S&P 500 Slips After Index Hits Record – Wall Street Journal, 4/12/2021

• U.S. stocks inched lower Monday at the start of a busy week of corporate earnings and economic data.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78 points, or 0.2%, to 33723 in morning trading.
• The S&P 500 declined 0.2%, backing away after setting its 20th all-time closing high of the year Friday, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.6%.
• Investors on Monday said they were positioning for the start of earnings season, as well as data that will help to gauge whether a coming burst of inflation will prove transitory.
• Inflation data due on Tuesday are expected to show consumer prices picked up in March.
• In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note ticked up to 1.681% from 1.664% Friday.
• Yields, which move in the opposite direction to bond prices, have fallen back from their closing high of 1.749% in late March, but are still up from a low of 0.915% in early January.
• In overseas markets, the Stoxx Europe 600 edged down 0.4%, pressured by declines in shares of travel & leisure companies.
• Stocks pulled back in major Asian markets. China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.1%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.8%.
• American depository receipts for Alibaba Group rose 7.6% after companies founded by billionaire Jack Ma announced changes to operations and structure to placate regulators.
• Alibaba said Monday it would invest in measures to support merchants on its platform, two days after China’s antitrust regulator imposed a record fine.

Covid-19 Live Updates: Newly Reported U.S. Cases Fall – Wall Street Journal, 4/12/2021

• Newly reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. fell, as some states continued to struggle with elevated caseloads.
• The U.S. reported more than 46,000 new cases for Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University that was published early Monday.
• Sunday’s figure was down from Saturday’s total of 66,533, but daily cases are often lower on weekends and early in the week due to lower levels of testing. Not all states report data on new cases daily.
• The seven-day average, which smooths out irregularities in data reporting, was 68,404 on Saturday, while the 14-day average was 66,575, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. When the seven-day average is higher than the 14-day average, it indicates cases are rising.
• The country reported 289 fatalities for Sunday as the total death toll topped 562,000, according to Johns Hopkins data.
• Nearly 22% of U.S. residents are now fully vaccinated and an average of 3.1 million doses were administered each day over the past week, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
• Europe, with the exception of the U.K., continues to struggle to contain a new surge in Covid-19 cases amid a protracted vaccine rollout, with several countries having just adopted or now considering tighter social distancing rules.
• In Germany, daily infections resumed their recent upward trend after a brief lull around the Easter holidays, with hospitalizations continuing their unbroken climb. The country registered 13,245 new confirmed cases on Sunday, up from 12,196 a week earlier.
• The government is considering a nationwide lockdown that would go beyond the measures currently in place, which vary by regions. The step is controversial however, as it would override the competence of regional governments, which are legally responsible for most aspects of the pandemic response, and would require a vote from both houses of parliament.
• The U.K., meanwhile, continued its gradual easing of its Covid-19 restrictions Monday, with pubs and restaurants able to open in England for the first time this year—though only for outdoor table service.

United Airlines sees first-quarter revenue falling 66% – Reuters, 4/12/2021

• United Airlines said it expects first-quarter revenue to drop by 66%, which is near the lower end of its prior forecast, buoyed by improving demand for domestic travel.
• The company said it now expects first-quarter revenue to fall 66% to $3.2 billion from the same period in 2019.
• It had previously forecast a drop of between 65% and 70%.
• The airline said its average daily cash burn for the quarter is expected to be about $9 million per day, an improvement of about $10 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.

Uber Posts Record Rider Demand in March – Wall Street Journal, 4/12/2021

• Uber Technologies said it sees ride-hailing demand recovering faster than driver availability as Covid-19 vaccination rates increase in the U.S.
• The company on Monday said gross bookings for March rose to the highest monthly level in Uber’s nearly 12-year history.
• Uber’s mobility business, which includes ride-hailing, had its best month since March 2020, it said.
• The company said demand also continued to exceed courier availability for its meal-delivery business.
• The delivery business, combined with cost cuts, helped cushion the pandemic’s hit on Uber’s core ride-hailing operations during the pandemic, and the company posted a narrower full-year loss in February.
• Uber said it is on track to reach profitability this year in quarterly adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The company earlier this month said it was spending $250 million in bonuses in an effort to boost driver availability in the near term.

Microsoft to Buy Nuance Communications for $19.7 Billion – Wall Street Journal, 4/12/2021

• Microsoft has agreed to acquire speech-recognition firm Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, adding to a series of big deals the company has struck to offer an expanded range of software tools to its customers.
• The two companies on Monday said Microsoft agreed to pay $56 per Nuance share in the all-cash deal, a 23% premium over Friday’s closing price.
• The deal value includes Nuance debt, the companies said.
• Nuance, based in Burlington, Mass., was a pioneer in speech recognition and artificial intelligence technology. Its software formed the basis of Apple’s Siri voice assistant before the Cupertino, Calif-based company switched to an in-house version.
• The acquisition is Microsoft’s second largest under Chief Executive Satya Nadella after the company spent about $26 billion for professional network LinkedIn in 2016.

White House to zero in on chip shortage in meeting with company officials – Reuters, 4/12/2021

• Senior White House officials will meet on Monday with top executives from nearly 20 major companies to discuss a global semiconductor shortage that has roiled the automotive industry and technology firms.
• The White House meeting is billed as the “CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience” and will include White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.
• As of midday Friday, 19 major companies had agreed to send executives, including General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra, Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley and Chrysler-parent Stellantis NV CEO Carlos Tavares.
• Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will also take part, as well as executives from GlobalFoundries, PACCAR, NXP and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, AT&T, Samsung, Google-parent Alphabet, Dell Technologies, Intel, Medtronic, Northrop Grumman, HP, Cummins and Micron.

U.S. SEC review of socially responsible funds finds ‘potentially misleading’ claims – Reuters, 4/12/2021

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it has found “potentially misleading” claims and inadequate controls around investing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in a review of investment advisors and funds.
• The regulator warned funds that its review had turned up a range of issues where stated approaches of funds or advisors did not match actions. That included examples with how firms handled proxy voting on behalf of investors, as well as “unsubstantiated and potentially misleading claims” regarding socially responsible investment strategies.
• Socially responsible funds have grown more popular with investors in recent years.
• A record $51 billion flooded into sustainable U.S. funds in 2020 alone, according to Morningstar.
• But critics have said that some may overstate their credentials to attract cash.