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GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks wary as coronavirus threatens economic reopening – Reuters

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* Asian stock markets : tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

* Asia ex-Japan eases off 4-mth top, S&P 500 futures steady

* Deaths from COVID-19 reached half a million on Sunday

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* Dollar, bonds supported on safe haven appeal

By Wayne Cole

SYDNEY, June 29 (Reuters) – Asian share markets began the week with a cautious tone on Monday as the relentless spread of the coronavirus finally made investors question their optimism on the global economy, benefiting safe harbour bonds and the U.S. dollar.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6% and further away from a four-month top hit last week. Japan’s Nikkei shed 1.3% and Chinese blue chips 0.6%.

In a more promising sign, E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 recouped their early losses to edge up 0.3% and EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 0.2%. FTSE futures dipped 0.2%.

Wall Street had faltered on Friday as some U.S. states reconsidered their reopening plans. The global death toll from COVID-19 reached half a million people on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally.

About one-quarter of all the deaths so far have been in the United States, with cases surging in a handful of southern and western states that reopened earlier.

“The increase in U.S. COVID-19 infection rates has dented momentum across markets despite the improvements in the global economy, which continues to beat most data expectations,” wrote analysts at JPMorgan in a note.

“Our strategists remain sanguine and recommend to buy on dips but also selectivity,” they added. “Traditional hedges like JPY vs USD, USD vs EM FX, gold and quality stocks are still outperforming this month. We stay overweight U.S. equities but move EM equities to neutral and stay neutral U.S. credit.”

Sovereign bonds benefited from the shift to safety with yields on U.S. 10-year notes falling to 0.64%, having briefly been as high as 0.96% early in June.

The U.S. dollar went the opposite direction, rising to 97.461 against a basket of currencies from a trough of 95.714 earlier in the month.

It was a shade higher on the yen at 107.20 on Monday, but well within the recent range of 106.06 to 107.63. The euro stood at $1.1240 having found solid support around $1.1167.

It is an important week for U.S. data with the ISM manufacturing index on Wednesday and payrolls on Thursday, ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is also testifying on Tuesday.

“U.S. economic data will reinforce that the economy is through the worst of the recession in our view,” said CBA currency analyst Joseph Capurso.

“But a double-dip recession is possible if widespread restrictions are reimposed, leading to a surge in the dollar.”

In commodity markets, gold held near its highest since early 2012 at $1,771 an ounce.

Oil prices slipped amid concerns the pandemic would slow the reopening of some economies and thus hurt demand for fuel.

Brent crude futures fell 70 cents to $40.32 a barrel, while U.S. crude lost 62 cents to $37.87.

Editing by Sam Holmes

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Dow Jones Rises But S&P, Nasdaq Fall; Nvidia, SMCI Flash Sell Signals As Bitcoin's Fourth Halving Arrives – Investor's Business Daily

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]

  1. Dow Jones Rises But S&P, Nasdaq Fall; Nvidia, SMCI Flash Sell Signals As Bitcoin’s Fourth Halving Arrives  Investor’s Business Daily
  2. Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones: Mideast tensions  The Associated Press
  3. S&P 500 extends losing streak to sixth day, Dow up 210 points  Yahoo Canada Finance
  4. Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P Live Updates for April 19  Bloomberg
  5. Stock market today: Wall Street limps toward its longest weekly losing streak since September  CityNews Kitchener

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Netflix stock sinks on disappointing revenue forecast, move to scrap membership metrics – Yahoo Canada Finance

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Netflix (NFLX) stock slid as much as 9.6% Friday after the company gave a second quarter revenue forecast that missed estimates and announced it would stop reporting quarterly subscriber metrics closely watched by Wall Street.

On Thursday, Netflix guided to second quarter revenue of $9.49 billion, a miss compared to consensus estimates of $9.51 billion.

The company said it will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers starting next year, along with average revenue per member, or ARM.

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“As we’ve evolved our pricing and plans from a single to multiple tiers with different price points depending on the country, each incremental paid membership has a very different business impact,” the company said.

Netflix reported first quarter earnings that beat across the board on Thursday, with another 9 million-plus subscribers added in the quarter.

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Subscriber additions of 9.3 million beat expectations of 4.8 million and followed the 13 million net additions the streamer added in the fourth quarter. The company added 1.7 million paying users in Q1 2023.

Revenue beat Bloomberg consensus estimates of $9.27 billion to hit $9.37 billion in the quarter, an increase of 14.8% compared to the same period last year as the streamer leaned on revenue initiatives like its crackdown on password-sharing and ad-supported tier, in addition to the recent price hikes on certain subscription plans.

Netflix’s stock has been on a tear in recent months, with shares currently trading near the high end of its 52-week range. Wall Street analysts had warned that high expectations heading into the print could serve as an inherent risk to the stock price.

Earnings per share (EPS) beat estimates in the quarter, with the company reporting EPS of $5.28, well above consensus expectations of $4.52 and nearly double the $2.88 EPS figure it reported in the year-ago period. Netflix guided to second quarter EPS of $4.68, ahead of consensus calls for $4.54.

Profitability metrics also came in strong, with operating margins sitting at 28.1% for the first quarter compared to 21% in the same period last year.

The company previously guided to full-year 2024 operating margins of 24% after the metric grew to 21% from 18% in 2023. Netflix expects margins to tick down slightly in Q2 to 26.6%.

Free cash flow came in at $2.14 billion in the quarter, above consensus calls of $1.9 billion.

Meanwhile, ARM ticked up 1% year over year — matching the fourth quarter results. Wall Street analysts expect ARM to pick up later this year as both the ad-tier impact and price hike effects take hold.

On the ads front, ad-tier memberships increased 65% quarter over quarter after rising nearly 70% sequentially in Q3 2023 and Q4 2023. The ads plan now accounts for over 40% of all Netflix sign-ups in the markets it’s offered in.

FILE PHOTO: Netflix reported first quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File PhotoFILE PHOTO: Netflix reported first quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

Netflix reported first quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo (REUTERS / Reuters)

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.

For the latest earnings reports and analysis, earnings whispers and expectations, and company earnings news, click here

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

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Oil Prices Erase Gains as Iran Downplays Reports of Israeli Missile Attack – OilPrice.com

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Oil Prices Erase Gains as Iran Downplays Reports of Israeli Missile Attack | OilPrice.com



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Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. 

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  • Oil prices initially spiked on Friday due to unconfirmed reports of an Israeli missile strike on Iran.
  • Prices briefly reached above $90 per barrel before falling back as Iran denied the attack.
  • Iranian media reported activating their air defense systems, not an Israeli strike.

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Oil prices gave up nearly all of early Friday’s gains after an Iranian official told Reuters that there hadn’t been a missile attack against Iran.

Oil surged by as much as $3 per barrel in Asian trade early on Friday after a U.S. official told ABC News today that Israel launched missile strikes against Iran in the early morning hours today. After briefly spiking to above $90 per barrel early on Friday in Asian trade, Brent fell back to $87.10 per barrel in the morning in Europe.

The news was later confirmed by Iranian media, which said the country’s air defense system took down three drones over the city of Isfahan, according to Al Jazeera. Flights to three cities including Tehran and Isfahan were suspended, Iranian media also reported.

Israel’s retaliation for Iran’s missile strikes last week was seen by most as a guarantee of escalation of the Middle East conflict since Iran had warned Tel Aviv that if it retaliates, so will Tehran in its turn and that retaliation would be on a greater scale than the missile strikes from last week. These developments were naturally seen as strongly bullish for oil prices.

However, hours after unconfirmed reports of an Israeli attack first emerged, Reuters quoted an Iranian official as saying that there was no missile strike carried out against Iran. The explosions that were heard in the large Iranian city of Isfahan were the result of the activation of the air defense systems of Iran, the official told Reuters.

Overall, Iran appears to downplay the event, with most official comments and news reports not mentioning Israel, Reuters notes.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites,” confirming Iranian reports on the matter.

The Isfahan province is home to Iran’s nuclear site for uranium enrichment.

“Brent briefly soared back above $90 before reversing lower after Iranian media downplayed a retaliatory strike by Israel,” Saxo Bank said in a Friday note.

The $5 a barrel trading range in oil prices over the past week has been driven by traders attempting to “quantify the level of risk premium needed to reflect heightened tensions but with no impact on supply,” the bank said, adding “Expect prices to bid ahead of the weekend.”

At the time of writing Brent was trading at $87.34 and WTI at $83.14.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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