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 The global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 13.3 million on Wednesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, after 230,400 new infections were recorded on Wednesday, the highest number for a one-day period since the start of the outbreak. The previous record was about 229,900 set last Friday. The death toll rose to 584,556, the data shows. At least 7.6 million people have recovered. The U.S. leads the world with 3.49 million cases, or about a quarter of the global total, and 137,419 deaths. Florida, the new U.S. hot spot, saw its case tally climb above 300,000 with 4,520 deaths, or 21 per 100,000, according to a New York Times tracker. Brazil is second to the U.S. with 1.97 million cases and 75,366 deaths. India is third measured by cases at 968,657 followed by Russia with 751,612 and Peru with 337,751. The U.K. has 45,138 fatalities, the highest in Europe and third highest in the world. China, where the illness was first reported late last year, has 85,247 cases and 4,644 fatalities.
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 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks fell with U.S. equity futures on Thursday as investors parsed economic data from China that showed the path of economic recovery from the pandemic remains bumpy.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index tracked Asian shares lower after Chinese retail sales in June missed estimates and continued to contract, even as the economy returned to growth in the second quarter. Futures on the three main American equity gauges pointed to a weak start on Wall Street.Oil retreated from a four-month high after the OPEC alliance confirmed it would start tapering output cuts from next month.The euro fluctuated and regional bonds were mixed ahead of the European Central Bank's policy decision, where it's expected to keep its emergency bond-buying program unchanged but will likely face questions over whether the current level of support is sufficient.The reminder of the long road ahead to a full global recovery is quashing optimism in financial markets earlier in the week spurred by progress in developing a coronavirus vaccine. While China is seeing a modest domestic recovery, it remains highly vulnerable to setbacks as shutdowns continue to hamper activity across the globe."The problem is, this is still uneven," Helen Qiao, chief greater China economist at Bank of America Corp., said on Bloomberg TV, referring to the latest data. "It is hard to see how China can remain on a firm footing at a time when the rest of the world is still coping with a very deep recession."Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has indicated
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Twitter says hacking of high-profile Twitter accounts was a "coordinated social engineering attack" CBS NewsTwitter blames 'coordinated' attack on its systems for hack of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and others CNNTwitter broke for verified accounts. Here's how the Capitals and Nationals coped. Russian Machine Never BreaksTwitter Probing Hack That Snagged Obama, Biden, Gates Accounts Bloomberg TechnologyElon Musk Listed High-Profile Targets of Twitter Crypto Scam autoevolution
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Industrials stocks have been slammed so far in 2020, and that has Wall Street's analysts pounding the table for select names in the beaten-down sector.
There's little wonder why. The sweeping coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns have derailed economies around the globe. As a result, the highly cyclical industrials sector is off more than 12% year-to-date. That lags the broader market by a wide margin.
Of course, anywhere you find carnage, you'll find a few bargains, too. And analysts recently have targeted a few industrial stocks to buy for their apparent value and growth prospects.
To get a sense of where those discounts might lie, we surveyed the S&P 500 for industrial sector stocks with some of the strongest analyst ratings on Wall Street, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Here's how it works: S&P Capital IQ surveys analysts' stock calls and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell. Any score lower than 2.5 means that analysts, on average, rate the stock as a Buy. Scores of 1.5 and below mean the stock is a Strong Buy. Either way, the closer a stock's score gets to 1.0, the more bullish analysts are about its prospects.
After sorting through the S&P 500, we found buy-rated stocks across the industrial sector, from data analytics to defense contractors. Read on as we look at five of the top-rated industrial stocks to buy in these turbulent times.
91 Top Dividend Stocks From Around the World
Share prices, dividend yields, price targets, analysts' ratings and other data are courtesy of S&P Capital IQ as of July 15, unless otherwise noted. Stocks are listed by analysts' average recommendation from worst to best.
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Citi Research analyst Itay Michaeli upped his price target on Tesla Inc. shares to $450 from $246 but kept a sell rating on the stock following a rally that has sent shares up 270% on the year to a recent $1546. Michaeli contends that Tesla seems to have had strong execution during the recent downturn, namely in China, and that its balance sheet is improving, but he still sees reason for caution on the name. "What hasn't changed, in our view, is the lack of evidence to support the recent narrative in the stock-namely that Tesla is already experiencing seemingly 'unlimited' demand that's decoupled from autos, that traditional & emerging competitors stand little chance, that FSD/AV [fully self-driving technology] is industry leading and that Tesla should be valued vs. large Tech names," he wrote in a note to clients. "It's tough to fight the momentum, but it's even tougher to construct a fundamental risk/reward framework that makes sense here (particularly with COVID-19 risks), even if one is constructive on Tesla the company." Tesla shares are off 4% in premarket trading Thursday. The stock has gained 57% over the past month as the S&P 500 has inched up about 3%.
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Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. are off 1.7% in premarket trading Thursday after J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight. He expects that there will be "limited investor enthusiasm for the shares in the absence of visibility into a return to revenue growth amidst continuing headwinds to enterprise spending in the backdrop of an uncertain macro," even as channel checks indicated enterprise spending has been more resilient than he initially imagined. "Additionally, as investors are looking to position for a recovery despite limited visibility into the shape of the recovery just yet, rebound in enterprise spending is largely going to lag the recovery in consumer spending which positions other companies in our coverage for relatively higher upside," Chatterjee wrote. He also predicts that investors looking to position themselves for the possibility of a Democratic takeover in Washington this fall should consider "incremental headwinds to IT budgets" as some enterprises could pull back on spending to help offset a potential increase in corporate taxes. He maintained a $50 price target on the stock, which has added 12% over the past three months as the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 14%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Whatever Netflix Inc.'s second-quarter results show, it's clear that the Covid-19 crisis is fortifying the company's lead in streaming-TV entertainment. Other services that have been trying to build audiences in recent weeks and months — Disney , HBO Max, Peacock, Quibi — are merely competing for second place. Netflix is set to report earnings after the market closes Thursday, with subscriber growth numbers sure to be the focal point once again. Analysts predict the service added 8.3 million paying customers globally, according to the average estimate compiled by Bloomberg. That may be a touch too high, even with so many consumers still social distancing and spending lots of time at home. While the service posted incredible growth in the first quarter, adding 15.8 million users, CEO Reed Hastings warned that the pace won't keep up as many of those customers would have joined down the road if it weren't for the virus. That's why Netflix sees just 7.5 million new subscribers this time around.If analysts are indeed setting themselves up for disappointment, the stock could react negatively to Thursday's numbers. After all, the share price has surged 60% this year for one of the best returns in the S&P 500 Index. But even if Netflix's stock takes a deserved breather, it still remains the unquestioned streaming leader and a must-have subscription in a market of mostly mediocre offerings. Meanwhile, normally blue-chip-quality companies such as Walt Disney Co. are struggling to find balance as their key profit centers get
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American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. announced Thursday a partnership aimed at creating more options for travelers in the Northeast U.S., to give the more choices across the airlines' domestic and international routes. The partnership includes and agreement that proposes codeshare and loyalty benefits for flight offerings in New York and Boston. The partnership will allow American to launch service from New York's JFK airport to Tel Aviv and to Athens, and the JFK to Rio De Janeiro flight will return as a daily route in winter 2021, and will allow JetBlue to add flights in New York's LaGuardia airport and New Jersey's Newark airport and grow its presence at JFK. "Pairing JetBlue's domestic network with American's international route map creates a new competitive choice in the Northeast, where customers are longing for an alternative to the dominant network carriers," said JetBlue Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty. JetBlue's stock fell 1.3% in premarket trading while American's stock dropped 3.6%. Year to date, shares of JetBlue have declined 38.3% through Wednesday and American have tumbled 53.1%, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF has shed 45.3% and the S&P 500 has eased 0.1%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden, and Kanye West also had their accounts hacked.
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Another analyst raised their price target on Netflix Inc.'s stock Wednesday, with Morgan Stanley's Benjamin Swinburne the latest to boost his outlook on the streaming video company just ahead of earnings, citing expectations of "higher long-term penetration and margins." Swinburne raised his target by 19% to $575, which is about 10% above current prices, from $485. He reiterated the overweight rating he's had on the stock for at least the past five years. "There is much debate over the pull-forward effect of the [COVID-19] pandemic on Netflix's strong member growth," Swinburne wrote in a note to clients. "Less discussed but potentially quite profound is the benefit of greater scale, sooner." He said he believes the greater scale will accelerate engagement growth even in Netflix's most mature markets and put pressure on its primary competition, the incumbent TV broadcasters. There have now been no less than eight price target increases in the past week, and 10 target increases this month, according to FactSet. The average price target has increased to $494.29, which is 5.4% below current levels, from $468.34 at the end of June. Netflix is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings after Thursday's closing bell. Netflix's stock slipped 0.4% in morning trading, putting it on track for a third-straight loss since closing at a record $548.73 on Friday. It has run up 14.9% this month, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.4%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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During the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, Murtaza Ahmed Khan, head of field operations in Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula, said there were instances where outlets were selling high-demand items, particularly in traditional trade settings, for twice their normal retail price.
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