Iraq has agreed with major oil companies operating its giant southern oilfields to cut crude production further in June, Iraqi officials working at the fields told Reuters on Sunday. Baghdad aims to improve its compliance with its output cut targets under a global deal with OPEC and its allies to reduce oil supply. Iraq has agreed with Russia’s Lukoil to start an additional cut of 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) as of June 13 to lower production from the West Qurna 2 field to around 275,000 bpd.

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Tech giants lost more than $269 billion in value on Thursday amid the market selloff. Albion Financial Group Partner & CIO Jason Ware joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to weigh in.

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Under Armour joins the emerging coronavirus mask market.

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A new analysis chose 36 American activities and asked four public health experts weigh in on the risk of coronavirus exposure for each activity. 

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Jer Goss, President of Goss RVs, joined Yahoo Finance’s ‘The Final Round’ to discuss the spike in interest in RV travel over the past month as people start planning summer vacations.

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Recently, shares of companies in severe financial distress — including Chapter 11 bankruptcy — have been very popular for day traders, a sign that has many concerned.

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(Bloomberg) — After a record-breaking week with a market milestone reading one trillion euros, European investors are getting ready for a busy Thursday that could feature the same number.That’s when the European Central Bank will dish out cheap loans to banks, with take-up expected to reach the eye-catching amount. The ECB sweetened terms of its so-called TLTROs in April, in an effort to boost lending and further ease stress in Europe’s money markets.Such take-up would come soon after last Tuesday’s bond bonanza, when almost 32 billion euros ($36 billion) of sovereign debt was sold. It took Europe’s primary market issuance to over one trillion euros this year — a milestone passed 12 weeks faster than in 2019 — as governments rushed to fund their ever-increasing stimulus packages in an effort to avert the threat of economic depression from the coronavirus.Two other major monetary policy institutions also have Thursday announcements.The Bank of England is expected to announce an increase of 200 billion pounds to its bond-buying stimulus, taking it to 845 billion pounds, according to Citigroup Inc, given the BOE’s current round of ammunition will run out in July at the current pace of buying. Further out, the bank also sees policy makers easing rates to zero in November, with tentative cuts to sub-zero territory possible next year.The Swiss National Bank looks likely to buck the trend for largess by refraining from extending stimulus and keeping rates on hold.Political developments are also in prospect, with the European Union’s leaders meeting to discuss a 750-billion-euro recovery fund, in what could prove to be another landmark moment for the bloc’s response to the crisis.Also Next Week:Euro-area bond sales are scheduled from Germany, which will sell a new 10-year note, as well as France and Spain, and are set to total around 21 billion euros for the week, according to Commerzbank AG.Portugal may sell debt through banks as it will pay bond redemptions of 8 billion euros. Italy will also pay almost 16 billion euros of redemptions and make small coupon payments.The U.K. will hold four regular gilt auctions for a combined 11 billion pounds and buy back bonds at a steady rate of 1.5 billion pounds per operation.Data for the coming week in the euro area and Germany is mostly relegated to second-tier, backward-looking figures, with the exception of German ZEW survey figures for JuneThe U.K. data slate picks up with May inflation, retail sales and government borrowing numbers garnering most of the attention aside from the BOE announcementIgazio Visco on Tuesday is the sole ECB speaker scheduled next week; ECB publishes its economic bulletin ThursdayBOE Governor Andrew Bailey will not hold a press conference after Thursday’s interest-rate decision and there are no further policy makers scheduled to speakThere are no major sovereign rating reviews next FridayFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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It's been a good week for Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest…

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AT&T (T) is considering selling its Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment gaming unit for around $4 billion to reduce its heavy debt burden, people familiar with the matter have told CNBC.According to the sources, potential buyers include major gaming companies Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), Electronic Arts (EA) and Activision Blizzard (ATVI). However, they added that no deal is assured or imminent at this point.One option for a deal could include a commercial licensing agreement which would allow AT&T to continue to drive revenue from its intellectual property, CNBC reported.However VentureBeat reported a separate source suggesting a price closer to $2 billion because the gaming division does not own some of the key franchises at the core of its major games like “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones.”Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is made up of 10 game studios including TT Games, and owns the “Mortal Kombat” and the “Scribblenauts” series. It was snapped up by AT&T as part of the $109 billion Time Warner deal which closed in 2018 and left T struggling to manage a $150 billion debt.Ex WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey will replace Randall Stephenson as CEO at AT&T on July 1. He takes the helm of America’s second-largest wireless service provider at a notably challenging time.Shares in T are currently trading down 22% year-to-date, with AT&T recently reporting soft first quarter earnings alongside ~ $433M ($0.05 per share) of EBITDA headwinds due to COVID-19 disruptions.“AT&T will continue to slash expenses and is aiming for $6B over the next three years” commented Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan. He has a buy rating and $47 price target on the stock explaining “Importantly, the dividend seems safe and debt reduction can continue with what we and the company estimate to be a 60% payout ratio.”Overall, analysts have a Moderate Buy T consensus, with 8 recent buy ratings, 12 holds and 2 sells. Meanwhile the average analyst price target of $34 indicates 11% upside potential from current levels. (See T stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Activist Investor Jana Partners Builds 5.9% Stake in Perspecta; Stock Jumps 9% In Pre-Market Lululemon Drops 5% in Extended Trading After Quarterly Results Miss Bankrupt Hertz Pops 51% In Pre-Market On $1 Billion Share Sale Plan More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * AbbVie, Roche’s AML Therapy Shows Significant Survival Benefits * Medtronic Succeeds In Critical US Trial For New Insulin Pump * American Express Scores China Go-Ahead In Milestone Moment * AstraZeneca Inks Europe Deal For 400M Covid-19 Vaccine Doses

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(Bloomberg) — Blackouts that hit millions of Californians in 2019 could be doubly calamitous this year with tech giants Google, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. among the many companies keeping offices closed until the fall or later in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic.If utilities cut power again, home offices set up during the pandemic could go dark and stay dark for days, and they’ll have no corporate offices to flee to for power. In October 2019, more than 3 million people were affected by a series of rolling blackouts over more than a week as PG&E Corp. and Edison International tried to prevent live wires from sparking wildfires.Call it a collision of crises. Blackouts could limit California’s push to revive an economy largely paralyzed by stay-at-home orders this spring. The state, utilities and individual companies are all seeking ways to deal with blackouts before a wildfire season forecast to be worse than normal. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., for one, has “long contemplated this type of scenario,” according to spokesman Adam Bauer.The San Jose-based tech company is building in geographic redundancies, he said, with “the ability to shift work among distributed teams to maintain service to our customers and partners.”Neither Google, Twitter nor Facebook would comment on their plans. The state’s utilities and government officials, though, have said they’re working to minimize the threat.California regulators last month adopted new shutoff rules that will require the companies to restore electricity within 24 hours after the weather clears, although the state’s wind storms can last several days. PG&E, the state’s largest utility, has set its own goal of 12 daylight hours after the winds ease, and has nearly doubled the number of helicopters it will use to look for downed lines.Troublesome SignsStill, there are troublesome signs leading into this year’s wildfire season. A year ago at this time, the state was drought free. Now, almost 50% of California is gripped by drought, with the driest areas occurring across the northern part of the state, according to a June 2 assessment by the U.S. Drought Monitor.The result: an “above normal significant large fire potential,” according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. Already this year, more than 6,600 acres have been burned in the state. Small blazes are already cropping up on an almost daily basisAt the same time, the coronavirus has killed more than 4,900 people in California, forcing companies to allow employees to work at home, closing schools and restricting travel.“The reality is Mother Nature hasn’t changed her mind with respect to wildfires because of covid,” said Don Daigler, director of business resiliency for Edison’s Southern California Edison utility. “We still face the same fire risk as communities as we did last year.”Sheltered in Place“We’re going to have people sheltered in place and without power,” said Carl Guardino, chief executive officer of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group lobbying organization, which represents many of the region’s biggest companies.Guardino’s own home lost electricity for 5 days last year, he said. He ended up moving his family into a hotel. he said. Now, though, even that solution is unlikely given the coronavirus shutdowns.To be sure, many Californians have already turned to back-up power generators. Generac Holdings Inc. saw its sales in the state surge 300%, its chief executive officer told Bloomberg a month after the blackouts. And this spring, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group successfully lobbied state officials to let solar installers return to work months before many other businesses opened.But solar panels with a battery to store the power, can cost $30,000 to buy the hardware for a robust home system and have it installed, so it’s not for everyone.Utility ViewThe utilities, whose use of intentional blackouts last year provoked fierce criticism, are aware of the issue. But they don’t want the number of people working from home to affect their decision to shut off power, if weather conditions demand it.Those conditions — high winds, hot temperatures, low humidity and dry vegetation — should still be the determining factors, the utilities say.“The approach we take is different, but the calculus really hasn’t changed,” Edison’s Daigler said. Instead, they’re trying to reduce the need for shutoffs, and ensure that when they occur they are smaller and shorter than last year’s.“We want to reduce the impact of public safety power shutoffs on customers whether they are working from home or not,” said Matt Pender, director of the community wildfire safety program at PG&E.Forced Into BankruptcyPG&E, which was forced into bankruptcy last year after its equipment sparked deadly fires, is installing switches and other devices to isolate power cuts, making them more targeted than last year’s mass blackouts. The company has also secured mobile diesel generators that can be located at as many as 48 substations.Both PG&E and Edison are also hardening their field equipment, running some lines underground and installing stronger poles. Edison, for example, is installing 600 miles of power lines with coating that prevents sparks when touched by tree branches.PG&E estimates these steps should cut the number of customers affected in each potential blackout by one-third.Pop-Up CentersBoth companies are also planning to open more pop-up community resource centers during blackouts to allow for more social distancing between people who show up to cool down and charge phones and other devices.They’ll send vans equipped with charging stations into darkened neighborhoods to help customers who don’t go to the centers, potentially a large number of people at a time when gathering with strangers brings risks.Some county governments, along with the city of San Jose, asked state utility regulators in April to impose new rules on the shutoff program. The commission, though, said the final decision should stay with the utilities.“Based on these rules and standards, it is appropriate for the utilities to have the final say over shutting down power and for the CPUC to hold them accountable,” spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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