MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks rose amid hopes for a second round of U.S.-Iranian peace talks.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields rose as another up-tick in oil prices stoked inflation concerns.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked up as oil prices rebounded.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures settled higher after U.S. officials indicated a tightening of the blockade of ships in and out of Iranian ports.
HEADLINES
Netflix Chair Reed Hastings to Leave Board in June
Netflix Chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings will step down from the company's board after his term expires in June, the streaming giant said Thursday.
Netflix said Hastings has decided not stand for re-election to its board so he can focus on philanthropy and other pursuits.
Hastings's departure marks an end of an era for Netflix, which under his leadership transformed from a DVD-by-mail business to a juggernaut in subscription video streaming that disrupted Hollywood.
Cutting Prices on Doritos Has Paid Off, PepsiCo Says
PepsiCo slashed prices on its signature snacks earlier this year, and there are signs it has helped the business.
The food and beverage giant on Thursday said revenue climbed 8.5% to $19.44 billion in the latest quarter, topping Wall Street forecasts. On an organic basis, revenue was up 2.6%.
In February, PepsiCo said it would cut prices on some of its chips and snacks by as much as 15%, in a bid to woo cost-conscious consumers back to snacks like Lay's potato chips and Doritos. The company found affordability was a big reason why consumers held back from purchases. In some markets, the price of some large bags of chips cost well over $6.
Ford Will Partner More With Chinese Automakers Overseas
Ford Motor plans to expand partnerships with Chinese manufacturers abroad, while also opening the door to one day allowing Chinese cars in the U.S.
Chief Executive Jim Farley said the U.S. and automakers need a plan to protect American jobs before Chinese auto imports and production arrive, but Ford must tie-up with Chinese manufacturers overseas to maintain a global edge.
"They're really leading the world in many ways when you look at the technology and the cost and the speed of what they're doing, " he said.
Abbott Laboratories Cuts Outlook, Says Mild Flu Season Hurt Sales
Abbott Laboratories cut its full-year earnings outlook to account for a recent acquisition and said a weaker-than-expected flu season hurt its recent quarter.
The medical-products maker said Thursday it now expects adjusted earnings of $5.38 to $5.58 a share for the year. That compares with a prior outlook of $5.55 to $5.80 a share, and it is below the $5.60 a share that analysts had forecast, according to FactSet.
Abbott attributed the lower outlook to its acquisition of cancer-diagnostics company Exact Sciences, which was completed last month and is expected to dent adjusted earnings by 20 cents a share.
Fed's Williams: Middle East Conflict Has Added to Economic Risks
NEW YORK-New York Fed President John Williams said Thursday that the Fed's current interest-rate setting is calibrated well for an economy that is facing additional risks from the conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday morning, Williams said the Iran war has presented the economy with new and unpredictable challenges. Its effects could resolve later this year if supply disruptions in the energy market resolve relatively soon, Williams said. But he also warned that the conflict could lead to a more difficult dynamic in which prices are rising at the same time that the economy is slowing.
"This has begun to play out already," Williams said.
Schwab Says Earnings Jump 30%, Plans to Launch Crypto Trading
Charles Schwab's quarterly profit climbed 30%, lifted by a flurry of client trading activity and volatile financial markets.
The brokerage giant also said Thursday that it would soon allow customers to trade bitcoin and ether on its platform, marking the latest traditional financial powerhouse to cater to individual investors' penchant for digital assets.
Schwab's first-quarter net income totaled $2.48 billion, up from $1.91 billion a year ago. Excluding certain one-time items such as acquisition costs, Schwab earned $1.43 a share in the most recent period. That beat estimates of $1.40 from analysts polled by FactSet.
U.S. Industrial Production Fell in March
U.S. industrial production fell in March, according to data published by the Federal Reserve.
Production fell by 0.5% last month, after increasing by an upwardly revised 0.7% in February. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the reading to remain unchanged.
Manufacturing activity ticked down by 0.1%, and output from utilities decreased by 2.3%. Mining output fell by 1.2%.
General Motors Is Still Making Cars for the U.S. Halfway Around the World
SEOUL-After President Trump's auto tariffs took effect a year ago, General Motors pledged about $5 billion in new U.S. investments to boost domestic production to more than two million vehicles a year. Chief Executive Mary Barra has praised Trump's levies as a tool to level the playing field.
But the tariff math still works for GM to build plenty of vehicles halfway around the world in South Korea.
The biggest U.S. automaker by sales volume has greenlighted roughly $600 million in new investments to bring Korean production back to full capacity of nearly half a million vehicles. Roughly 90% of the Chevrolet and Buick subcompact sport-utility vehicles made in South Korea get exported to the U.S., analysts say.
BNY Profit Rises, CEO Says Market Sentiment Looking Up
Bank of New York Mellon reported higher first-quarter profit as its chief executive said that there was cause for optimism about the economy and markets despite the conflict in the Middle East.
"If you just look at the core buying and the skew in the market, it sort of feels like markets kind of want to go up," CEO Robin Vince said in an interview with reporters. "But there are an awful lot of things you've got to keep your eye on because we could get surprised at any time."
The stock market posted a record high Wednesday, while volatility indexes are back to levels before the war, he said, adding that risk is improving. Additionally, the conclusion of tax season will improve the retail market in coming weeks, while the end of the corporate earnings blackout will likely bring stock buybacks, he said.
Eli Lilly Reveals Results of Late-Stage Study for Type 2 Diabetes Treatment
Eli Lilly's late-stage study of the efficacy and safety of a treatment for type 2 diabetes has produced positive results.
Achieve-4, the longest phase 3 study of Lilly's Foundayo to date, has reaffirmed its cardiovascular and overall safety profile as well as consistent improvements across key measures of cardiometabolic health, the drug maker said Thursday.
The trial of adults with type 2 diabetes and obesity or who are overweight and at increased cardiovascular risk met the primary objective of non-inferiority versus insulin glargine, Lilly said.
TALKING POINT Wall Street Is Spending Its Big Windfall on Wall Street
Washington has been trying to free up more of the resources of big banks. Banks have wasted no time putting them to work, but on Wall Street rather than Main Street.
Big banks' lending to consumers and midsize companies is moving modestly ahead. But demand for financing has boomed in their Wall Street trading businesses, which serve such clients as private-credit funds, hedge funds and institutional investors.
This kind of lending can drive big profits, in part thanks to advantageous regulatory treatment and because it brings in lots of fees for arranging trades, doing deals and other services.
But investors are starting to ask how much further banks can increase their Wall Street revenue-especially with growing risks in the current market, ranging from war to artificial-intelligence disruption.
For the first quarter, the six biggest U.S. banks reported another surge in trading revenue, collectively up 17% from a year earlier. Those banks are Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
They also added more of the kind of assets that fuel those units. The total of average trading-related assets in the first quarter-which include such things as securities held in trading books, as well as repurchase agreements to swap cash for clients' securities-grew by about 20% from a year earlier across the largest banks that report those figures.
--Telis Demos
Expected Major Events for Friday
08:00/ITA: Feb Foreign Trade EU
08:30/UK: Mar Monthly Insolvency statistics
09:00/ITA: Feb Balance of Payments
12:15/CAN: Mar Housing Starts
12:30/CAN: Feb International transactions in securities
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Friday
Ally Financial Inc $(ALLY)$ is expected to report $0.91 for 1Q.
Atlantic American Corp $(AAME)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Badger Meter Inc (BMI) is expected to report $1.22 for 1Q.
CNB Financial Corp (Pennsylvania) $(CCNE)$ is expected to report $0.80 for 1Q.
Carisma Therapeutics Inc $(CARM)$ is expected to report for 4Q.
Community West Bancshares (CWBC) is expected to report for 1Q.
Excellon Resources Inc (EXN.T) is expected to report for 4Q.
Fifth Third Bancorp $(FITB)$ is expected to report $-0.10 for 1Q.
Mega Matrix Inc (MPU) is expected to report for 4Q.
Noble Romans Inc (NROM) is expected to report for 4Q.
Northeast Community Bancorp Inc (NECB) is expected to report $0.75 for 1Q.
Oncolytics Biotech Inc (ONCY) is expected to report for 4Q.
Parke Bancorp Inc $(PKBK)$ is expected to report for 1Q.
Regions Financial Corp $(RF)$ is expected to report $0.60 for 1Q.
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April 16, 2026 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)
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