National Oilwell Varco Q2 Loss Narrows

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) reported that its net loss attributable to the company for the second-quarter narrowed to $93 million or $0.24 per share from $5.39 billion or $14.11 per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.13 per share. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The prior year quarter results included goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment of $3.19 billion.

Quarterly revenues were $1.50 billion, a decrease of 30 percent from the previous year.

Timeline: How COVID-19 Took Over NYC

As of July 24th 2020, New York City has reported over 228,000 cases of COVID-19, and nearly 23,000 deaths. After first seeing the virus emerge in NYC during March, the city quickly saw a surge that would eventually frame the entire nation's response to the pandemic.

Person who fell from boat into Aurora Reservoir is taken to local hospital

A person who fell out of a boat into the Aurora Reservoir on Monday night was pulled from the water by emergency responders and taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

Witnesses reported seeing a “distressed” person fall out of a boat at about 7:20 p.m. and authorities were summoned to help.

Aurora Fire Rescue and the South Metro Fire Rescue Dive Team responded to conduct a search of the reservoir and the victim was pulled from the water.

The victim was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak found guilty of all seven charges related to 1MDB scandal

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of all seven charges in a case linked to the multi-billion dollar financial scandal at state fund 1MDB.

The charges include three counts of money laundering, three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power. 

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

Pfizer And BioNTech Start Late-stage Study Of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) said that they have started a global Phase 2/3 clinical study to evaluate a single nucleoside-modified messenger RNA or modRNA candidate from their BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine program against SARS-CoV-2.

The study is expected to include about 120 sites globally except china and could include up to 30,000 participants.

The companies said they have chosen to advance their BNT162b2 vaccine candidate into the Phase 2/3 study, at a 30 g dose level in a 2 dose regimen. BNT162b2, which recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration Fast Track designation, encodes an optimized SARS-CoV-2 full length spike glycoprotein, which is the target of virus neutralizing antibodies.

“The initiation of the Phase 2/3 trial is a major step forward in our progress toward providing a potential vaccine to help fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to generating additional data as the program progresses,” said Kathrin Jansen, Senior Vice President and Head of Vaccine Research & Development, Pfizer.

The companies plan to manufacture globally up to 100 million doses of vaccine candidate by the end of 2020 and potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Scott Walker Gets Brutal Reminders Of His Past After ‘Joke’ Tweet Backfires

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) attempted to join Twitter’s “I have a joke” meme on Monday.

But it didn’t go well for him.

Walker’s attempt at the viral gag was a play off the fact that he won a recall election in 2012: 

But Walker’s critics on Twitter weren’t having it ― joining in with reminders of other parts of his history. 

Walker ran for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination but dropped out months before a single vote was cast after polls found him with less than one-half of 1 percent support. 

He also lost his 2018 reelection bid in Wisconsin to Democrat Tony Evers. 

And Walker also had a history of questionable activity, including accusations he misused state aircraft, and a deal with Foxconn electronics manufacturer involving billions of dollars in state subsidies for jobs that has fallen far short of the promises.

Twitter users were quick to remind him of all that and more with some biting “jokes” of their own, causing his name to trend on the website:

German exporters grow more optimistic as economy picks up: Ifo

BERLIN (Reuters) – Export expectations in Europe’s largest economy rose to 6.9 points in July from -2.2 the previous month thanks to an economic recovery in many countries, the Ifo institute said on Tuesday.

“Cautious optimism is spreading among German exporters,” Ifo said. “The automobile sector is one of the biggest winners. After some very tough months, the export business should pick up again.”

Sensex, Nifty open higher tracking global peers

The BSE Sensex was trading 182.41 points or 0.48% higher at 38,117.14; while the NSE Nifty was up 50.80 points or 0.46% at 11,182.60.

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened higher in early trade on July 28 tracking positive cues from global markets.

The BSE Sensex was trading 182.41 points or 0.48% higher at 38,117.14; while the NSE Nifty was up 50.80 points or 0.46% at 11,182.60.

On July 27, the 30-share Sensex had settled 194.17 points, or 0.51%, lower at 37,934.73; and the broader Nifty had ended 62.35 points, or 0.56%, down at 11,131.80.

Asian shares were also trading higher tracking cues from upbeat Wall Street.

Meanwhile, exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors sold equities worth ₹453.31 crore on a net basis on July 27.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.27% higher at $44.02 per barrel.

Investors, however, continued to pay a close attention to constantly rising COVID-19 cases globally and U.S.-China friction, experts said.