"We have suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect following advice from the Foreign Office against all but essential travel," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The UK's Foreign Office warned people against traveling to mainland China in all but essential cases on Tuesday.
It's the most drastic action yet by a major airline as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread. The virus has killed 132 people and infected nearly 6,000 people in China so far, with dozens more cases confirmed in places such as the United States, Japan, Germany and France.
British Airways operates direct flights from London Heathrow to Beijing (PKX) and Shanghai (PVG), according to the company's website. Those flights were unavailable to book online through February 29.
The carrier's move comes a day after United Airlines(UAL) temporarily reduced its schedule between the United States and three cities in China.
The US airline said in a statement Tuesday that "significant decline in demand" had forced it to suspend flights from February 1 though February 8 between its US hubs and Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In total, 24 round trips are affected. They are between Hong Kong to San Francisco and Newark; Beijing (PEK) to Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Newark; and Shanghai (PVG) to San Francisco, Newark and Chicago O'Hare.
American Airlines(AAL), Delta Air Lines(DAL) and United all extended change fee waivers through the end of February.
Cathay Pacific(CPCAY), Hong Kong's flagship airline, has said it will reduce the capacity of flights to and from mainland China by half or more until the end of March.
Bitcoin [BTC] price pump has traders looking for further long orders as $10,000 seems like the nearly target. The volume at BitMEX was about $5 billion dollars yesterday which seems to be leading the futures market. It has tripled in the last two days along with increasing volume at Okex, Huobi and Binance as well.
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The funding rate on BitMEX is also increasing signalling a compilation of long interests in the price.
BTC/USD 1-Day Volume on Futures Exchanges (Source)
Along with the funding rate, as BitMEX CEO, Arthur Hayes tweeted, Futures basis is also increasing. Basis is difference between the futures and spot prices on exchanges. According to Hayes, the retail buyers or spot buyers will step in soon enough. He tweeted,
Futures basis at local highs. Spot is creeping up. The blow off top seems nigh. pic.twitter.com/gQIcHSfpoM
According to datamish, more than $40 million shorts were liquidated during the recent pump to $9400.
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Bitcoin [BTC] long orders are now compiling as the funding rate continues to climb higher. In fact, the funding rate has not been this high since September last year.
XBT/USD 4-Hour Chart on BitMEX with Funding Rate (TradingView)
The increasing funding rate, increases the probability of a squeeze in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, during bull markets, the high funding rates is not an uncommon site.
Open Interest on CME Jumps 2 Fold
The increasing Open Interest (OI) along with increasing volume are usually signals of bullish momentum. However, Prominent Derivatives and crypto trader, Jacob Canfield tweeted,
At press time, the OI at BitMEX continues to be around $950 billion. Moreover, the OI in CME is also sky-rocketing in the last few days. According to skew data, the volume at CME has increased two folds since 20th January, 2020. Hence, institutional players seems to be having a say in the recent pump.
Bitcoin Futures Volume at CME (Source)
Nevertheless, the volatility in Bitcoin is so high that chasing tops for shorts at the moment could lead to huge losses. Moreover, the corrections or dips have usually been quickly bought in the past. Hence, while betting against the trend seems lucrative with traders expecting a pull-back, traders must strictly adhere to their stops.
Moreover, if the spot interest increases as noted by Hayes, the swing result would be on the upside only.
Do you think that the bull market in Bitcoin is in? Please share your analysis on local top.
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BitMEX CEO Says, ' Bitcoin Blow off top seems nigh' - Here's the Futures Market Update
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Bitcoin [BTC] price has traders looking for further long orders as $10,000 seems like the nearly target. The volume at BitMEX was about $5 billion dollars yesterday which seems to be leading the futures market.
Nivesh Rustgi
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Author: Nivesh Rustgi
Nivesh from Engineering Background is a full-time Crypto Analyst at Coingape. He is an atheist who believes in love and cultural diversity. He believes that Cryptocurrency is a necessity to deter corruption. He holds small amounts of cryptocurrencies. Faith and fear are two sides of the same coin. Follow him on Twitter at @nivishoes or mail him at nivesh(at)coingape.com
Fully valued at current levels, says KeyBanc analyst
No doubt investors are ready to push Apple shares higher Wednesday after record results, but some analysts appeared divided as to how much further this will juice the stock.
Apple shares
AAPL+2.83%
rallied late Tuesday after the consumer technology giant reported the second-best quarter ever for iPhone sales, pushing well past expectations and the holiday quarter also saw strong performances from wearables, home and accessories. Shares rose 1.4% in late trade after a forecast-beating revenue outlook for the March quarter.
Praise came rolling in from some analysts. “We would characterize these results and guidance as a ‘blow out’ print that will put more high octane fuel in the bull thesis looking ahead,” Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush, told clients in a note, as he referred to “Picasso-like quarter/guidance.”
Ives said the biggest positive of the results was that strong March guidance “on the heels of pent-up demand within the installed base which is now over 1.5 billion devices worldwide.” Also encouraging, China growth beat Wall Street expectations, climbing 3% year over year, as the region represents roughly 20% of all iPhone upgrades in the next 12 to 18 months, he said.
Ives rates Apple outperform with a 12-month price target that he recently took to $400 on the view that investors are underestimating the magnitude of the 5G upgrade cycle.
Elsewhere, though, KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts Andy Hargreaves and Maddie Schrage cautioned that there are limits to Apple’s growth prospects and the shares “fully valued,” meaning the stock market has pushed the upside as far as it can go and further gains from here will push it into overvalued territory.
The analysts see 12-month fair value to $305, which is below Tuesday’s close of $317.69, and he rates Apple sector weight.
While the latest results came in better than expected, Hargreaves and Schrage said the company has seen secular stagnation in iPhones, the iPad and the Macbook, overwhelming a tripling of gross profit in the services section.
“While strong customer loyalty should keep sales stable, we see little that could drive a return to secular growth in iPhone, iPad or Mac. At the same time, Services and Wearables appear to be slowing, which seems likely to limit profit growth in the coming years to something comparable to the last five,” they said.
Visitors wearing masks walk past Shanghai Disney Resort, that will be closed during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, in Shanghai, China January 24, 2020.
Aly Song | Reuters
This is a live blog. Check back for updates.
10:09 am: Amazon briefly slides into correction territory
Shares of Amazon briefly fell into correction territory on Tuesday after declining more than 10% from the stock's 52-week high in July. The stock rebounded and was last slightly higher. Wall Street is still bullish. In a note to clients Tuesday Morgan Stanley analysts said that the company's "reacceleration since the launch of Prime Free One Day delivery and its record Holiday season could portend a new wave of retail disruption," and that they're keeping a "close watch on Q4 results for signs of fresh AMZN inroads." –Stevens, Francolla
10:05 am: Not much of a rebound for coronavirus-impacted stocks
Wynn Resorts, one of the stocks that took the hardest hit from the coronavirus, gave up premarket gains of nearly 2% and was last down more than 1%. The stock has tanked 14% in the past week. Another casino company Las Vegas Sands also dipped slightly. Airlines came back a tad after days of selling off, with American Airlines up 1% and Delta and United Airlines both rising slightly. —Li
10:00 am: Consumer confidence beats expectations
January consumer confidence from the Conference Board came in at 131.6, much higher than estimates. The reading gave a slight boost to the market, with the Dow now up more than 100 points again, though still short of the highs of the day. —Melloy
9:51 am: Stocks off their highs
Stocks couldn't follow through on the strong open. News that the CDC was advising Americans avoid travel to China is not helping the market's attempted rebound. 3M down nearly 5% is also holding back the market. The Dow was up 119 points at its high and is up 95 points now. On the positive side, market breadth is healthy with advancers outpacing decliners on the NYSE by nearly 3-to-1. —Melloy
9:47 am: JPMorgan boosts Q4 GDP to 1.7% after durable goods report
JP Morgan economists said they boosted their forecast for fourth quarter GDP growth to 1.7% from 1.6%, after an upside surprise in inventories in the December durable goods report.Durable goods was a mixed bag. Headline orders rose 2.4% and were better than expected. But Boeing took a bite out of orders, with nondefense aircraft down 75% in December, at the lowest level since 2009. But the government made up for it with a surge in defense aircraft orders, which were up almost 170%.The government releases Q4 GDP data on Thursday. -Domm
9:33 am: Dow climbs 100 points at the open
The Dow rose 100 points at the open, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also higher, rebounding from a big sell-off Monday. However, 3M and Harley-Davidson fell 2.6% and 4.1%, respectively, on disappointing quarterly results, capping the gains in the broad market. The Dow as last up about 70 points. —Li
9:20 am: Monday's sell-off did not have unusual volume
The Dow plunged more than 450 points Monday on heightened coronavirus fears, suffering its biggest one-day fall since October and wiping out the average's gains for the year. However, the pullback was not on unusually heavy volume, perhaps suggesting less conviction, Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, pointed out. "The market gapped lower on the opening, so it was not forced lower by selling," said Maley. He noted the trading volumes were slightly more than 3 billion shares Monday, which was not a big jump from an average Monday. —Li
9:06 am: Harley-Davidson falls on earnings
Shares of the motorcycle company fell more than 6% in premarket trading on Tuesday after a big miss on revenue for its fourth quarter earnings. Harley-Davidson reported revenue of $874.1 million, falling short of estimates of $920.1 million, according to Refinitiv. The company also issued weaker-than-expected revenue guidance for the new year. Harley-Davidson expects to post sales between $4.53 billion and $4.66 billion in 2020, while analysts forecast annual revenue of $4.65 billion. 2020 is a "pivotal year" in the transformation of the company as it tries to "build the next generation of Harley-Davidson riders," the company said. Earnings per share came in a 20 cents, topping estimates of 9 cents per share. -Fitzgerald
8:50 am: China ETFs in correction territory
Some of the largest funds that track the performance of Chinese stocks closed in correction territory on Monday as fears over the impact the coronavirus could have on business grew. Major exchange-traded funds including the iShares China Large-Cap ETF and the iShares MSCI China ETF closed down 11.5% and 10% from their respective 52-week highs on Monday. The MSCI China fund's dive into correction comes just days after it hit a 52-week high on Jan. 13. — Franck
8:32 am: 3M drops on disappointing earnings, new round of job cuts
Shares of 3M are down more than 2% in the premarket after the manufacturing giant posted weaker-than-forecast results for the previous quarter. The company posted a profit of $1.95 per share on revenue of $8.11 billion, both of which are below analyst expectations. Investors also sold the stock after the company announced a new round of job cuts. Shares of 3M are the second-worst performers in the Dow over the past 12 months. They are down more than 9% in that time. —Imbert
8:30 am: BorgWarner acquiring Delphi Technologies
Shares of auto supplier Delphi Technologies jumped more than 15% in Tuesday's premarket trading after BorgWarner announced that it will acquire the company in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.3 billion. A press release said that the acquisition will strengthen BorgWarner's "power electronics products, capabilities and scale." Delphi Technologies was one of two companies spun out of Delphi Automotive in 2017. The other was Aptiv, which focuses on tech systems in cars. — Stevens
8:28 am: United Technologies shares slip in face of climbing 737 Max costs
United Technologies delivered fourth-quarter earnings of $1.94 a share, better than the $1.84 analysts surveyed by FactSet expected. But shares slipped 1.3% in premarket trading as United reported its aerospace division would face "an estimated headwind of approximately $550 to $600 million resulting from the 737 MAX" in 2020. The industrials giant also told shareholders it would forecast year ahead earnings and cash flow once its acquisition of Raytheon is complete. —Sheetz
8:26 am: Suppliers warn Apple coronavirus could impact iPhone production
Despite Apple's plans to ramp up iPhone production in the first half of 2020, its suppliers are warning that the rapid pace of production could be derailed by the outbreak of the coronavirus in China's Hubei Province, the Nikkei Asian Review reported Tuesday.Apple has asked its Asian suppliers to make up to 80 million iPhones in the first half comprised of 65 million of its older iPhones and up to 15 million of a less-expensive model it plans to unveil in March, according to the report. However, the mass production that's scheduled to begin in late February might be delayed due to the virus outbreak, the Nikkei reported.Apple is set to report first-quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon after the closing bell. Shares were up 1.1% in premarket trading. —Franck
8:19 am: Portion of yield curve briefly inverts
The 3-month Treasury bill yield was briefly higher than the 10-year yield in the early morning hours New York time. The coronavirus has set off a stampede into 10-year Treasurys as investors seek a safe haven, and the yield touched a low of 1.57%. It was at 1.63% as stock futures rebound Tuesday morning from Monday's selling. The inversion of the yield curve is sometimes an ominous sign of a coming recession, but the yield curve had inverted last year and steepened again as investors were cheered by improved trade relations between the U.S. and China. —Domm
8:17 am: Chip stocks rally after Huawei gets limited access to UK's 5G networks
8:12 am: Coronavirus-related names rebound with the broad market
Travel companies affected by the deadly coronavirus are bouncing back along with the broad market after a deep sell-off since last week. Shares of Wynn Resorts, one of the hotel and casino stocks that took the hardest hit because of its Macau exposure, are up nearly 2% in premarket. Airlines Delta and United Airlines both climbed almost 1%, while Carnival Cruise Lines also rebounded 1.2%. —Li
8:10 am: Stock futures rise as Wall Street tries to rebound from worst day in more than 3 months
Wall Street is trying to rebound from its worst session since October, with U.S. stock futures trading higher. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up more than 140 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to solid opening gains. On Monday, the Dow dropped more than 450 points and wiped out its gains for the year as coronavirus fears deepened. But while futures pointed to a decent start, not everyone is ready to look past the coronavirus fallout. CNBC's Jim Cramer said in a tweet: "I wouldn't trust the market until the future are down, perhaps dramatically to flush out those who think the virus is unstoppable." —Imbert
(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were on track to recover on Tuesday after the S&P 500 suffered its worst day in nearly four months in the previous session on fears that a coronavirus outbreak could hit global economic growth.
FILE PHOTO: A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
Markets across the world stabilized as the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said he was confident in China’s ability to contain the virus outbreak, which has killed 106 people, prompted businesses to close operations and curbed travel.
“Some of the comments coming out of the WHO and other medical advisers are helping markets catch a breath after yesterday’s decline which was somewhat overdone,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Investors will keep a close watch on Apple Inc (AAPL.O) results, due after markets close amid concerns of a disruption in iPhone production as the coronavirus spreads across major markets like China.
Its shares were up 1.2% in premarket trading after falling about 3% on Monday amid a broad-based pullback in U.S. stocks.
At 8:49 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 rose 130 points, or 0.46%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 gained 19.75 points, or 0.61% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 75 points, or 0.84%.
U.S. industrial giant 3M Co (MMM.N) slid 1.8% after it forecast 2020 profit below expectations as it faced sluggish demand in Asia.
Earnings are now expected to show a decline of 0.5% for the fourth quarter, according to Refinitiv data. Of the 87 companies that have reported though Monday, 67.8% have topped expectations, below the 74% rate from the past four quarters.
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) fell 2% after posting a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on disappointing sales of breast cancer drug.
The Fed officials will gather for the first policy meeting of the year on Tuesday, and markets do not expect the central bank to change its benchmark overnight lending rate at the end of the meeting on Wednesday.
Shares in Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) tumbled 5.9% after the company reported a larger-than-expected decline in its motorcycles revenue.
Shares in Xerox Holdings Corp (XRX.N), known for its photocopiers and printers, jumped 4.6% after it reported 2020 profit above Wall Street expectations.
Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva
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(Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) faces billions of dollars of fines after agreeing in principle to a settlement with French, British and U.S. authorities following a crippling three-year investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption.
A settlement would allow it to avoid criminal charges which, if proven, could have led to the company being disbarred from public contracts in the United States and European Union - a massive setback for one of Europe’s top defense and space firms.
The European planemaker has been investigated by French and British authorities for suspected corruption over jet sales dating back over a decade. It has also faced U.S. investigations over suspected violations of export controls.
Announcing the agreement, Airbus - which dominates with U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) the commercial airliner market - said it could not comment on the size of settlements, which still need court approval.
Press reports cited a figure of around 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion), while some industry analysts have suggested sums as high as 5 billion euros, dwarfing a previous settlement by aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce (RR.L) over the use of middlemen.
One person who has closely followed the case estimated the settlement would be three to four times the $809 million paid by Rolls-Royce in a deal with U.S., UK and Brazilian agencies in 2017.
Airbus shares rose, however, as traders welcomed the closure of one of the most damaging chapters in the company’s 40-year history. The stock was up about 1.3% at 1100 GMT.
“Sorting out the fraud investigation is likely to remove a major overhang for the company,” said Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard.
British and French investigations began after Airbus drew the attention of regulators to misleading and incomplete declarations it had made to Britain’s export credit finance agency over payments to sales agents. Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched its probe in August 2016, followed seven months later by France’s Parquet National Financier (PNF).
It was not immediately clear to what extent the U.S. part of any settlement would stick to the separate issue of export control violations or include the broader corruption case.
The U.S. Department of Justice has signaled a close interest in the bribery affair while mainly allowing Britain’s SFO to take the lead, according to people familiar with the matter.
Nor was it clear whether a deal would lead to individual prosecutions, which are not covered by corporate plea deals.
AGENT NETWORK
At the center of the case was a decades-old system of third-party sales agents run from a now-disbanded headquarters unit which at its height involved some 250 people in parts of the world and several hundreds of millions of euros of payments a year, sources familiar with the matter have said.
In 2014, then finance director Harald Wilhelm ordered a halt to all third-party payments, triggering a massive internal probe and claims from unpaid consultants.
The investigation, which racked up legal bills of around 100 million euros a year, led to a board-driven clearout of the company’s top management and plunged the company into years of self-examination, hampering its sales efforts.
Nobody has been accused of wrongdoing but Airbus acted to clear out its senior ranks to improve its chances of winning a U.S.-style deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), insiders said.
In a landmark 2017 ruling setting the bar for future settlements, a British judge had described Rolls-Royce as “dramatically changed” with a new leadership and culture.
Airbus has fired more than 100 people over ethics and compliance issues as a result of its own probe into the allegations, which widened to other divisions.
FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350 takes off at the aircraft builder's headquarters in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau
But the internal probe led to anger within the Franco-German firm and its jetliner sales teams who said they had no influence over the tightly controlled agent system, insiders said.
It also threatened to reopen Franco-German tensions over Airbus as French sources complained the row diverted attention from a separate probe into fighter jet dealings with Austria, partially overseen by German-born Tom Enders who later served as chief executive. Enders has denied any wrongdoing.
A further German probe into potential misuse of client documents is ongoing.
Additional reporting by Kirstin Ridley; editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter
