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Home Depot and Lowe’s set to post strong FQ2 results amid surging demand from pandemic do-it-yourselfers
Home Depot Home Improvement Behemoths (NYSE: HD) and Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) same-store sales growth of 10.9% and 14.3%, respectively, this week for the second quarter of the fiscal year. The surge in demand, which has surprised even seasoned executives, is driven by people staying at home during the pandemic and devoting time and resources to renovating their homes. HD pedestrian traffic is up 35% since April.
Automakers turn to online sales as dealer networks grapple with pandemic slowdowns
Spurred on by the rise of online commerce during the pandemic, some automakers are launching direct sales of cars via the internet, bypassing their traditional dealer networks that have been forced to close showrooms. PSA, Peugeot’s parent company, plans to deliver more than 100,000 vehicles through the direct channel. Volkswagen (OTCPK: VWAGY) pursues the same strategy for its electric cars. It plans to release 75 battery-powered models over the next 10 years. Rather than allowing its dealers to set their own prices, VW will sell its flagship ID.3 car at a standardized price in Germany, regardless of the mode of purchase. Daimler (OTCPK: DDAIF), which already sells cars directly to South Africa and Sweden, plans to roll out in Austria next year.
Google in talks to invest in Indian social enterprise ShareChat
Google (GOOG, GOOGL) is in talks to invest in Indian social media company ShareChat, the Economic time reports. ShareChat Seeks To Raise $ 150 Million To $ 200 Million To Help It Fill The Void Left By Banned Chinese Apps Such As ByteDance (BDNCE) TikTok And Helo; ShareChat has a short video app, Moj, as well as a social media platform competing with Helo, which is now banned. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) also reportedly hosted its own investment talks on ShareChat.
Virgin Galactic isn’t quite here with the launch of space tourism
Galactic Virgo (NYSE: SPCE), the brainchild of billionaire Richard Branson for space tourism, has pushed back the date of his maiden voyage to 2021. The trip, initially scheduled for this year, will carry six passengers into the lower thermosphere on the SpaceShipTwo in which they will live a few minutes of weightlessness. About 700 customers made prepayments on discounted flights of $ 225,000, but this is hardly a rounding error compared to the ~ $ 108 million consumed in the first half of the year. As you might expect, short sellers are circling the cash-hungry company, currently valued at $ 3.9 billion. His long-term plan to enter the traditional airline market with a supersonic aircraft capable of traveling between distant cities in just hours.
ByteDance faces internal pressure to resist US demand on TikTok’s US operations
ByteDance (BDNCE) is literally caught in the middle of the feud between the United States and China over TikTok. Chinese users and observers believe complying with US demands to divest the US short-lived mobile video platform’s operations within 90 days would be a sign of weakness in losing face. Last week, he announced he could take legal action against President Trump’s executive order, but it is unclear whether management intends to follow through. The only realistic option for the company, according to one observer, is to ensure that it receives a reasonable price for TikTok’s US operations.
China rolls over medium-term loans at unchanged rates
The People’s Bank of China renewed maturing medium-term loans at unchanged rates for the fourth consecutive month. At one time for the month, however, it is 700 billion rolling yuan (about $ 100.7 billion) in medium-term loans over one year; this amount exceeds the two packages of MLF loans maturing in August (around 550 billion yuan in total). It also injected an additional 50 billion yuan into the market through seven-day reverse repurchases. This is a signal that the central bank intends to maintain healthy liquidity rates for commercial lenders in order to manage upcoming sales of government bonds.
Gold bugs love rallies, but ore is getting harder to mine
Gold miners are benefiting from a prolonged rally, excluding the sale of COVID-19 in March, as the price of ore continues to climb, up about 28% this year. Prices topped $ 2,000 an ounce before entering profit-taking. The bad news is the long-term expected rise in mining costs due to the difficulties in extracting the precious metal from less hospitable locations. The grade of ore mined, the amount of metal per tonne of rock mined, is also declining, now 1.46 grams per tonne, well below more than 10 grams in the early 1970s. The leaders, wary of the costly over-expansion in the last period, have used the bull market to pay down debt and raise dividends rather than starting new projects.
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