Earnings optimism helps Wall St shrug off rising yields, Dow rises 300 pts

 

Shares of megacap companies like Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Amazon, typically sensitive to bond yields, jumped more than 1% despite hawkish comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President

US stocks rose on Tuesday even in the face of surging Treasury yields as a positive earnings reports helped investors shrug off potential risks from an aggressive rise in U.S. interest rates and the Ukraine war.

Johnson & Johnson rose 2.8% to a record high as the drugmaker's quarterly profit exceeded market expectations and it raised the dividend payout.

Halliburton Co gained 1.5% after the oilfield services firm posted an 85% rise in first-quarter adjusted profit, as a rally in crude prices boosted demand for its services and equipment.

Shares of megacap companies like Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Amazon.com, typically sensitive to bond yields, jumped more than 1% despite hawkish comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank

President James Bullard.

The benchmark 10-year note yield rose to 2.924, while the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield hit 3% for the first time since early 2019.

iPhone makers among biggest winners in India’s $6.6 bn manufacturing plan

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Indian government is expected to approve a plan aimed at bringing $150 billion in mobile-phone production over the next five years

Apple Inc.’s major iPhone assemblers are among the companies expected to win approval to participate in a $6.6 billion stimulus program to bring manufacturing to India, according to people familiar with the matter, a potentially seismic shift as the world’s most valuable company diversifies beyond China.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Indian government is expected to approve a plan aimed at bringing $150 billion in mobile-phone production over the next five years, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Among the dozen phonemakers already cleared by a high-powered government committee are Apple’s primary supplier Foxconn Technology Group, which had submitted two applications, and peers Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp., the people said. The three companies make virtually every iPhone sold globally in sprawling factories currently located mainly in China.

Under the Production Linked Incentive program, or PLI as it’s called, manufacturing incentives will rise each year in an ongoing effort to entice the world’s biggest smartphone brands to make their products in India and export to the world. Besides the Apple contractors, Samsung Electronics Co. is the only other applicant for the five slots allotted to foreign companies. China’s largest phonemakers Huawei Technologies Co. and BBK Group, which manufactures brands like Oppo and Vivo, are conspicuous by their absence.

US to block cotton, tomato imports from China’s Xinjiang over forced labor

The Trump administration announcement of the actions, initially expected on Tuesday, has been put off until later this week because of scheduling issues

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have prepared orders to block imports of cotton and tomato products from western China’s Xinjiang region over allegations they are produced with forced labor, although a formal announcement has been delayed. The Trump administration announcement of the actions, initially expected on Tuesday, has been put off until later this week because of “scheduling issues,” a CBP spokesman said.

The cotton and tomato bans along with five other import bans over alleged Xinjiang forced-labor abuses would be an unprecedented move by CBP and likely stoke tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The “Withhold Release Orders” allow the CBP to detain shipments based on suspicion of forced-labor involvement under long-standing U.S. laws aimed at combating human trafficking, child labor and other human rights abuses.

President Donald Trump’s administration is ratcheting up pressure on China over its treatment of Xinjiang’s Uighur Muslims. The United Nations has said it has credible reports that 1 million Muslims have been detained in camps in the region, where they are put to work.

China denies mistreatment of the Uighurs and says the camps are vocational training centers needed to fight extremism. CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith told Reuters that the effective import bans would apply to the entire supply chains involving cotton, including cotton yarn, textiles and apparel, as well as tomatoes, tomato paste and other products exported from the region…Read More

Cash may be king in India, but Google is prince of mobile payments

The company has one of its fastest-growing hits ever with Google Pay, a two-year-old app that millions of consumers are using to spend and transfer tens of billions of dollars

The leading player in the battle for mobile payments in India isn’t either of China’s pioneers, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. orTencent Holdings Ltd. It isn’t Apple Inc, Visa Inc or even PayPal Holdings Inc.

It’s Google.

The Alphabet Inc unit has for years tried to diversify its revenues beyond advertising by pushing into new fields like cloud computing and hardware. While its profits remain healthy, it needs new ways to make money as the specter of regulation looms at home and around the globe. Its booming new business in the world’s largest untapped digital market could be the engine of expansion that it has been looking for.

In India today, the company has one of its fastest-growing hits ever with Google Pay, a two-year-old app that millions of consumers are using to spend and transfer tens of billions of dollars. Resembling a chat app and available in local languages, Google Pay was the most downloaded financial technology app world-wide last year, according to SensorTower, a research and marketing firm for the app industry.

Indian consumers use it to buy train tickets, pay bills and even to purchase lunchtime meals from street vendors. Tiny mom-and-pop shops around the country now display a logo with a large “G” and Google’s blue, red, yellow and green colors, signaling that merchants accept payments via the app, which is free for all to use.

Apple to start online sales in India soon with local sourcing rules eased

The new investment rules could provide a boost to Apple, allowing it to grow sales in the country and possibly help it reduce its dependency on China by building an alternative supply chain in India

International News: Apple Inc is poised to start online sales of its devices in India within months, a person familiar with the matter said, benefiting from new rules making the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market more attractive to foreign brands.

On Wednesday, India eased rules that forced companies such as Apple to source 30% of their production locally — a requirement the iPhone maker has been lobbying against for years — to include exports as part of the requirement.

That rule posed a problem for electronics brands because most of its devices and components are manufactured in China. The government also allowed so-called single brand retailers to set up online stores before physical shops.

With escalating trade tensions damaging ties between the US and China, New Delhi’s latest investment rules could provide a boost to Apple, allowing it to grow sales in the country and possibly help it reduce its high dependency on China by building out an alternative supply chain in India.

The Cupertino, Calif-based device and services company will begin selling its iPhone, iPads and Apple Mac computers online in the coming months. It’s also firming up the Mumbai location of its first company-owned brick & mortar store in India — likely to open next year — the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are confidential. Selling online will be a big step forward for Apple in a country where counterfeit products abound in online platforms increasing buyers’ distrust….

Samsung unveils a foldable 5G Galaxy Fold phone priced at nearly $ 2,000

The device looks similar to a conventional smartphone, but then opens like a book to reveal a display the size of a small tablet at 7.3 inches

Technology News: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday unveiled a nearly $2,000 folding smartphone in a bid to top the technology of Apple Inc and Chinese rivals and reignite consumer interest amid slumping sales.

The Galaxy Fold will go on sale on April 26 and take advantage of new and faster 5G mobile networks. The device looks similar to a conventional smartphone, but then opens like a book to reveal a display the size of a small tablet at 7.3 inches (18.5 cm).

The device “answers sceptics who said that everything that could be done has been done,” DJ Koh, chief executive of Samsung Electronics, said at an event in San Francisco. “We are here to prove them wrong.” he device “answers sceptics who said that everything that could be done has been done,” DJ Koh, chief executive of Samsung Electronics, said at an event in San Francisco. “We are here to prove them wrong.”San Francisco. “We are here to prove them wrong.”

Samsung remains the world’s largest smartphone maker with nearly a fifth of global unit sales but underperformed a slumping market last year. Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd – whose Mate series of phones also command premium prices – gained market share. Other Chinese makers like Xiaomi Corp have also been increasing prices, leaving Samsung to defend its turf against upstart rivals in addition to its longtime foe Apple….

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