Business News Today - 16 July 2019  - Markets Muted, Awaiting Earnings
Channel: Bit Media24
Date: 2019-07-16

Business News Today, 16 July 2019  - Markets Muted, Awaiting Earnings


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European shares and US Futures were muted while the market waited for more earnings news.

J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo and Johnson & Johnson all set to report.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, retailers forecast sharp drop in sales as protests rock city

Hong Kong retailers said on Tuesday they expect sales for July, and August to drop by double-digits from a year earlier, due to protests that have gripped the Chinese-ruled city for more than a month.

On top of that forecast, the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, also sharply changed its full-year retail sales forecast to a double-digit fall instead of single-digit growth.
It urged the government to resolve the dispute over a proposed extradition bill peacefully.

Kevin Burns apologize over Child Vaping

The boss of e-cigarette giant Juul, has apologised to parents amid worries of an epidemic of vaping among children.

"I'd tell parents I'm sorry their child's using the product. It's not intended for them," Kevin Burns said.

The apology, made in a US television documentary being aired on Monday, was dismissed as fake and deceptive by an anti-smoking group.

Juul, which has begun a marketing push in the UK, is trying to cut teenage use but faces lawsuits from parents.

"I hope there was nothing that we did that made it appealing to children," he says in the CNBC documentary: 
Vaporized: America's E-cigarette Addiction.

"As a parent of a 16-year-old, I'm sorry for them, and I have empathy for them, in terms of what the challenges they're going through."

Last month San Francisco became the first US city to ban vaping, making it illegal for shops to sell the product and online firms to send it to addresses there.

Mr Burns admitted that there still needs to be research into the long-term impact of vaping. "Frankly, we don't know today. We have not done the long-term, longitudinal clinical testing that we need to do," he said.

Brexit pummels pound

Darkening German investor morale, and fresh Brexit woes cast a shadow over European markets on Tuesday, with German benchmark bond yields coming under pressure and the pound plunging to six month-lows against the euro.

Germany’s ZEW indicator showed that the mood among investors in Europe’s largest economy, deteriorated more than expected in July, with the survey pointing to the unresolved China-U.S. trade dispute and to political tensions with Iran.

The report knocked Germany’s 10-year bond yield deeper into negative territory at minus 0.316%.

The pound sterling is the worst performing major currency in the world over the past 24 hours, over the past month, over the past three months and over the past year

PayPal launches international money transfer service Xoom across Europe

U.S. payments company PayPal is expanding further in Europe, by launching its international money transfers service Xoom in Britain, and 31 other countries across the continent.

Xoom allows customers to transfer money abroad to more than 130 markets internationally, including India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Poland and China.

The company said the roll-out would help it grab market share in the $689 billion global remittances market, building on previous launches of the service in the United States and Canada.

Britons alone transfer over $26 billion in remittances overseas annually, many sending money to help family members pay bills.

Xoom partners with major banks and other finance firms to facilitate the money transfers, with customers able to transfer up to 8,800 pounds per transaction.


Avengers: Endgame’ within $7.1 million of ‘Avatar’ record

If the stars align, and it appears they will, Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame” will soon be the top-grossing film of all time,

 “Spider-Man: Far From Home” will cross $1 billion at the global box office and Marvel will continue to solidify itself as one of the most successful film franchises in industry history.

And there’s more to come.

In just a few days, Marvel is expected to take the stage at Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con to unveil its next phase of superhero films.

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