📊It's stock buyback szn
WhatsApp does well despite backlash, stock buybacks back in vogue, and Wall Street suffers amid India's COVID-19 wave
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First up,
Market Snapshot 📈
Sensex: 49,206.47 (+0.52%) ↑
Nifty 50: 14,823.15 (+0.67%) ↑
Dow Jones: 34,548.53 (+0.93%) ↑
Nasdaq 100: 13,613.73 (+0.82%) ↑
Top Stories 📰
1. WhatsApp sees spike in users despite contentious privacy policy 💬
WhatsApp seems to be doing quite well now. But it wasn't the case at the beginning of this year when the instant messaging giant received backlash over its planned policy update, pushing its users to consider rival apps like Telegram and Signal.
The issue was so heavily publicized that even the Indian government alleged that WhatsApp's new policy violates local laws on several counts, prompting the Facebook-owned company to postpone enforcing the planned update to May 15.
Despite the controversies, WhatsApp is doing just fine. According to Facebook's recent earnings report, its family of apps (Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp) had 3.45 billion monthly active users in March, up from 3.3 billion in December. Facebook also beat its revenue expectation for the first quarter, generating $26.17 billion in revenue against its estimated $23.67 billion.
Why it matters? The new privacy policy will provide WhatsApp and Facebook access to payment and transaction data, which will help them target ads to expand the social network's e-commerce offerings.
2. Stock buybacks hit second-highest monthly total since June 2018 📊
Stock buyback season is back!
But before we begin, a quick background - Four years ago, then-US President Donald Trump slashed the corporate tax rate to 21%, hoping that it would be like “rocket fuel for our economy.” And it was, as the decision resulted in the record monthly stock repurchases of $209 billion in June 2018.
Now, stock buybacks are back in action since last month alone witnessed $209 billion worth of stock repurchases announced by several companies, including Apple Inc. that added $90 billion to its stock repurchase program in April.
Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger defended the record levels of share buybacks, saying that repurchasing stocks in the interest of existing shareholders is a "highly moral act."
Why it matters? The resurgence of stock buybacks is credited to the economic optimism despite top US business leaders lining up to oppose the Biden administration's proposed plan of hiking the corporate tax to 28% for pushing its $2.3 trillion infrastructure package.
3. India's COVID-19 wave is disrupting Wall Street's operation 🏢
As India struggles to battle against the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the back-office operations of several Wall Street giants have come to a standstill.
Standard Chartered Plc announced that out of its 20,000 employees in India, 800 had tested positive. More than 25% of UBS's 8,000 employees in its Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad offices have been absent from work. Wells Fargo, which employs over 35,000 Indians, urged its workers to work overtime and routed some work to the Philippines. Barclays Plc, a London-based bank with 20,000 employees, is transferring some functions to the UK.
Other companies like Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and NatWest Group said they didn't experience significant disruptions as their employees continued to work from home.
Why it matters? Government advisors and experts have issued warnings suggesting the worsening of the crisis, with one model estimating the death toll to quadruple from the current count of 234,083 and reach 1,018,879 deaths by the end of July.
Top Reads 📑
All is not well for Wells Fargo. The company said that it's facing a new probe from the US consumer watchdog over its mishandling of accounts.
Ever seen a tweet so good you wanted to tip it? Well, now you can. Twitter's introducing a tip jar feature that will allow people to tip.
India's manufacturing industry's employment numbers nearly halved to what it was five years ago - from 51 million in 2016-17 to reach 27.3 million in 2020-21.
US layoff lowest since 2000 as the economy created nearly a million jobs last month.
Behold a new Chimera! American scientists have produced the world’s first monkey embryos containing human cells to understand how cells develop and communicate with each other, which has raised some moral questions.
Tweet Of The Day 🌟
Now that's a first! A Belgian farmer accidentally moves the French border by moving a 200-year-old large stone.
Well, that's all from us. Until next time 👋
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