Tesla Inc. (TSLA) is asking the Chinese government for approval to build model 3 vehicles in the country equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, Reuters reported.The name of the battery maker wasn’t disclosed, according to a document by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology seen by Reuters.Reuters exclusively reported in February that Tesla is in advanced talks to use LFP batteries from CATL that contain no cobalt – one of the most expensive metals in electric vehicle (EV) batteries – in cars made at its China plant.Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.Model 3 vehicles are being built at the U.S. car maker’s Shanghai factory. On May 8 Tesla revealed that it secured a 4 billion yuan ($565M) lending line for continued expansion of production at the Gigafactory Shanghai.The company uses EV batteries from Panasonic Corp and LG Chem. CATL has said it would start supplying Tesla from July.Earlier this month figures from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed that sales of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan in China plunged 64% in April vs March. The industry association also said that auto demand was now recovering following the coronavirus outbreak.The value of Tesla shares has more than doubled in the past two months. The stock depreciated 1.3% to $816.88 as of the close on Friday.TipRanks data shows that Wall Street analysts take a more cautious stance on Tesla stock. The Hold consensus rating is based on 9 Sells, 9 Holds, and 8 Buys. Following the stock’s recent rally, the Street’s $623.45 average price target implies 24% downside potential in the shares over the coming year. (See Tesla’s stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Tesla Drops Alameda County Lawsuit Over California Plant Reopening Tesla Gets County Nod To Reopen California Auto Plant – Report Fiat Chrysler Shares Decline on Dividend Payout Withdrawal More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * NBA In Talks With Disney To Reopen Season At Disney World In July * GM Delays Some Production Shifts At 3 U.S. Truck Plants – Report * Gilead’s Remdesivir Most ‘Beneficial’ In Covid-19 Patients Who Need Extra Oxygen, Study Shows * KKR Invests $1.5 Billion in Reliance’s Jio Platforms In Biggest Deal In Asia

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Aurora Cannabis Interim CEO Michael Singer and Reliva CEO Miguel Martin join Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to discuss Aurora’s acquisition of Reliva, and more.

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Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) late on Friday filed for bankruptcy protection after the car rental firm failed to reach long-term agreements with creditors as it grapples with the financial fallout induced by the coronavirus pandemic.The news sent shares down 36% to $1.82 in extended U.S. trading on Friday. The company, whose largest shareholder is billionaire investor Carl Icahn with an almost 39% stake, said that the lockdown orders tied to the virus pandemic fueled an increase in car rental cancellations and a decline in future bookings.Hertz said it had more than $1 billion in cash on hand to support its ongoing operations. The company may seek additional cash, including through new borrowings, depending upon the length of the COVID-19 induced crisis and its impact on revenue.“The impact of COVID-19 on travel demand was sudden and dramatic, causing an abrupt decline in the company's revenue and future bookings. Hertz took immediate actions to prioritize the health and safety of employees and customers, eliminate all non-essential spending and preserve liquidity,” the company said in a statement. “However, uncertainty remains as to when revenue will return and when the used-car market will fully re-open for sales.”Hertz is embarking on the financial reorganization as it sees “a prolonged travel and overall global economic recovery”. During the reorganization process, the company will maintain ordinary operations, continue to pay vendors and suppliers, pay its employees, and continue with its customer loyalty programs.The car rental company said that its principal international operating regions including Europe, Australia and New Zealand are not included in the U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings. In addition, Hertz’s franchised locations, which are not owned by the company, also are not included in the bankruptcy proceedings.Earlier this month, the ailing car rental firm reported disappointing first quarter earning results with Q1 Non-GAAP EPS of -$1.78 missing Street expectations by $0.59. Meanwhile revenue of $1.92B dropped 9% year-over-year and fell short of consensus estimates by $70M.On May 16, Hertz announced that its Executive VP Paul Stone will replace Kathryn Marinello as CEO.Following the announcement, Deutsche Bank’s Chris Woronka wrote: “In his most recent role, Stone's oversight included the company's TNC business, as well as its expanded retail operations (which had been a key driver of significantly reduced fleet costs throughout 2018 and 2019 but quickly became a headwind earlier this year).”“We see both of these units as being key to the company's ability to return to profitability in a more normalized economic environment,” Woronka added.The analyst reiterated his Hold rating on the stock with a $3 price target. TipRanks data shows that three analysts in the past three months, have cut Hertz stock to Sell from Hold, with a further analyst downgrading the stock to Hold. Overall, this gives Hertz a bearish Moderate Sell analyst consensus.With shares trading down 82% on a year-to-date basis, the $6.75 average analyst price target indicates 138% upside potential from the current share price.(See Hertz stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Foot Locker Earnings Miss On All Counts; Stock Down 6% In Pre-Market Nvidia Sinks Despite Stellar Earnings; Top Analyst Says Buy On Any Weakness Starbucks Regains Almost Two-Thirds Of U.S. Same-Store Sales As Stores Reopen More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * GM Delays Some Production Shifts At 3 U.S. Truck Plants – Report * Gilead’s Remdesivir Most ‘Beneficial’ In Covid-19 Patients Who Need Extra Oxygen, Study Shows * KKR Invests $1.5 Billion in Reliance’s Jio Platforms In Biggest Deal In Asia * Tesla Asks China To Build Model 3 Cars With LFP Batteries – Report

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Gilead Sciences Inc.’s (GILD) remdesivir, its coronavirus drug candidate, is most “beneficial” for Covid-19 patients who require supplemental oxygen but don’t need mechanical ventilation, according to a study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)."Ultimately, the findings support remdesivir as the standard therapy for patients hospitalized with Covid-19 and requiring supplemental oxygen therapy," the report said, citing preliminary results from the randomized, controlled trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.Over a 10-day course, patients received the antiviral remdesivir intravenously and a placebo. The report showed that patients who received remdesivir had a shorter time to recovery than those who received placebo. The median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo.“These findings support the use of remdesivir in this population, with the largest benefit observed among individuals who required oxygen supplementation but were not mechanically ventilated,” said Merdad Parsey, Chief Medical Officer, at Gilead Sciences.Parsey added that Gilead expects results from its Phase 3 SIMPLE-Severe study, which is evaluating experimental remdesivir in a similar population of Covid-19 patients, to be published in the “near future”.At the end of this month, Gilead expects to receive results from its Phase 3 SIMPLE-Moderate study, which is evaluating remdesivir in hospitalized patients with Covid-19 and lung involvement not requiring oxygen supplementation.“Beyond the ongoing studies of remdesivir, we look forward to the initiation of combination studies of remdesivir to understand whether the addition of other drugs may enhance patient outcomes,” Parsey said.Shares in Gilead dropped 13% so far this month after gaining 29% in the January to April period.Following talks with Gilead’s management on May 18, five-star analyst Hartaj Singh at Oppenheimer said he remained bullish on the stock by maintaining a Buy rating with a $90 price target (23% upside to current level).“A potential inhaled (nebulized) version of remdesivir (data 2H20) could increase remdesivir availability by a factor of 3x to 4x (vs. current),” Singh wrote in a note to investors.According to the analyst, management was also preparing a business case for remdesivir potentially updating investors over the next few weeks.“While we believe the GILD P&L is building sales/earnings momentum, the budding pipeline story is starting to catch our eye,” Singh wrote. “We believe GILD remains steadfast in bringing life-altering medicines to market. With a 4% dividend yield, $2.5 to $3B in FCF/quarter, and non-GAAP operating margins of >50%, we see a company positioned for success, in spite of the current investor pessimism.”TipRanks data shows that the majority of 15 analysts have a Hold rating on the stock, while the rest are divided between 8 Buys and 5 Sells, adding up to a Hold consensus. The $79.09 average price target  is less optimistic than Singh’s as it indicates a mere 7.8% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Gilead stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Gilead and Galapagos Score Positive Topline Results For Ulcerative Colitis Trial Moderna Spikes 21% Amid “Positive” Early-Stage Covid-19 Vaccine Data AstraZeneca-Merck Lynparza Prostate Cancer Treatment Gets FDA Approval More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * GM Delays Some Production Shifts At 3 U.S. Truck Plants – Report * KKR Invests $1.5 Billion in Reliance’s Jio Platforms In Biggest Deal In Asia * Tesla Asks China To Build Model 3 Cars With LFP Batteries – Report * Beleaguered Hertz Sinks 36% In After-Market On Bankruptcy Protection Filing

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Israel is divided over the trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges including allegedly accepting gifts such as champagne, cigars and jewelry. WSJ’s Dov Lieber explains. Photo: Gali Tibbon/Associated Press

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Headspace’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Megan Jones Bell, joins Yahoo Finance to weigh in on the stress that surrounds the current economy, ways to cope with the situation, the increased sense of mental health awareness that has come from the coronavirus pandemic and more.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) — Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp.’s Universal are going to a lot of trouble to get their U.S. theme parks back open. But when they do, it doesn’t sound like anyone is going to be having much fun. Universal Orlando presented plans for its June 5 reopening to local Florida county officials detailing how the park will try to keep employees and visitors safe from the Covid-19 virus. Its efforts begin right in the parking lot, where the spots will be staggered so that even cars are social distancing from one another (and no valet). From there, anyone entering the park must wear a protective face covering and have their temperature checked by a worker sporting a handheld thermometer. Crowds will be controlled. Even rides will keep every other row clear of passengers.But it’s the wait for the ride that will feel especially strange: The healthy jitters of thinking about the first drop may be replaced by either the unnerving feeling of wearing a mask or the simple annoyance of it. After all, Orlando was 95 degrees Thursday afternoon. (Workers will get more frequent breaks so that they can wash their hands and, if there’s an open area, to take off their mask for a breather. )Universal’s plans — which were approved by the county task force without any pushback — reveal how every portion of the day will be slightly tainted by this new reality. It could make for an almost eerie experience, or at least one very different from the vacation most families probably envisioned when they shelled out $119 a ticket. Some of these measures may not even do much good: As we’ve all learned in recent weeks, not everyone infected with Covid-19 gets a fever, and in fact, many don’t.Eating will be an interesting experience: Universal realizes that you can’t exactly lick a Butterbeer ice cream cone with a mask on, so it’s spacing out tables to allow people to remove their masks while they eat. Good luck to parents getting the masks back on their kids after that and to the workers who must clean those tables. (The menus will at least be disposable.) Meanwhile, other changes aren’t so bad: Universal is encouraging contact-less payments, and there will be lots of hand-sanitizer dispensers. It’s also making use of virtual lines for more of its attractions so that people aren’t physically standing together for long periods, and it’s eliminating single-rider lines so that groups aren’t paired with strangers.In theory, it’s a carefully constructed plan by Universal to make the best of a terrible situation. In practice, it could prove to be a logistical nightmare that’s difficult to enforce. The internet is full of videos of Americans defying mandated face coverings and lashing out at these types of restrictions. John Sprouls, the head of the resort, said so far guests have signaled that they are understanding and accepting of the boundaries. But there’s always one — and in a park of thousands, perhaps more. Sprouls said it would be a “capacity-managed” opening, but didn’t specify how many people would be allowed in. Universal will “stress” its system on June 3 and 4 by opening to select invited guests.It’s unclear how much all these new safety protocols will cost Universal and Disney, which is also working to reopen its Orlando resort after welcoming back guests to its Shanghai park on May 11. The added safety and security expenses combined with intentionally selling fewer tickets will crimp profits for these companies. To what extent remains to be seen. For them, from a financial standpoint, it’s certainly better than having the parks shut down. For visitors, though, a trip that’s supposed to provide a fun escape from reality may instead be a reminder of it. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tara Lachapelle is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications, as well as broader deals. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi, Alexis Christoforous, and Jared Blikre break down Deere & Co. and Foot Locker earnings.

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Economists think the worst damage of the 2020 coronavirus recession has already occurred. But we’re nowhere near the end. President Trump insisted this week that “we are not closing our country” again if the virus resurges. Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman joins Jen Rogers to discuss and give this week’s Trump-o-meter reading.

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