Today’s Stock Market News

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: UBER, MSFT, ERIC, Tencent Holdings, LYFT, GOOG, IBM, AMZN, AAPL, and Civica Uber’s Proposed $21 An Hour California Driver Minimum Wage Is Less Than New York City’s UBER (Uber Technologies Inc) | Forbes Rideshare drivers wave flags and hold signs during a protest outside of Uber headquarters in San Francisco, California. The $21 per hour minimum wage includes driver expenses, which is still less than New York City’s legally mandated ride-hailing driver minimum wage of $26.51 including expenses. While activists have been calling on ride-hailing companies to allow drivers to unionize, Uber’s proposal doesn’t specifically say that drivers can form unions. Three 2020 Democratic candidates have endorsed AB 5: Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders. According to the Economic Policy Institute, Uber drivers make on average $9.21 per hour. Read More Microsoft is rethinking W...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: PM, BYND, TIF, MO, AAPL, MAR, AMZN, PINS, TSLA, and COST Altria & Philip Morris: Who Wins The Most From A Remerger PM (Philip Morris International Inc) | Seeking Alpha Once again speculation is rife that Altria (MO) and Philip Morris (PM) are preparing to remerge into one company after previously demerging in 2008. What Altria Has To GainThe primary benefit Altria would receive is from dramatically reducing their exposure to possible new future FDA regulations that are designed to significantly reduce smoking rates. Secondarily, Altria through their subsidiaries, Juul (JUUL) and Cronos (OTC:CRON), could benefit from Philip Morris' expertise in managing a global supply network. What Philip Morris Has To GainWhilst the benefit that Altria would receive is quite large and focused, Philip Morris would likely receive smaller but broader ranging benefits. Merging with Altria would also lower the impact ...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: ROKU, Datadog, NFLX, GOOG, Huawei, DB, Purdue Pharma Inc, DIS, VOLAF, and ATVI Roku's User Growth Is Outpacing Netflix's and Could Accelerate ROKU (Roku Inc.) | The Motley Fool Over the past couple of years, however, Netflix's domestic growth has slowed, the inevitable result of its massive user base. At the same time, ad-supported streaming pioneer Roku's (NASDAQ:ROKU) growth is accelerating -- and it may eventually surpass Netflix's subscriber base. In 2018, Roku's active account base grew to 27.1 million, adding nearly 8 million new customers, a 40% increase year over year. According to one analyst, however, Roku's growth is actually ahead of Netflix at the same point in the company's life cycle. With that type of eye-popping growth and remaining potential, Roku's subscriber growth could eventually overtake Netflix's, and Roku shares could generate Netflix-type g...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: NFLX, IBM, Huawei, AAPL, Xendpay, GOOG, HPE, BABA, AZN, and SPOT Here's Why Netflix's Subscriber Growth Will Rebound in Q3 NFLX (Netflix Inc.) | The Motley Fool Following that price hike, the company reported a subscriber decline of about 130,000 in the U.S., the first such loss since 2011. This was part of a much broader subscriber miss, as paid members grew by 2.7 million, much less than the 5.5 million it generated in the prior-year quarter and the 5 million Netflix had forecast. Even in light of the company's remarkable record of accuracy on its guidance, the second quarter has been notoriously difficult for Netflix to forecast. Netflix is guiding for 7 million net additions for Q3, significantly higher than the 6.07 million it generated in the prior-year quarter. Investors will likely be pleasantly surprised at the subscriber numbers in the third quarter -- but maybe they shouldn't be...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: APRN, SWAV, WE Company, Whole Foods, Bank of China, AMZN, GS, FIT, GOOG, and CDNTF Blue Apron launches deliciously-curated menu with Beyond Meat APRN (Blue Apron Holdings Inc. Class A) | AOL And effective this week, the plant-based offerings are available for Blue Apron customers. “We are proud to introduce Beyond Meat products to our menu, beginning with its flagship Beyond Burger. Read More Shockwave Medical to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences SWAV (ShockWave Medical Inc) | Globe Newswire Shockwave Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: SWAV), a pioneer in the development and commercialization of Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL) to treat complex calcified cardiovascular disease, today announced the company will be participating in two upcoming investor conferences. Shockwave Medical’s management team will participate in a fireside chat with analysts and investors at the upcoming Wells Fargo Healthcare C...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: MA, AAPL, GOOG, AMZN, EL, Huawei, V, WORK, GE, and TWTR What We Know About Mastercard's Reported New Interest In Cryptocurrencies MA (Mastercard Incorporated) | Benzinga The report comes at a time when Mastercard has already partnered with Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) to participate in the Libra cryptocurrency. Ted Rossman, an analyst with CreditCards.com, said Mastercard is likely motivated to be viewed more as a "technology company" than a simple "card company." Why It's ImportantRival Visa Inc (NYSE: V)'s ambitions in the cryptocurrency space are a little bit more known. Other recent moves in the cryptospace include fintech company Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) offering bitcoin deposits on its mobile Cash App. What's NextMastercard Senior Vice President Seth Eisen didn't directly confirm the report, and told the Post the company looks for new ways to generate value. Read ...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: UPS, We Company, SPOT, F, TGT, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, BABA, GOOG, and ABBV UPS buys stake in TuSimple after using its autonomous trucks UPS (United Parcel Service Inc.) | Auto Blog DETROIT — UPS said on Thursday it has bought a minority stake in self-driving company TuSimple, and the world's largest package delivery company has been testing the startup's autonomous trucks since May on a busy freight route in Arizona. It could take years to test and develop self-driving vehicles and for the government to build out a regulatory framework. The trucks run around the clock, with the self-driving trucks delivering freight within UPS' system. Experts says self-driving trucks are an easier proposition than robotaxis. Self-driving trucks run consistently on predictable highway routes - in UPS' case carrying large numbers of revenue-generating packages or goods - around the clock, including in th...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: AMZN, Proterra, ROKU, ATVI, UBER, TSLA, AAPL, Etihad Airways, KHC, and FB Amazon Seeks FAA Approval For Its Prime Air Drone AMZN (Amazon.com Inc.) | Benzinga As the company stated in June, Prime Air plans to deliver packages of up to 5 pounds to customers within 30 minutes of placing an order. "This year we demonstrated our commitment to our customers by announcing our expansion of one-day delivery with Amazon Prime," Cassidy said. Wing Aviation, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), was the first to receive approval from the agency for commercial drone operations, with initial plans in the Blacksburg-Roanoke area in southern Virginia. Amazon Prime Air operational concept. Source: AmazonAs with other commercial drone operators, Prime Air will fly below 400 feet, with exceptions made to avoid uncharted objects. Read More Electric Unicorn: Bus Maker Proterra May Hit $1 Bi...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: AAPL, TWTR, EBAY, DIS,  AMZN, FB, WBA, Barneys New York Inc, SHOP, and NFLX FedEx won't renew Amazon ground-delivery contract FDX (FedEx Corporation) | UPI Aug. 7 (UPI) -- FedEx said Wednesday that it will not be renewing its ground-delivery contract with Amazon after it expires in August. "This change is consistent with our strategy to focus on the broader e-commerce market," FedEx said in an emailed statement to Business Insider. The courier company has been working to increase its delivery network through e-commerce and the company said it is "extraordinarily" well-positioned to shift its focus. In a statement Wednesday, Amazon said FedEx has been a "great partner" and it appreciates their relationship. "We are constantly innovating to improve the carrier experience and sometimes that means reevaluating our carrier relationships," an Amazon spokesman said in a s...

* Stories are summarized by an A.I. * Stocks or companies mentioned: AAPL, TWTR, EBAY, DIS,  AMZN, FB, WBA, Barneys New York Inc, SHOP, and NFLX What Semiconductor Investors Need to Know About Trump's New Tariffs AAPL (Apple Inc.) | The Street Let's first break down the market for semiconductor stocks, in light of the potential new tariffs. Trump threatens to add another 10% to 25% tariff on Chinese imported apparel, toys and electronics -- not on semiconductors. But it's the electronics part that semiconductor investors need to watch. The actual tariffs directly on semiconductors coming into the U.S. from China have already happened and are priced into semi stocks. Meanwhile, the added tariffs haven't yet happened and the iShares semiconductor ETF (SOXX - Get Report) is down 9.3% in the past five days. Read More Twitter says it may have used user data for ads without permission TWTR (Twitter Inc.) | Reuters "You trust us to follow your choices...