota completed a five game season sweep of Winnipeg with a victory in Saint Paul Minn Victor Rask Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno also tallied for the Wild 37 34 9 83 points who recorded just their third win in 15 home outings 3 8 4 However it was not enough to keep Minnesota in playoff contention as Colorado s win over Edmonton officially eliminated the Wild Minnesota s Devan Dubnyk who made 32 saves on Tuesday turned aside 114 of 120 shots en route to defeating Winnipeg four times this season The Jets 46 30 4 96 have dropped four of their last five games and are even in points atop the Central Division with Nashville 45 29 6 though Winnipeg holds the tiebreaker Predators 3 Sabres 2 Ryan Johansen scored the tiebreaking goal 6 32 into the third period and visiting Nashville handed reeling Buffalo a season high eighth straight loss P K Subban had a goal with an assist for the Predators who have clinched a playoff spot and are 6 2 1 in their last nine games Pekka Rinne notched 26 saves Meanwhile the Sabres 31 39 10 72 points are mired in their longest losing streak since 2014 15 Eliminated from playoff contention Buffalo is 3 18 3 since Feb 15 Red Wings 4 Penguins 1 Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha scored two goals apiece and host Detroit prevented Pittsburgh from clinching a playoff berth The Penguins needed a victory or a Montreal loss to Tampa Bay to secure a spot in the postseason Pittsburgh 43 26 11 97 points has two games remaining Bertuzzi set a franchise record with his fourth consecutive three point game Mantha followed his first career hat trick against Boston on Sunday with two third period goals The other member of Detroit s first line Dylan Larkin collected three assists as the Red Wings 32 38 10 74 points notched their season high sixth straight victory Canucks 4 Sharks 2 Markus Granlund s goal at 13 39 of the third period gave Vancouver a comeback home ice victory over San Jose Granlund gave the Canucks an insurmountable 3 2 lead tapping in a rebound off the post during a scramble as they rallied from a 2 1 deficit with goals two minutes and 21 seconds apart Granlund emerged the hero for the second straight game after also scoring the shootout winner Saturday against Dallas
The Canucks who have missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season posted their third straight home win as they played their final game of 2018 19 at Rogers Arena The Sharks suffered their ninth loss in 10 games Field Level Media |
WMB | CMC shares hit record low on profit warning as finance chief plans exit | By Muvija M and Noor Zainab Hussain Reuters Shares in CMC Markets slid more than 10 percent to a record low on Wednesday after the online trading firm forecast a drop in income in the year to March as new rules curbed client activity and its finance chief decided to depart The profit warning dragged down shares in Britain s biggest online trading firms IG Group and Plus500 LON PLUSP Ltd Regulators are tightening rules on products that allow anyone with a bank card to make highly leveraged bets on financial markets through apps and online platforms CMC Markets said it expected net operating income of 131 million pounds 172 17 million for the year to March 31 compared with 187 1 million pounds a year before It also forecast a 37 percent drop in revenue to 110 million pounds for the unit that offers complex financial products to retail clients We know that calendar 2019 year to date has been weak for retail leveraged trading but this is more than just industry conditions Liberum analyst Ben Williams NYSE WMB said They are losing share It is now a loss making business and full year 2020 estimates are too high For a graphic on CMC Markets and rivals face tighter regulation see Separately the company said its chief operating and financial officer Grant Foley would leave the company to pursue other opportunities Britain s financial watchdog said last week it will permanently ban the sale of binary options which are complex derivative products to retail consumers to protect them from large and unexpected trading losses That is similar to a temporary ban the European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA has in force across the European Union ESMA also has temporary curbs on contracts for difference CFDs Binary options allow people to bet on whether the price of a share currency or index will go up or down within a certain timeframe CFDs give an investor exposure to price movements in securities without owning the underlying asset CMC said the new rules had led to retail clients trading less and using more of their cash to fund margin needs or needing to deposit more funds with CMC to trade at previous levels It said however trading showed signs of stabilizing For a graphic on CMC Markets and rivals face tighter regulation see Peel Hunt analysts said the final quarter had turned out to be worse than expected They cut their annual pretax profit forecast by 2 3 million pounds to 6 million pounds The sector has also been plagued by persistent low volatility in financial markets The CBOE volatility index seen as Wall Street s fear gauge has slipped from its December peak as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting clarity around China U S trade talks and the Brexit process For a graphic on UK online trading platforms feel pinch from regulation low volatility see |
WMB | Texas A M lands Va Tech s Buzz Williams | Buzz Williams NYSE WMB will be introduced as the new head coach at Texas A M on Wednesday Williams informed players at Virginia Tech he was moving on and accepted an offer to relocate to College Station as head coach of the Aggies Williams was scheduled to earn 3 million next season at Virginia Tech and has a contract buyout of 750 000 for the 2019 20 season Billy Kennedy was fired March 15 at the end of his eighth season with the Aggies who went 14 18 overall and 6 12 in the SEC in 2018 19 The 11th place league finish came on the heels of a 22 win season a year earlier when the Aggies earned their second NCAA Tournament appearance in Kennedy s tenure Virginia Tech s season ended last week with a 75 73 loss to Duke in the East Region semifinals The Hokies finished 26 9 giving Williams a 100 69 record in five seasons in Blacksburg Va Williams 46 has led the Hokies to three straight NCAA Tournament berths A native Texan he coached at New Orleans 2006 07 before moving on to Marquette where he spent six seasons Five of them ended in the NCAA Tournament
Overall his coaching record is 253 155 Field Level Media |
WMB | Tennessee G Bone to enter NBA draft Williams next | Tennessee junior guard Jordan Bone will enter the 2019 NBA Draft while the Volunteers are still waiting for a decision from junior All American Grant Williams NYSE WMB the team s leading scorer and 2019 SEC Player of the Year In a video shared via social media Wednesday Bone indicated he could still return and plans to use the process to measure his NBA readiness I m now blessed to have the opportunity to enter the 2019 NBA Draft and showcase my abilities for NBA personnel and receive valuable feedback that will help me to continue to develop Bone said I plan to make the most of this opportunity and use the experience and feedback to make the most informed decision about my basketball future I am going to lean on my family as well as coach Rick Barnes and the staff here at Tennessee through these next steps We are all in this together I know I will have the support of Tennessee fans everywhere as we work through this process Go Vols and God bless Prospects must declare for the draft or return to college by May 29 Williams and other prospects face an April 21 deadline to tentatively enter the draft process
Bone averaged 13 5 points and 5 8 assists per game last season and was second team All SEC Field Level Media |
WMB | NFL notebook McCarthy opens up on Packers firing | Former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy was surprised to be fired before the end of the 2018 season McCarthy addressed the situation in his first sit down interview since the Packers fired him Dec 2 which he said couldn t have been handled any worse If we missed the playoffs I expected change might happen McCarthy told ESPN in the conversation four months after his dismissal But the timing surprised me Actually it stunned me But time provides the opportunity for reflection and clarity and that s where I m at now And it s clear to me now that both sides needed a change McCarthy was fired immediately after his team s 20 17 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals that left Green Bay 4 7 1 The Packers missed the postseason after finishing 6 9 1 McCarthy was in his 13th season with the Packers which included a Super Bowl victory in 2011 Recently retired receiver Jordy Nelson says he would consider playing in 2019 if Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers asks him to It would probably be hard to say no Nelson said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show Nelson who turns 34 in May announced his retirement last month after one season with the Oakland Raiders He caught 63 passes for 739 yards and three touchdowns in 2018 Prosecutors in Houston announced they are dismissing their case against defensive end Michael Bennett who had been accused of shoving an elderly wheelchair bound NRG Stadium worker during Super Bowl LI We dismissed this case in the interest of justice said Vivian King chief of staff of the Harris County District Attorney s Office After looking at all the evidence this was the right thing to do Bennett now with the Patriots had been facing a felony charge of injury to the elderly punishable by up to 10 years in prison The 6 foot 4 275 pound lineman was accused of pushing and injuring a 66 year old paraplegic woman as he tried to get onto the field to celebrate with his brother former Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett after New England defeated Atlanta on Feb 5 2017 The wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford announced she has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and will undergo surgery Kelly Stafford said an MRI showed she has acoustic neuroma which is a benign tumor that is abutting her cranial nerves She said she had been suffering from vertigo and experiencing other unusual symptoms and had the MRI performed on the advice of the Lions team doctor The Raiders signed wideout Ryan Grant adding the veteran to an overhauled position group that includes Antonio Brown Tyrell Williams NYSE WMB and J J Nelson Grant 28 caught 35 passes for 334 yards and one touchdown in 14 games last season with Indianapolis He played the previous four seasons with Washington who drafted him in the fifth round in 2014 In 64 games with the Redskins Grant caught 84 passes for 985 yards and six touchdowns The Buffalo Bills announced the signing of veteran guard Quinton Spain to a one year deal Spain 27 started 48 games for the Tennessee Titans over the past four seasons Spain is the sixth new addition to Buffalo s offensive line this offseason joining Spencer Long Mitch Morse Ty Nsekhe Jon Feliciano and LaAdrian Waddle The Atlanta Falcons re signed linebacker Kemal Ishmael and guard Adam Gettis to one year contracts Ishmael who turns 28 in May played 330 of his 394 total snaps last season on special teams Gettis has not played in an NFL game since 2016 when he was with the New York Giants The Cleveland Browns re signed tight end fullback Orson Charles Terms were not announced Charles 28 caught three passes for 23 yards in 13 games two starts for Cleveland last season The Giants released wideout return specialist Quadree Henderson ESPN reported
Henderson 22 returned nine punts for 68 yards 7 6 yard average and five kickoffs for 112 yards 22 4 average in five games last season as an undrafted rookie out of Pittsburgh He did not catch a pass Field Level Media |
WMB | NBA roundup Heat s loss scrambles East standings | Boston s Gordon Hayward scored a game high 25 points and Kyrie Irving added 23 to lift the Celtics to a crucial 112 102 road victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night Jayson Tatum scored nine consecutive points in the fourth quarter to help Boston remain in a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference Al Horford tallied 21 points Tatum 16 and Aron Baynes 10 with a team high 10 rebounds for the Celtics who won their second straight game and fourth in their last five Dion Waiters had 21 points Hassan Whiteside 18 points and 15 rebounds Dwyane Wade 17 points Bam Adebayo 12 Goran Dragic 11 and Kelly Olynyk 10 for the Heat who lost their second straight and fell to ninth place in the East out of a playoff position Last in the league in free throw shooting the Heat went just 12 of 20 60 percent at the stripe They entered at 69 5 percent Magic 114 Knicks 100 Nikola Vucevic had 29 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando which moved into a playoff spot after beating New York in Orlando Orlando began the night a half game behind Miami for the eighth and final playoff position in the East but with the victory and the Heat s loss the Magic moved into a tie with Brooklyn for seventh in the conference Mario Hezonja led the Knicks with 29 points while collecting nine rebounds and five assists against his former team Hezonja was selected No 5 overall by the Magic in the 2015 NBA Draft Rockets 135 Clippers 103 James Harden scored 31 points grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists and Chris Paul added 29 points and seven assists to lead Houston to a blowout win at Los Angeles Shai Gilgeous Alexander scored 20 points to pace the Clippers who lost for just the third time in 16 games and fell 1 1 2 games behind Utah in the race for the fifth seed in the West Danilo Gallinari added 16 and Lou Williams NYSE WMB scored 14 off the bench Coming into Wednesday s game the Clippers had been the only team in the West not to have lost to the Rockets this season having defeated Houston twice in October The Rockets made sure that streak ended by grabbing the lead early and never giving it up The Clippers led once 2 0 Trail Blazers 116 Grizzlies 89 Enes Kanter Damian Lillard and Evan Turner led the way as Portland rolled over visiting Memphis to remain in fourth place in the Western Conference a half game behind Houston Kanter collected 21 points and 15 rebounds and Lillard scored 20 points and dished out 10 assists for the Trail Blazers who have won 11 of their past 13 games Turner registered his second straight triple double with 13 points 12 rebounds and 11 assists in 28 minutes off the bench Chandler Parsons scored 16 points for the Grizzlies who have lost seven of their last 10 outings Memphis suited up only 10 players due to numerous injuries Jazz 118 Suns 97 Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points Joe Ingles added 27 and Rudy Gobert surpassed Karl Malone in the Utah record book to lead the visiting jazz past Phoenix Gobert scored 17 points collected 13 rebounds and blocked five shots for the Jazz his franchise record 63rd point rebound double double of the season Malone had 62 in the 1987 88 season Richaun Holmes tallied 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the Suns and Elie Okobo scored 15 points Phoenix s Devin Booker played only eight minutes in the first quarter before sustaining a left ankle sprain He finished with eight points on 3 of 4 shooting Pacers 108 Pistons 89 Thaddeus Young had 21 points eight rebounds and four assists and visiting Indiana defeated Detroit for the second time in three nights Bojan Bogdanovic and Myles Turner had 17 points apiece as the Pacers snapped the Pistons 11 game home winning streak Indiana defeat Detroit 111 102 on Monday in Indianapolis Andre Drummond carried the Pistons with 28 points 19 rebounds three assists three steals and three blocks Wayne Ellington had 24 points for Detroit Hawks 130 76ers 122 Trae Young and John Collins combined to score 58 points and Atlanta knocked off visiting Philadelphia for its third straight victory over the 76ers Young scored 33 points including a 3 pointer with 1 32 remaining that allowed Atlanta to stretch its dwindling lead back to eight points Philadelphia missed a great opportunity with 32 5 seconds left when Jimmy Butler drew a flagrant one foul Butler missed both free throws and a 3 point try when play resumed as Philadelphia could not cut into Atlanta s five point lead Philadelphia which has lost two straight and four of six was led by JJ Redick with 30 points He made six 3 pointers but uncharacteristically missed three free throws The Sixers also got 21 points from Tobias Harris Raptors 115 Nets 105 Pascal Siakam scored 28 points and Kawhi Leonard added 26 as Toronto continued its preparation for the postseason with a victory over Brooklyn in New York The Raptors who likely will be the No 2 seed in the Eastern Conference won their fifth straight Serge Ibaka tied a career high with five 3 pointers and contributed 23 points and 12 rebounds off the bench as the Raptors beat the Nets for the 15th time in the past 16 meetings The Nets lost for the seventh time in 10 games and missed a chance to move into sixth place past Detroit Instead the Nets are tied with Orlando for the final two playoff spots in the East D Angelo Russell led the Nets with 27 points and Spencer Dinwiddie added 14 Hornets 115 Pelicans 109 Kemba Walker scored 32 points as visiting Charlotte kept its playoff hopes mathematically alive with a victory over New Orleans Walker helped the Hornets salvage the final game of a four game road trip that began with losses against the Los Angeles Lakers Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz Frank Kaminsky added 21 points including 18 in the second half Devonte Graham had 13 and Jeremy Lamb 12 for Charlotte which is in 10th place in the Eastern Conference Julius Randle had 34 points and 11 rebounds his 22nd game this season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pelicans New Orleans lost for the 11th time in 13 games as it concluded a 1 4 homestand Timberwolves 110 Mavericks 108 Karl Anthony Towns had a monster night with 28 points and 13 rebounds and Andrew Wiggins scored the winning basket with 19 seconds to go to lift Minnesota past host Dallas Towns was brilliant throughout hitting 12 of his 15 shots including his last two a jumper to tie with 1 15 to go and then a sweet dribble drive for a finger roll and a 108 106 lead with 48 seconds to play Dallas rookie guard Jalen Brunson tied it with 36 seconds to go but after Wiggins reclaimed the lead for Minnesota Brunson missed Dallas 32nd 3 point attempt of the game Fellow Mavs rookie Luka Doncic finished with 27 points 12 rebounds and six assists in his first back after sitting out two Nuggets 113 Spurs 85 Nikola Jokic had 20 points 11 rebounds and nine assists Jamal Murray finished with 14 points 11 assists and six rebounds and host Denver beat San Antonio which lost head coach Gregg Popovich to ejection just 63 seconds into the game Monte Morris and Malik Beasley scored 19 points apiece and Gary Harris and Will Barton scored 11 each for Denver The Nuggets moved closer to clinching home court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs Popovich called a timeout after Murray s dunk gave Denver a 5 0 lead He immediately started talking to official Mark Ayotte who hit him with a technical Popovich kept talking as he followed Ayotte and then was hit with a second technical It was the second time in three games Popovich has been ejected He also got tossed against Sacramento on Sunday Bulls 115 Wizards 114 Walt Lemon Jr scored a game high 24 points the last two coming on free throws with 1 8 seconds left giving Chicago a narrow victory at Washington The win snapped a five game Chicago losing streak The Bulls have had a tough time in the last several games as they were again missing some of their top scorers due to injuries Zach LaVine Lauri Markkanen Otto Porter Jr and Kris Dunn all were out again and each has missed at least four consecutive games
Thomas Bryant and Bobby Portis both led Washington with 20 points in a battle between two teams out of the playoff race Field Level Media |
VZ | Frontier Unveils Call Authentication Technology With Neustar | In a bid to eradicate the growing risk of spoofed calls Frontier Communications Corporation NASDAQ FTR NYSE T recently collaborated with Neustar a leading tech company Following the partnership the subscribers are likely to detect accurate caller information and identify and mitigate unethical robocalls as well as caller ID spoofing by leveraging the SHAKEN STIR authentication standard SHAKEN STIR are acronyms for Signature based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited standards Notably this Federal Communications Commission FCC mandated technology provides the best available information making it easier for telephone companies and consumers to decide which calls are to be received or blocked The technology also makes it easier to trace a call to its source STIR SHAKEN standards create a secure framework to assure that the caller ID is accurate Call Authentication Technology A One Stop SolutionBeing one of the first telecom companies to conform to the Anti Robocall Principles Frontier has unveiled the deployment of two avant garde call authentication technology in association with Neustar Neustar Certified Caller and Neustar Robocall Mitigation In compliance with the latest SHAKEN STIR authentication norm the Neustar Certified Caller is a one stop solution to validate caller telephone identity by protecting the privacy of customers from phone scams It adds a digital certificate by marking the caller IDs as legitimate before reaching the ultimate consumers bolstering enterprise to consumer communication The Neustar Robocall Mitigation is an algorithmic technology It incorporates the combination of behavioral analytics and caller legitimacy to accurately identify illegal robocalls and call scammers by showing a probable spam warning on the customer s caller ID Existing ScenarioWith almost 3 billion robocalls each month unsolicited robocalls rank among the top complaints to the FCC Given the major apprehension surrounding this issue Frontier remains committed to implement the latest call blocking technology to trace the origin of illegal spoofed calls with the help of effective risk management and security solutions delivering trusted call solutions to the consumers This in turn reduces the operational costs with an increased resilience against network disruptions and cyber attacks The FCC has proposed a couple of measures to end the menace of unsolicited calls These include creation of a national database of disconnected phone numbers that are reassigned to other users to avoid dialing the wrong customers repeatedly This has enabled the telecom service providers to block and filter text messages identified as spam It has also demanded a digital validation by carriers to curb this pestering issue Apart from Frontier major telecom companies like AT T Inc NYSE T Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ TELUS Corporation NYSE TU Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA T Mobile and Ribbon have already taken necessary steps to prevent customers from receiving spurious calls ConclusionFrontier is currently focused on generating additional revenues through customer retention market share gain new product launches and broadband expansion by bringing about productivity and customer oriented enhancements It has been expanding its fiber based broadband footprint to cater to the needs of small and medium businesses with attractive plans Sustainable broadband subscriber growth supported by strong network expansion and improved pricing structure remains key growth drivers The company topped earnings estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters delivering average positive surprise of 116 6 The stock has lost 41 9 compared with the s decline of 29 1 in the past three months Zacks RankFrontier currently has a Zacks Rank 3 Hold You can see 5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was hand picked by a Zacks expert as the 1 favorite stock to gain 100 or more in 2020 Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor |
VZ | Tencent shareholder Naspers plots Euronext e commerce listing | By Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG Reuters Tencent shareholder Naspers plans to float a portion of its e commerce ventures on Euronext in Amsterdam a move South Africa s biggest company said on Monday will create a 140 billion European internet giant As well as a one third stake in China s Tencent which is worth around 134 billion Naspers via its e commerce business also owns stakes in OLX the biggest classifieds ads site in India and Brazil and mobile classified platform letgo which vies with Craiglist in the United States Naspers did not give financial details of the listing which is penciled in for the second half of the year But chief financial officer Basil Sgourdos said the new entity was likely to be the third largest on Euronext above oil giant Total which is valued around 130 billion euros We bring a very unique story to Europe We bring Europe s largest consumer internet company Europe has been starved of global internet investment opportunities Sgourdos said Founded more than 100 years ago in the Stellenbosch winelands of South Africa Naspers has transformed itself from a newspaper publisher into a 100 billion empire thanks to its one third stake in Tencent The stake is a money spinner for the group but has also become a headache for Chief Executive Bob van Dijk because it dwarfs Naspers own market capitalization by almost 30 percent As part of efforts to narrow the gap van Dijk spun out and separately listed the company s de facto African pay TV monopoly Multichoice a company valued around 50 billion rand last month Sgourdos said that the decision to also separately list its internet investments in Amsterdam would go a long way in narrowing the valuation gap because Naspers oversized weighting on the JSE was to blame for the discount As our weighting in the index went up our discount widened Why Because South African funds cannot have single stock exposure of 25 percent So as much as they love Naspers they can t hold it he said Sguordos said the new entity which is yet to be named was valued at roughly 140 billion based on a mean consensus of analysts estimates CONGENIAL HOME Naspers accounts for about a quarter of the JSE s value a headache for local fund managers who have been forced to sell the stock when its valuation rises to limit their exposure Some analysts doubt whether the Euronext move will have much of an impact in narrowing the discount with Jeffries Ken Rumph saying part of the problem was some investors did not believe Naspers could turn the internet businesses into profitable enterprises Amsterdam may be slightly more of a congenial home but does that really change anything Or will people still think this is some assets that we re not sure we will ever see their value To me that s the real problem with Naspers Rumph said The e commerce businesses generate 3 3 billion in annual earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization from sales of nearly 16 billion with Tencent accounting for virtually all the profit The new entity which will have a secondary listing in Johannesburg will house stakes from some of the biggest internet brands in emerging markets including Russia s biggest social networking site mail ru Indian online travel firm MakeMyTrip and Brazilian food delivery firm iFood The new company is expected to be owned 75 percent by Naspers and have a free float of 25 percent when it lists in the second half of the year Naspers problems mirror the dilemma faced by Yahoo NASDAQ AABA where its core business ended up being worth 10 times less than its stake in Alibaba NYSE BABA and Yahoo Japan Yahoo fixed that by selling its core operating business to Verizon NYSE VZ in 2016 and re branding what was left as Altaba a conflation of alternative and Alibaba Shares in Naspers fell 1 6 percent to 3 222 63 rand as of 1443 GMT |
VZ | Verizon Falls 3 | Investing com Verizon NYSE VZ fell by 3 06 to trade at 59 02 by 10 58 14 58 GMT on Thursday on the NYSE exchange
The volume of Verizon shares traded since the start of the session was 5 79M Verizon has traded in a range of 59 02 to 60 89 on the day
The stock has traded at 61 1900 at its highest and 57 1100 at its lowest during the past seven days |
VZ | South Korean U S telcos roll out 5G services early as race heats up | By Ju min Park and Kenneth Li SEOUL Reuters South Korea s three mobile carriers and top U S telco Verizon Communications NYSE VZ commercially launched 5G services on Wednesday ahead of their initial schedules as they rushed for first spot in the race to roll out the latest wireless technology SK Telecom and two smaller carriers had planned to initially launch 5G in South Korea on Friday with Samsung KS 005930 Electronics new 5G enabled smartphone Galaxy S10 Verizon was due to roll out the technology in Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11 and said last month customers could use 5G on Motorola s Z3 and a Moto Mod a physical magnet like attachment for the phone Countries including South Korea United States China and Japan are racing to market 5G hoping the technology will spur breakthrough in fields such as smart cities and autonomous cars The technology can offer 20 times faster data speeds than 4G long term evolution LTE networks and better support for artificial intelligence and virtual reality with low latency Sometimes it can offer 100 times faster speeds South Korea claimed to be the first country to launch 5G but that was disputed by U S carriers who say they rolled out 5G in limited areas as early as last year U S telco AT T Inc NYSE T said it was the first to launch a commercial and standards based 5G network in December 2018 The service however was made available to mobile hotspot devices but is not yet on phones SK Telecom spokeswoman Irene Kim told Reuters the company had internal discussions and decided to launch the 5G service early as the company had networks and customers ready South Korean carriers started offering 5G services at 11 p m local time 1400 GMT on Wednesday FANFARE In South Korea telcos and smartphone makers are pulling out all stops to market 5G services and devices On Wednesday SK Telecom showed off K pop stars and an Olympic gold medalist as its first 5G customers The company said it was working with its memory chip making affiliate SK Hynix to build a highly digitized and connected factory powered by 5G technology Smaller rival KT Corp said it will offer cheaper 5G plans than its LTE service with unlimited data and four year installments to buy 5G devices Samsung was the first to unwrap a 5G phone in February when it unveiled the Galaxy S10 5G and a nearly 2 000 folding smartphone putting the world s top smartphone maker by volume in pole position in the 5G race some analysts say LG Electronics Inc plans to release its 5G smartphone in South Korea later this month SECURITY CONCERNS While security concerns over 5G networks using telecom equipment made by China s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd have marred the buildup to the release of these services South Korean telcos have tried to shrug them off I don t think we have a security issue in South Korea Park Jin hyo head of SK Telecom s information and communication tech research center told reporters He added the company uses advanced technology to block eavesdropping or hacking into 5G networks Among South Korea s three operators SK Telecom and KT Corp do not use Huawei equipment for 5G Smaller carrier LG Uplus Corp uses Huawei gear
But SK Telecom officials said it was likely there will be an open auction for network equipment makers including Huawei if South Korea needs more base stations for higher frequencies The country has one of the world s top smartphone penetration rates |
XOM | College burned in militant attack in northern Mozambique | JOHANNESBURG Reuters Militants torched a teacher training college run by a local charity in northern Mozambique a director of the organization and a security analyst said on Thursday although it appeared that no one had been wounded
The attack took place in the northern province of Cabo Delgado where a festering Islamist insurgency threatens security in a nation set to become a top global gas exporter Hundreds of people have been killed since 2017
Birgit Holm director of ADPP Mozambique a charity working in education health agriculture and renewable energy said its college had been set alight but it did not seem like any students or staff had been hurt
The alarm was raised during a spate of attacks nearby allowing people from a nearby village and the school in Bilibiza time to flee before the militants reached them on Wednesday night she told Reuters
But the militants were there and they burned the place we don t know yet how much because nobody has dared to go back yet she said
An institute of agriculture in Bilibiza run by the Aga Khan Foundation an international development agency was also hit Holm and the analyst Johann Smith said The institute told Reuters it was still gathering information
A group known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa Jama began staging attacks in the region in 2017 More recently the Islamic State has claimed a number of the attacks via their media outlets
The violence including beheadings the razing of villages and clashes with security forces is unfolding on the doorstep of the biggest gas find in a decade with projects being developed by the likes of Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM and Total that have the potential to transform Mozambique s economy
The frequency of attacks is growing with around 16 so far in January Smith said
South Africa s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said this week that attacks by militants affiliated with the Islamic State in neighboring Mozambique were cause for concern
History has shown that poorer regions are most vulnerable to violent external incursions as material incentives are easily disbursed to attract young people to these negative activities she told a conference in Pretoria South Africa |
WMB | NBA roundup Warriors alone atop Western Conference | The Golden State Warriors vented their frustration over a controversial loss in their previous game on the playoff hopeful Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night using a 71 point first half to pave the way to a 137 90 blowout in Oakland Calif Stephen Curry 25 points and Klay Thompson 24 combined for 11 3 pointers helping the Warriors win a game in which DeMarcus Cousins was ejected in the second quarter for a flagrant foul The win coupled with Denver s surprising home loss to Washington pushed the Warriors 52 24 one game ahead of the Nuggets 51 25 atop the Western Conference on the eve of their showdown Tuesday night at Golden State The Warriors improved to 18 6 this season in the first game following a loss which on this occasion was a 131 130 overtime affair Friday night at Minnesota that featured two questionable calls against Golden State in the final five seconds of the extra session Wizards 95 Nuggets 90 Troy Brown Jr scored 24 points Thomas Bryant had 20 points and 14 rebounds and Washington dealt Denver a home loss The Nuggets had won eight of 10 and fell one game behind Golden State for the best record in the Western Conference Jabari Parker also had 20 points for Washington which had lost six of seven Bradley Beal added 17 Denver s Nikola Jokic had 23 points and 14 rebounds before being ejected after receiving two quick technical fouls for arguing a non foul call with 3 46 remaining Paul Millsap had 13 points and 16 rebounds Clippers 113 Grizzlies 96 Danilo Gallinari scored 27 points with 15 rebounds and Montrezl Harrell added 20 points as Los Angeles moved into a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with a victory over visiting Memphis Lou Williams NYSE WMB scored 17 points and JaMychal Green added 15 as the Clippers 47 31 drew even with the Utah Jazz six games behind the first place Golden State Warriors but just two games behind the fourth place Portland Trail Blazers Delon Wright scored 20 points and Chandler Parsons added 17 as the Grizzlies lost for the fourth time in their last six games and for the sixth time in their last nine games Memphis has already been eliminated from playoff consideration Kings 113 Spurs 106 Buddy Hield scored 26 points to lead seven players in double figures as visiting Sacramento clipped San Antonio completing a three game sweep of the season series The Spurs are already guaranteed a spot in the postseason for the 22nd straight season tying an NBA record The Kings trailed 106 105 after San Antonio s DeMar DeRozan hit a jumper with 2 53 to play Sacramento responded with the final eight points of the game capped by two free throws by Hield with 16 7 seconds left to snap a two game losing streak Willie Cauley Stein added 17 points for the Kings with Bogdan Bogdanovic and Harrison Barnes scoring 15 each De Aaron Fox hitting for 12 points and Nemanja Bjelica and Yogi Ferrell pumping in 10 points apiece Kosta Koufos led the Kings with 11 rebounds Mavericks 106 Thunder 103 Dwight Powell s dunk with 21 seconds left gave Dallas the lead for good as it survived a wild win over host Oklahoma City Powell took a dish from Jalen Brunson who hit a go ahead basket on the Mavericks previous possession and slammed the ball home for the fifth lead change in a frantic final two minutes Dennis Schroder and Paul George each missed would be go ahead 3 pointers on the Thunder s next trip down the floor Trey Burke scored 25 points for the Mavericks who snapped a two game losing streak and won for just the fifth time in their last 23 games Brunson scored 18 points while Devin Harris had 15 points and Dwight Powell added 11 points Hawks 136 Bucks 135 Rookie Trae Young hit the game winning jumper at the buzzer in overtime to give Atlanta a win over visiting Milwaukee It was the first time Atlanta beat Milwaukee in three tries this season and broke a six game losing streak to the Bucks Milwaukee s Sterling Brown who scored a season high 27 had put the Bucks ahead with 1 1 seconds remaining with a driving basket That negated the go ahead bucket that Young had scored with 6 8 seconds remaining on the previous possess Atlanta got 24 points from Justin Anderson and 23 points each from John Collins and Alex Len Anderson and Collins each had 12 rebounds Young had 12 points and 16 assists The Bucks were playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo sprained ankle and Khris Middleton sore groin Lakers 130 Pelicans 102 JaVale McGee had 23 points and 16 rebounds as visiting Los Angeles routed New Orleans in a matchup of short handed teams Los Angeles was playing its first game since announcing Saturday that LeBron James would not play again this season because of a groin injury Former Pelican Rajon Rondo added 24 points and 12 assists Alex Caruso came off the bench to score 23 points Kentavious Caldwell Pope added 19 points and Reggie Bullock 18 as the Lakers outscored the Pelicans 69 40 in the second half
Former Laker Julius Randle scored 17 to lead New Orleans which lost for the 10th time in 12 games Christian Wood added 15 points and 11 rebounds Jahlil Okafor scored 15 Solomon Hill had 14 and Cheick Diallo had his ninth double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds Anthony Davis back spasms was held out by New Orleans Field Level Media |
WMB | QBs Murray Haskins to work out for Raiders | Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Kyler Murray will work out privately for the Oakland Raiders on Monday according to a report Albert Breer of the MMQB said the workout will take place in Dallas On Tuesday the Raiders brass will travel to Columbus Ohio to watch former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins in action he added As recently as last week at the league meetings in Phoenix Raiders coach Jon Gruden said veteran David Carr will be his quarterback in 2019 Yeah He s going to be our quarterback Gruden said in an interview with NFL Network from the meetings I m not going to address all the rumors I could care less about the rumors He threw for 4 100 yards Threw for almost 70 percent completion rate in a very dire tough circumstance So I ve got a lot of confidence in Carr what he can do with Antonio Brown with Tyrell Williams NYSE WMB with Trent Brown coming in here to help our offensive line Gruden acknowledged last week that the Raiders would hold workouts with quarterbacks of interest as part of its due diligence before the draft We re going to meet with a lot of guys at every position Gruden said We re not going to look past anybody at any position We have the fourth pick in this draft and we re going to make sure we get it right The Raiders also hold the Nos 24 and 27 picks as well as the No 35 pick second round so they have wiggle room to trade up for a quarterback if they desire
The NFL draft will be held April 25 27 in Nashville Tenn Field Level Media |
WMB | Comedian faces scrutiny over oligarch ties in Ukraine presidential race | By Matthias Williams NYSE WMB and Natalia Zinets KIEV Reuters Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy is leading the race to become Ukraine s next president thanks to an insurgent campaign that rails against corrupt politicians influenced by rich oligarchs Yet it is his own relationship with one of the country s wealthiest tycoons that could prove an Achilles heel One of Ukraine s most popular TV channels 1 1 owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky has given Zelenskiy a powerful platform in recent months during his meteoric rise to the brink of the presidency On Saturday a day before Zelenskiy won the first round of the presidential contest and set up a run off with the incumbent Petro Poroshenko 1 1 filled its schedule with back to back shows by the comedian and actor The fact that Zelenskiy is a major star on the channel has stoked worries among some investors and voters and accusations from his political opponents that he is in the pocket of Kolomoisky Both Zelenskiy and Kolomoisky say their relationship is strictly professional and centered on the comedian s TV work Both say no undue influence is being exerted by the oligarch whose businesses range from banking and energy to aviation I m more his puppet than he is mine Kolomoisky said last year It is impossible to influence me Zelenskiy told the news website Gordon in December Neither Kolomoisky nor any other oligarch no one will influence me Zelenskiy said last month he was in the process of exiting all his businesses which includes the production company whose shows run on 1 1 Asked whether the relationship was a weak spot for him Zelenskiy told Reuters We are working according to TV contracts and it is fine It is business However President Poroshenko has sought to make political capital out of the connection between the two men as he fights to make up ground to the comedian before the run off vote on April 21 In the past few weeks my opponents have poured on me rivers of shameless lies The main source of these lies in recent months deplorable as it may be has been 1 1 1 1 has turned into the obedient implementer of the political assignments of its owner Poroshenko said Though the latter may have fled abroad he still plays the pre election political chessboard sometimes moving the Ze Zelenskiy pieces sometimes the Yu former prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko pieces Kolomoisky is motivated by a desire for revenge against the state he wrote on Twitter Kolomoisky has lived abroad since clashing with Poroshenko over Ukraine s largest bank which he used to own In a November interview to Ukrainian news site lb ua he worried Ukraine s judicial system would stop him from leaving the country if he came back Zelenskiy announced he was running for president on December 31 on 1 1 upstaging Poroshenko who was giving a traditional New Year s Eve address to the nation at the same time On Saturday the channel s Zelenskiy themed schedule included shows where he and fellow actors performed jokes sketches and songs and a documentary voiced by Zelenskiy about Ronald Reagan a popular actor who became U S president Poroshenko is part of the same wealthy elite as Kolomoisky having made a fortune from confectionery that earned him the sobriquet of Chocolate King The strategic dilemma will be what do you prefer an oligarch or someone possibly controlled by an oligarch the puppet or a puppeteer said regional analyst and political consultant Radu Magdin AM I THAT CRAZY Kolomoisky makes no secret of his dislike for Poroshenko and the two have clashed repeatedly over issues that threatened Kolomoisky s businesses No hard evidence has been presented by any of Zelenskiy s opponents that Kolomoisky is indeed pulling the strings behind the campaign But the ties between the two men have led some political analysts and Western diplomats to question how zealously Zelenskiy would try to implement reforms needed to speed up economic growth and keep foreign aid flowing if they clashed with Kolomoisky s interests In particular the relationship puts the spotlight on the fate of PrivatBank Ukraine s largest lender which the government wrested from Kolomoisky in 2016 in a clean up of the banking system under an International Monetary Fund bailout program The government pumped billions of dollars into shoring up PrivatBank s finances saying money had been fraudulently siphoned off from the lender while Kolomoisky owned it Kolomoisky denied any wrongdoing and has challenged the nationalization in court Asked if there were concerns about Zelenskiy s ties to Kolomoisky Edwin Gutierrez head of Emerging Market Sovereign Debt at Aberdeen Standard Investments said That is there but at the end of the day the oligarchs always rule the roost in Ukraine Maybe this will be another Yanukovich moment where everyone gets excited but then in the end Ukraine disappoints he added referring to former President Viktor Yanukovich who fled to Russia after the 2014 Maidan street protests Asked in a Reuters interview whether he would hand PrivatBank back to Kolomoisky if elected Zelenskiy said in February Am I that crazy Do I want to lose my life reputation Accusations from Poroshenko and his allies that Zelenskiy is being controlled by an oligarch has lent an ironic twist to the presidential race Zelenskiy s campaign has been propelled by his TV show Servant of the People where he plays a scrupulously honest history schoolteacher who becomes president by accident He challenges the old way of doing things outwitting shadowy oligarchs and corrupt politicians The series blurs the line between fiction and reality between the make believe president and the real life challenger In the first scene of the first series three shadowy power brokers are surveying Kiev s Maidan square from a rooftop balcony at night while sipping drinks and talking about how they spend money to bring their puppet politicians to power It s one week before the election We worked hard for our candidates They re almost neck and neck now let the best man win says one
What good will that bring me asks another |
WMB | No 1 Notre Dame blasts No 2 Stanford to make Final Four | Jackie Young s 25 point 10 rebound double double Monday night helped top seeded Notre Dame rally from a nine point second half deficit and stop second seeded Stanford 84 68 in the title game of the Chicago Region at Wintrust Arena earning the right to defend its national championship The Fighting Irish 34 3 advanced to the Final Four in the NCAA Women s Tournament earning a matchup Friday night in Tampa against Connecticut It s a rematch of a regular season game in December that the Huskies won Arike Ogunbowale added 21 points despite making just 6 of 19 shots for Notre Dame while Brianna Turner scored 14 Jessica Shepard stuffed the stat sheet finishing with 11 points 14 rebounds and four assists Kiana Williams NYSE WMB paced Stanford 31 5 with 20 points but converted only 8 of 22 attempts from the field Dijonai Carrington chipped in 18 and Alanna Smith scored 14 points The Cardinal made just 39 7 percent of their field goals and were outrebounded 48 38 The Irish outscored Stanford 58 35 in the second half pulling away with a 32 point fourth quarter Ogunbowale s 3 point play with 7 47 left in the game gave them a 59 48 lead and the Cardinal couldn t get closer than eight for the night s remainder Stanford controlled most of the first half using an excellent defensive effort to keep its high scoring opponent under wraps Notre Dame endured a 3 1 2 minute scoring drought after Ogunbowale opened the game with a 3 pointer and the Cardinal took a 13 11 edge to the second quarter Stanford found a little more traction offensively in the final 6 1 2 minutes of the first half It closed the half with an 8 2 spurt capped by a Lexie Hull jumper with 49 seconds left that put it in the locker room with a 33 26 lead
The margin was still seven almost halfway through the third quarter when the Irish finally got going Young s seven points in an 11 2 run over the final 2 17 of the period not only activated the large Notre Dame crowd but gave their team a 52 46 advantage Field Level Media |
WMB | NFL notebook Browns trade Ogbah to Chiefs | The Cleveland Browns traded defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah to the Kansas Chiefs on Monday The Chiefs announced the trade and said they would send safety Eric Murray in return Ogbah selected by the Browns in the second round 32nd overall of the 2016 NFL Draft did not show up to the Browns training facility on Monday for the first day of voluntary workouts because he expected to be traded He had been on the trading block since the team acquired edge rusher Olivier Vernon from the New York Giants in March Also absent for the Browns was running back Duke Johnson whose name has swirled in trade rumors since the team added Kareem Hunt earlier this offseason Head coach Freddie Kitchens declined to give a reason for Johnson s absence but he said at last week s league meetings Johnson will have a role on the Browns this season Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa is scheduled to visit the Arizona Cardinals with speculation mounting he could be the No 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft Bosa met with team officials in Florida on Friday and is now set for a second sitdown at the team facility Bosa and the Cardinals have a top 30 visit scheduled with four weeks remaining until the 2019 draft Bosa will be in Arizona on Thursday night for a Friday visit this week Sports Illustrated first reported Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Kyler Murray worked out privately for the Oakland Raiders according to a report Albert Breer of The MMQB said the workout took place in Dallas On Tuesday the Raiders brass will travel to Columbus Ohio to watch former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins in action he added As recently as last week at the league meetings in Phoenix Raiders coach Jon Gruden said veteran David Carr will be his quarterback in 2019 Atlanta Falcons star Julio Jones says he is comfortable with his current contract situation and doesn t care about being the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL ESPN reported I m good I m comfortable with how everybody s doing it Jones said when asked about the status of his contract talks There s no pressure on my end and none on their end If they re going to get it done we ll get it done Over the last five seasons 2014 18 Jones has the most receiving yards 7 994 and the second most receptions 524 in the league Washington Redskins left tackle Trent Williams NYSE WMB is fine and should be ready for training camp after a health issue that previously appeared quite serious NFL Network reported Per the report Williams had a growth or tumor on his head that doctors feared was malignant and teammates were under the impression he could miss the season But an operation to remove the growth was successful and Williams is expected to be fine by late summer An exact diagnosis has not been released New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady used his first ever tweet to announce his retirement in an April Fools Day prank that immediately went viral I m retiring In my spare time I ll be tweeting Brady posted in the first tweet sent from his official account TomBrady His second tweet delivered about an hour later let relieved Patriots fans know he was goofing around Was this a bad joke Brady wrote The Detroit Lions agreed to terms on a one year deal with veteran running back C J Anderson The 28 year old Anderson had 403 rushing yards in 11 games last season while splitting time between the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams The Pittsburgh Steelers announced the release of veteran safety Morgan Burnett Burnett 30 played in 11 games in his only season with Pittsburgh in 2018 finishing with 30 tackles six passes defensed and no interceptions Super Bowl LIII referee John Parry has retired and is joining ESPN as an officiating analyst He will provide analysis from the broadcast booth on Monday Night Football and also will work on NFL studio shows and SportsCenter the network announced The Chicago Bears re signed free agent outside linebacker Aaron Lynch on a one year deal Financial terms were not announced Lynch 26 had three sacks and eight quarterback hits in 13 games three starts in 2018 The Minnesota Vikings re signed veteran center Brett Jones The one year deal is worth up to 1 5 million with incentives per the St Paul Pioneer Press The Jacksonville Jaguars signed former Houston Texans running back Alfred Blue Terms were not announced The Arizona Cardinals signed former Denver Broncos cornerback Tramaine Brock NFL Network reported Brock played for new Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph in Denver Oakland Raiders cornerback Daryl Worley signed his restricted free agent tender a one year deal worth 3 095 million
The Patriots signed former Vikings offensive tackle Cedrick Lang who spent all of 2018 on injured reserve Field Level Media |
WMB | Australia government promises back in black budget in election run up | By Colin Packham and Swati Pandey CANBERRA Reuters Australia s conservative government on Tuesday proposed tax cuts for low and middle income earners and record spending on health and education while promising the first budget surplus in more than a decade shaping its pitch for votes in an imminent election Treasurer Josh Frydenberg offered A 158 billion 112 billion in tax cuts over the next decade primarily aimed at middle income earners on top of tax cuts of A 144 billion last year as the coalition government which is trailing in opinion polls tries to win over voters An election must be held by mid May and could be called as soon as this week The budget is back in the black and Australia is back on track Frydenberg told parliament in a budget speech on Tuesday evening For the first time in 12 years our nation is again paying its own way Analysts long expected a spending plan designed to attract votes It is the pre election budget to end all pre election budgets it is extraordinarily generous said Paul Williams NYSE WMB professor of political science at Griffith University There was muted reaction by the Australian dollar after the budget release Earlier on Tuesday it slid after the country s central bank held interest rates steady but still managed to sound dovish to some Standard Poor s and Moody s left their top AAA ratings for Australia unchanged S P said the country would achieve stronger fiscal outcomes than anticipated in the near term because of robust commodity prices and terms of trade Moody s said strong employment growth supported the economy Frydenberg predicted a budget surplus of A 7 1 billion in the fiscal year ending June 2020 up from a December forecast of a A 4 1 billion surplus as higher export receipts and tax revenues boost government coffers If achieved it would be the first surplus since 2007 08 before the global financial crisis hit TAX REBATES The projected surpluses increase to A 11 billion in 2020 21 and A 17 8 billion in 2021 22 before easing to A 9 2 billion in 2022 23 Offering potential swing voters an immediate dividend the government said it will double the tax rebate for people earning between A 48 000 A 90 000 a year to A 1 080 in the current fiscal year Budget papers showed the cost of the tax cuts out to 2021 22 would be A 15 billion Polls show the conservative Scott Morrison led government consisting of the Liberal and rural focused National party is headed for a resounding defeat against center left Labor unless it can alter the current trajectory Williams of Griffith University said the most the budget can do is stem the decline in support The electorate has stopped listening On Tuesday Frydenberg also proposed changes in future years that would see income bands widened and tax rates reduced to deliver personal tax cuts The government would accelerate tax cuts for small businesses it said with the tax rate for businesses with turnover of less than A 50 million cut to 25 percent in 2021 22 The opposition Labor party said the budget would not address stagnant wage growth or tackle climate change Anaemic wages growth has been a hot political issue and is being used as an election platform for Labor and its supporters to campaign on The Australian Council of Trade Unions described wage growth forecasts in the budget rising to 3 5 percent in 2021 22 as fantasy Strong inflows into government coffers meant Frydenberg could increase spending on healthcare a strength of the opposition Labor party to a record A 89 5 billion in 2022 23 That is up nearly 10 percent on expected spending in 2019 20 The government would spend A 100 billion on infrastructure over the next decade to reduce congestion and improve links between Australia s cities and regional towns a lot of which has already been announced MORE RURAL ROADS Spending on rural infrastructure was forecast to rise by nearly 30 percent with A 4 5 billion to go for building roads in rural areas the major support base of the ruling coalition s junior partner The government also included an immediate one off rebate on energy costs to pensioners another key voter demographic for the coalition of A 75 for an individual or A 125 for couples And Frydenberg announced a A 3 5 billion package to reduce emissions to meet Australia s commitments under the Paris Accord The government s environmental record is seen as one of its electoral weaknesses with urban voters Frydenberg maintained a relatively optimistic outlook for the economy though he conceded there were risks including from falling house prices and global ones such as Brexit The government forecast full year economic growth of 2 25 percent in 2018 19 which would need activity to pick up in the January to June period as the economy grew 0 3 percent in the September quarter and 0 2 percent in the December quarter Growth in the A 1 9 trillion economy is seen picking up to 2 75 percent in 2019 20 and 2020 21 The tax cuts and increased spending if enacted could offer a boost to the economy as consumer spending has been soft recently as falling home prices and high debt levels weigh on sentiment Financial markets are fully pricing in a 25 basis points rate cut later this year AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said there was some fragility around the budget assumptions including downside risks to wage growth and consumer spending forecasts
It has provided stimulus but from what I can see it is not overwhelming Oliver said adding it was probably not enough to prevent Australia s central bank from cutting interest rates around mid 2019 |
WMB | Superdry founder set to win investor backing for return to board | Reuters The founder and former boss of Superdry Julian Dunkerton is set to return to the board of the British fashion group after winning the support of shareholders by a narrow margin initial votes showed on Tuesday Superdry said proxy votes cast ahead of a meeting of investors showed Dunkerton had secured 50 75 percent of the votes cast for his reappointment as a director The final outcome will be declared once votes cast at the general meeting itself are included Dunkerton who owns 18 4 percent of Superdry s equity had quit the firm a year ago after a row over strategy He particularly does not agree with Superdry s product and internet plans Superdry whose main products are sweatshirts hoodies and jackets has issued a string of profit warnings the latest in December and its shares have slumped 64 percent over the last year It has been led by Chief Executive Euan Sutherland since 2014 Superdry s board had opposed Dunkerton s return saying it would be highly disruptive and could trigger resignations Dunkerton and Superdry s co founder and former brand and design director James Holder who has a 9 7 percent stake also wanted to place Peter Williams NYSE WMB an industry veteran who is the current chairman of online fashion retailer Boohoo onto the board as a non executive director The proxy votes showed Williams had also won the support of 50 74 percent of votes cast
Shares in Superdry were down 2 percent at 1114 GMT |
WMB | Chicago heads to the polls to elect city s first black woman as mayor | By Brendan O Brien and Karen Pierog CHICAGO Reuters Chicago voters went to the polls on Tuesday to choose between two African American women running for mayor with the winner of the historic vote inheriting a city steeped in violent crime and wracked by fiscal woes Lori Lightfoot 56 the former president of independent civilian body the Chicago Police Board and a political outsider faces Toni Preckwinkle 72 a long time local politician in a runoff to become the 56th mayor of the third largest U S city I voted for Lori Lightfoot I think the other one Preckwinkle is in politics too long You know too much of a machine said John Reyes 71 speaking outside of a polling place in the Albany Park neighborhood The victor will become the first African American woman to lead Chicago a rarity in the United States where only 6 percent of mayors in the 200 U S largest cities are women of color according to the Reflective Democracy Campaign The two earned spots on the ballot after they garnered the most votes among 14 candidates in a February election The winner will replace Rahm Emanuel who announced in September that he was not seeking a third term Lightfoot would also become the first openly gay mayor in Chicago She has never held political office while Preckwinkle was a city councilwoman for almost 20 years before becoming Cook County board president in 2010 Dennis Williams NYSE WMB a 57 year old city employee from the Beverly neighborhood on the city s far South Side said he prefers Preckwinkle because of her experience People talk about change but don t understand that there is a lot to deal with on the day to day business like snow plows Williams said during an event on Saturday at the Rainbow PUSH headquarters where both candidates agreed to unite after the election Tuesday s winner will take over a city ranked as one of the nation s most violent Homicides in Chicago declined by more than a quarter in 2018 from its five year high of 769 in 2016 But less than one out of five murders was solved in Chicago in the first half of 2018 according to local media I have been very very clear that this is unacceptable Lightfoot said during a debate last week held by a local CBS affiliate Our detectives have to get out of their offices and get into the community Preckwinkle said the city must invest more in community policing and police training The way crimes get solved is that officers get cooperation and collaboration from community members she said Neither candidate has disclosed detailed plans for addressing a projected 252 million fiscal 2020 budget deficit and escalating pension payments that will top 2 billion in 2023 Preckwinkle and Lightfoot both support an elected rather than a currently appointed board to govern the debt dependent Chicago Public Schools which is controlled by the mayor The next mayor will be expected to deliver on a campaign promise to reform the police department currently under court appointed oversight to address a 2017 Justice Department finding of widespread excessive force and racial bias by officers On day one the new mayor will also have to find a way to ease tension between the police department and state s attorney after prosecutors decided to drop charges against actor Jussie Smollett who was accused of staging a hate crime attack Both candidates are calling for a fuller explanation from the state s attorney s office regarding the case
Whomever gets in will have a hard time said retired mailman Gary Muckle 77 after voting for Lightfoot this weekend |
WMB | Superdry founder named interim CEO as majority of board steps down | Reuters Superdry named its co founder and former boss Julian Dunkerton as interim chief executive officer on Tuesday after a majority of the British fashion group s board stepped down The company said Chairman Peter Bamford CEO Euan Sutherland and Chief Financial Officer Ed Barker have resigned and will stand down immediately
Superdry named Peter Williams NYSE WMB an industry veteran who is the current chairman of online fashion retailer Boohoo as chairman |
VZ | TELUS Unveils Call Validation Technology To Combat Robocalls | In order to thwart unsolicited calls TELUS Corporation NYSE T recently showcased its SHAKEN STIR authentication standard for telecom regulators Canadian Radio television and Telecommunications Commission and the Federal Communications Commission FCC SHAKEN STIR are acronyms for Signature based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited standards This technology provides the best available information to make it easier for telephone companies and consumers to decide what calls they want to allow or block thereby combating spoofed calls It also makes it easier to trace a call to its source Developed by web engineers the STIR SHAKEN framework adds a digital certificate which implies that calls travelling through interconnected networks would have their caller IDs marked as legitimate before reaching the ultimate consumers The step marked yet another milestone in a bid to protect the consumers from illegal robocalls With the help of the avant garde technological solution the service providers will have the option of providing opt in call filtering services to the subscribers which will automatically block high risk robocalls TELUS customers wishing to opt for the advanced call management feature will be required to enter a number on their keypad The multi pronged strategy also includes call authentication and validation and industry wide call traceback services Per the Canadian federal telecom regulator the telecom companies will bear the onus of reducing the occurrence of caller ID spoofing with the implementation of SHAKEN STIR by September 2020 The FCC has also proposed a couple of measures to end the menace of unsolicited calls These include creation of a national database of disconnected phone numbers that are reassigned to other users to avoid dialing the wrong customers repeatedly and enabling telecom service providers to block and filter text messages deemed as spam It has further demanded a digital validation by carriers to curb this nagging issue Existing ScenarioApart from TELUS major telecom companies like AT T Inc NYSE T Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ Comcast Corporation NASDAQ CMCSA and Ribbon have already taken necessary steps to prevent customers from receiving spurious calls AT T provides a blocking app and service called Call Protect that detects and blocks fraudulent calls flags spam calls as Suspected Spam when the phone rings and helps to maintain a personal block list Verizon offers a free version of its Call Filter service in compatible phones and postpaid plans that tries to detect and filter spam calls Comcast is at the forefront to mitigate robocalls by leveraging Xfinity voice services Ribbon recently partnered with Peerless Networks to serve the same purpose With the expansion of IoT marketplace in Canada TELUS is aiming to consolidate its foothold in the market It has introduced the TELUS Global IoT Connectivity platform to deliver seamless connectivity and simplified billing across 200 networks globally to support the expansion of Canadian business enterprises Price MovementDriven by diligent execution of operational strategies the stock has added 17 2 against the s decline of 24 6 in the year to date period Zacks RankTELUS currently has a Zacks Rank 3 Hold You can see Today s Best Stocks from ZacksWould you like to see the updated picks from our best market beating strategies From 2017 through Q3 2019 while the S P 500 gained 39 6 five of our strategies returned 51 8 57 5 96 9 119 0 and even 158 9 This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon From 2000 Q3 2019 while the S P averaged 5 6 per year our top strategies averaged up to 54 1 per year |
VZ | Verizon restores text service after East Coast outage | Reuters Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ said on Tuesday it had fixed the issue that caused a widespread text outage on the East Coast of the United States for a few hours We experienced an issue impacting texting services for some customers this morning Our engineers were able to identify and resolve the issue quickly Service is now fully restored Verizon said
The outage affected a number of users who jumped on Twitter to complain |
VZ | U S lawmakers at T Mobile Sprint hearing spar over stay at Trump hotel | WASHINGTON Reuters U S lawmakers questioning the chief executives of T Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp over their planned merger sparred with each other on Tuesday over T Mobile s executives staying at President Donald Trump s hotel where they spent 195 000 while in Washington T Mobile Chief Executive John Legere defended the 26 billion deal before a House subcommittee saying the company would be better and faster at building 5G the next generation of wireless to compete with industry leaders AT T Inc NYSE T and Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ and would create jobs while prices would not rise But Representative Hank Johnson a Democrat from Georgia asked instead about Legere taking a group of executives to stay at the Trump International Hotel the day after the merger was announced last year The hotel stay had been previously reported Legere acknowledged staying at the hotel telling the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee s antitrust subcommittee I m a longtime Trump hotel stayer You see how that looks Johnson pressed on You understand the optics of that What it looks like It looks like what s happening is that T Mobile is trying to curry favor with the White House Legere said that he was unaware of any contacts between the White House and the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission who were reviewing the deal Representative Pramila Jayapal a Democrat agreed with Johnson s concerns It appears that you were trying to influence the merger she told Legere Republicans on the committee disagreed Representative Jim Sensenbrenner a Republican said that where the T Mobile executives stayed was irrelevant I m kind of embarrassed sitting here listening to the line of questioning of the gentleman from Georgia he said referring to Johnson Representatives Matt Gaetz and Ken Buck both Republicans mocked the hotel issue I had dinner at the Trump hotel three weeks ago Buck said I wonder if I have a conflict of interest Legere said on Twitter on Sunday that on this trip to Washington he stayed at a different hotel MERGER CONCERNS Two key House Democrats expressed concern about the agreement to combine the No 3 and No 4 U S wireless carriers which was struck in April Representative David Cicilline chair of the antitrust panel noted that both companies had competed hard against their bigger rivals I am deeply skeptical that consolidation is the path forward to lowering prices increasing opportunity or unleashing competition he added Representative Jerrold Nadler chair of the full committee said he was concerned about the companies dominance of prepaid plans usually used by people who are poorer or have bad credit Because the proposed transaction would also consolidate the market for these services it may have disproportionately negative effects on low income households he said To win support for the deal T Mobile previously said it would not increase prices for three years Sprint said it hopes to complete the regulatory approval process by the end of June
Last month at a congressional hearing House Democrats raised worries about the deal because the U S wireless market has just four main carriers |
VZ | Making the Bullish Call | Fahad Khalid founder CIO of JaguarAnalytics joins Real Vision for the first time to explain how to take advantage of the opportunity in 5G He discusses the upside potential for shares of Verizon NYSE VZ and reviews an options trade to play the thesis in this interview with Justine Underhill Filmed on March 12 2019 Watch more at |
XOM | ExxonMobil I m a Bull and Even I Have to Admit Business Is Bad Right Now | The energy industry is in the doldrums and there s no way to sugarcoat it On top of that it has to deal with a negative environmental image Put simply ExxonMobil NYSE XOM the one energy company I own and its peers are getting hit from every direction I think Exxon can survive these tough times but that doesn t mean investors should ignore the facts Here s a quick reality check and why I think Exxon can get to the other side of this tough stretch in one piece
A tough time for Big Oil
Looking at the very big picture global warming is definitely taking center stage today Those with an ESG focus might prefer to see Exxon and its peers go out of business which many environmentalists would cheer as well That isn t in the cards today since carbon based fuels remain vital and entrenched energy sources but the bias against energy stocks is a headwind they have to face on Wall Street
Digging in a little deeper toward the end of 2019 Exxon CEO Darren Woods pointed out just how widespread the problem is in the energy space On the upstream side of the equation energy drilling the prices of oil and natural gas both remain toward the low end of their 10 year ranges These are commodities so Exxon can t do anything about prices And since drilling is Exxon s largest business weak pricing is tough
Normally low oil and natural gas prices would be offset by the company s downstream operations chemicals and refining The logic is simple Oil and gas are key inputs on this side of the business so cheap prices should be a net benefit to these operations Only margins in Exxon s chemicals and refining businesses are near the bottom of their 10 year ranges too So what would usually be a positive in a tough oil price environment is today also a negative
Adding to the bad news is that Exxon s production has been falling for a few years To fix that Exxon is spending heavily on exploration upgrades to its downstream operations are also part of the spending with as much as 35 billion a year earmarked for capital investment through 2025 Weak financial results due to troubling market conditions however mean that Exxon is going to need to lean heavily on its balance sheet to get through the next few years Investors are not pleased
At this point there s not a lot going that s likely to change this scenario for the better For example energy prices are likely to linger at around current levels because of the supply and demand dynamics in the market On the supply side U S energy production has exploded in recent years upending the historical equilibrium in the space Fracking tends to ramp up quickly when prices rise keeping a lid on the price of oil
Natural gas meanwhile ends up being a byproduct of increasing shale oil drilling So even if natural gas specific drilling efforts are curtailed reducing supply gas production is likely to remain relatively high and continue to be a headwind to this fuel Exxon s efforts to increase its own production are good for the company in many ways but they will help hamper energy prices
How Exxon can be a survivor
That said it is positive perhaps a mixed blessing to see that Exxon appears to have turned a corner productionwise with key metrics here turning higher throughout most of 2019 The bigger benefit however is that Exxon is working to improve its portfolio of assets so it has more profitable operations replacing expensive to produce oil with less expensive new production
And as its capital investment activities turn into operating production assets its return on capital employed effectively a measure of how well it uses shareholder capital should start to pick up Falling ROCE has been yet another headwind hampering Exxon s shares Essentially Exxon is trying to control the things it can in a tough pricing environment so it can come out the other side of this oil downturn a stronger company
XOM Financial Debt to Equity Quarterly data by YCharts
However equally important in this environment is that the oil major is working off of a strong foundation Specifically Exxon s financial debt to equity ratio is roughly 0 15 giving it a rock solid balance sheet It could double its debt load and still be within the same range as most of its peers In addition it is selling lesser quality assets to help offset the spending That improves its portfolio and helps reduce its need to issue debt Yes leverage is going to increase over the next few years but Exxon s balance sheet can handle it and management is doing what it can to soften the blow
Reality bites but not too much
Exxon s 5 yield is near 20 year highs Its price to tangible net worth is near 30 year lows The oil giant appears to be on sale which should interest dividend focused investors and those with a value bent That however is the good news The bad news is that Exxon is in the Wall Street doghouse for very good reasons and there s not a whole lot on the horizon today that appears likely to change that
I m willing to hold through this storm reinvesting my dividends in the belief that the supply demand imbalances in the energy space will correct themselves over time And when that happens based on what Exxon is doing today it will be well positioned to prosper However I would be fooling myself if I believed that all was well here This oil giant is still muddling through a rough patch and that will remain true for the foreseeable future unless something material changes in the energy sector My bet is that it can handle the strain |
WMB | Take Five The shape of you world market themes for the week ahead | Reuters Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them
1 YIELD CURVEBALLS
Which is it growth or gloom With 10 year U S bond yields below 3 month T bill rates for the first time in more than a decade recession fears are swirling After all an inverted yield curve when longer dated yields drop below shorter maturities have proved to be fairly reliable predictors of U S recessions in the past As a result some investors are busy putting cash behind bets the Fed is gearing up for rate cuts
But there are many who scoff they point to a world economy chugging along at a decent clip dovish central banks and company earnings that are still growing albeit more slowly So while Treasury yields are down 30 basis points this quarter world stocks are up more than 10 percent Recession skeptics may also note that U S equities are not far off record highs and credit spreads have retraced most of their December losses
Also while past recession discussions have focused on inversions of the 2 year 10 year U S curve that hasn t reacted so far Fed policymakers too such as voting member John Williams NYSE WMB say they are not worried about recession this year or the next Others such as James Bullard seem to be endorsing the this time is different argument hinting that the curve s predictive power has weakened
But policymakers around the world have already taken heed The ECB has hinted at further rate cut delays and at tiering interest rates to help banks other central banks from New Zealand to Canada are hinting at rate cuts ahead
2 THE END OF THE ROAD
No No No No Parliament s cold response to Prime Minister Theresa May s Brexit deal so far means the manner of Britain s exit from the European Union originally scheduled for March 29 is unknown
Brussels has let Britain delay its departure while May battled to find a way forward but there is little enthusiasm in parliament or the population even for the stripped down version of May s twice defeated deal But lawmakers have also given the thumbs down to a series of other amendments including revoking Brexit delaying it further or holding another referendum
Dismayed investors have been avoiding the pound but the resulting shortage in trading volumes just exacerbates price swings The question now is whether the most hardline Conservative euroskeptics and Northern Ireland s DUP the party propping up May s government can ever be convinced to back an exit deal before the new April 12 deadline
If the withdrawal agreement does somehow scrape through sterling would likely surge above 1 35 For the time being though the bleak if unlikely alternative scenario a chaotic no deal departure persists
Options markets aren t optimistic The price investors are willing to pay for one month sterling protection insurance against sterling falls is at the highest since the 2016 referendum vote
3 WORKIN FOR A LIVIN
U S factory job growth was its weakest in February since the summer of 2017 but still managed to extend the streak of monthly gains to 19 the longest in nearly a quarter century If as expected Friday s March payrolls report makes it 20 in a row economists polled by Reuters predict a 10 000 increase it would mark the longest uninterrupted run of manufacturing employment expansion in a generation matching the run from January 1983 through August 1984
But while comparable in length the current manufacturing renaissance pales in terms of total jobs created Back then U S factories added 1 34 million workers more than three times the 417 000 new jobs since the current streak began in August 2017
For early clues on the jobs data cast an eye on Monday s ISM Manufacturing Index Its employment component is closely correlated with the Labor Department s manufacturing payrolls series ISM s February reading on factory employment at 52 3 was the weakest in more than two years Should it drop below 50 the level separating expansion from contraction in the ISM series it could signal an end to manufacturing employment s long run The last time ISM had a sub 50 print was September 2016 That month U S factories cut 3 000 jobs
4 DEAL WITH IT
A month has passed since the United States and China missed an initial deadline to agree a trade deal The first face to face meetings between the two sides since that deadline were apparently constructive and productive now Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is to travel to Washington for further talks
In the meantime though tariffs on Chinese goods worth 250 billion are in play and that is hurting China as well as its Asian neighbors who are linked to it through complex supply chains March Purchasing Managers Indexes are expected to show a further deterioration in sentiment across the region and another source of pressure is the worry of a recession in the United States
The one thing preventing panic is the hope Beijing will provide enough stimulus to offset slowing trade Central bankers around Asia have started hinting at interest rate cuts relieved at the end of the Fed s policy tightening campaign But the upcoming activity data might show how soon they need to act
5 NO THANKSGIVING FOR THIS TURKEY
Last year s lira crisis tipped Turkey into a painful recession ended its credit fueled economic boom and complicated President Tayyip Erdogan s task of selling his economic success story to voters They are headed to the ballot box on Sunday for the first time since last year s currency meltdown
Polls suggest Erdogan could lose Ankara the city from which he has ruled Turkey with an increasingly iron grip since 2003 His AK Party could face a tough race in Istanbul where Erdogan was once mayor But policymakers efforts shore up the currency before the election have run into trouble and moves to curb offshore lira supply has pushed investors into selling Turkish stocks and bonds
The question now is how quickly policymakers will normalize their approach to markets And even if they do will pressure on the lira ease up and can they win back the trust of investors some of whom will have taken losses from the recent episode For an economy that s already reeling how much damage have these unorthodox measures inflicted And finally will the stress percolate to European banks active in Turkey BBVA MC BBVA Unicredit MI CRDI ING HSBC and BNP Paribas PA BNPP all have varying degrees of exposure |
WMB | Georgia lawmakers pass heartbeat abortion ban joining four other U S states | By Brendan O Brien Reuters Georgia s Republican controlled legislature on Friday passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States outlawing abortion if a doctor is able to detect a heartbeat The state s House of Representatives passed the bill with a 92 78 vote sending it to Republican Governor Brian Kemp who is expected to sign it into law The state Senate previously passed the measure Georgia values life We stand up for the innocent and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves The legislature s bold action reaffirms our priorities and who we are as a state Kemp said in a Twitter post Shortly after the passage of the bill the Democratic Party in Georgia said that it has started an initiative to recruit candidates to challenge Republicans who supported the legislation Republicans have shown that they can t be trusted to make decisions on behalf of Georgia women Georgia s healthcare system or Georgia s economy said Nikema Williams NYSE WMB chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia said in a statement Georgia currently allows abortions up to 20 weeks into pregnancy Measures such as this one have been passed in Iowa Kentucky Mississippi and Tennessee over the past year But judges in Iowa and Kentucky blocked similar laws earlier this month Activists on both sides of the issue say the laws are aimed at getting a case sent to the U S Supreme Court to challenge to Roe v Wade the court s 1973 landmark decision which said women have a constitutional right to an abortion The American Civil Liberties Union in Georgia warned that it will sue if Kemp signs the bill
If Kemp signs this abortion ban bill into law the ACLU has one message we will see you in court Andrea Young executive director of the ACLU of Georgia said in a statement |
WMB | UConn upends UCLA to reach 14th straight regional final | Napheesa Collier s 25 points and 10 rebounds helped second seeded Connecticut rally in the fourth quarter to eliminate sixth seeded UCLA 69 61 Friday night in an NCAA Women s Tournament regional semifinal in Albany N Y Crystal Dangerfield added 15 points for the Huskies 34 2 who will meet top seeded Louisville on Sunday for the regional title and a berth in the Final Four on April 5 in Tampa The Cardinals beat fourth seeded Oregon State 61 44 later Friday Christyn Williams NYSE WMB scored 14 as UConn reached its 14th straight regional title game Japreece Dean tallied 16 points and Kennedy Burke hit for 14 for the Bruins 22 13 but the duo combined to make only 10 of 34 shots from the field Lindsey Corsaro scored 11 points but inaccurate shooting ultimately doomed the upstarts from Westwood UCLA converted just 21 of 67 field goal attempts 31 3 percent including 6 of 22 27 percent from the 3 point arc That was enough to negate a 41 38 Bruins rebounding advantage and UCLA s 19 offensive boards Dangerfield was the star in the fourth quarter with 11 points including seven in a row She sank a jumper scored in transition and then drilled a 3 pointer with 7 13 left for a 58 52 Huskies lead The Bruins never got closer than five after that After UCLA scored the first five points of the game Collier dominated the next five minutes scoring 10 points and giving Connecticut a 13 9 lead Teammates picked it up from there and the Huskies went to the second quarter with a 22 15 advantage Connecticut stretched its lead to 31 19 when Williams canned a 3 pointer with 5 15 left in the half but the Bruins defense controlled the half s remainder UCLA didn t allow another point and Lauryn Miller s short jumper in the final minute allowed the Bruins to head for the locker room down just 31 26
UCLA found the range offensively in the third quarter grabbing a 46 41 lead with 2 22 remaining when Corsaro sank a 3 pointer off an offensive rebound But the Huskies clawed back drawing within 50 49 at quarter s end thanks to a layup by Megan Walker Field Level Media |
WMB | Report Texas A M to offer coaching job to Williams | Texas A M reportedly is pursuing Virginia Tech s Buzz Williams NYSE WMB to replace Billy Kennedy as head coach CBS Sports Jon Rothstein reported Saturday morning that Texas A M is prepared to offer Kennedy a multiyear contract that would pay him at least 3 5 million annually Williams is scheduled to earn 3 million next season at Virginia Tech and has a contract buyout of 750 000 for the 2019 20 season Kennedy was fired March 15 at the end of his eighth season with the Aggies who went 14 18 overall and 6 12 in the SEC in 2018 19 The 11th place league finish came on the heels of a 22 win season a year earlier when the Aggies earned their second NCAA Tournament appearance in Kennedy s tenure in College Station Texas Rothstein said Texas A M officials are banking on Williams and have no secondary candidate Virginia Tech s season ended Friday night with a 75 73 loss to Duke in the East Region semifinals The Hokies finished at 26 9 giving Williams a 100 69 record in his five seasons in Blacksburg Va Williams 46 has led the Hokies to three straight NCAA Tournament berths A native Texan he coached at New Orleans 2006 07 before moving on to Marquette where he spent six seasons Five of them ended in the NCAA Tournament
Overall his coaching record is 253 155 Field Level Media |
WMB | Comedian in front as curtain rises on Ukrainian presidential election | By Matthias Williams NYSE WMB KIEV Reuters Ukrainians began voting in a presidential election on Sunday in which a comedian with no political experience and who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series is tipped to win the first round Volodymyr Zelenskiy 41 who is appealing to voters fed up with entrenched corruption has consistently led opinion polls in a three horse race against incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko At stake is the leadership of a country on the front line of the West s standoff with Russia after the 2014 Maidan street protests ejected Poroshenko s Kremlin friendly predecessor and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula GRAPHIC Ukraine presidential election Investors are watching to see if the next president will push reforms required to keep the country in an International Monetary Fund bailout program that has supported Ukraine through war sharp recession and a currency plunge No candidate is expected to receive more than half the votes meaning the election would go to a run off on April 21 Out of a crowded field of 39 candidates none of the likely winners wants to move Ukraine back into Russia s orbit Poroshenko has fought to integrate the country with the European Union and NATO while strengthening the military which is fighting Kremlin backed separatists in the east of the country Pushing the use of the Ukrainian language and instrumental in establishing a new independent Orthodox church the 53 year old confectionary magnate casts himself as the man to prevent Ukraine again becoming a Russian vassal state But reforms crucial to keep foreign aid flowing have been patchy Conflict in the eastern Donbass region has killed 13 000 people in five years and rumbles on despite Poroshenko s promise to end it within weeks Frustration over low living standards and pervasive corruption has left the door open for Zelenskiy ANTI ESTABLISHMENT Just 9 percent of Ukrainians have confidence in their national government the lowest of any electorate in the world a Gallup poll published in March showed Zelenskiy has tapped into the anti establishment mood though his inexperience makes Western officials and foreign investors wary and skeptics question his fitness to be a wartime commander in chief Inviting comparisons with U S President Donald Trump and Italy s Five Star movement his campaign has relied heavily on social media and comedy gigs of jokes sketches and song and dance routines that poke fun at his political rivals He embodies the perceived need for new faces in politics and could sway the young pro reform electorate to his side said Economist Intelligence Unit analyst Agnese Ortolani Zelenskiy s campaign has blurred the line between reality and the TV series in which he plays a scrupulously honest history teacher who accidentally becomes president In series three which began airing in March his character is flung into prison and the country falls under the control of oligarchs populists and ultranationalists and eventually gets broken up into 28 states Thinly disguised characters resembling Poroshenko and Tymoshenko come to power The election has been marred by allegations of fraud and vote buying meaning one or more of the candidates could contest the result Ultranationalists acting as election observers have also caused concern about the prospect of violence
Accused of cheating by Tymoshenko Poroshenko attended a public prayer on the banks of the Dnieper river in Kiev on Saturday to pray for the elections to be free and fair and in his words for the wisdom of the people who tomorrow will determine the future of Ukraine |
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