Markets are recuperating after long periods of decline. On Tuesday, markets opened higher following a statement from Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso, who said that the government is ready to intervene to contain the rising Yen and to prevent the Japanese economy from getting hurt. Some major stocks are trending this morning are Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nokia Corp (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU), Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN) and Dean Foods Co (NYSE:DF). This article takes a closer look at why these stocks are making headlines today and see what famous investors think about them.
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Microsoft Ends MSN Web Service in China
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced that it will shut down MSN China web portal as it shifts its focus from online content to software and services for Windows 10 for PC and mobile. Similar to other foreign companies, Microsoft has faced pressure from the Chinese regulators while doing business in the country. In 2014, China launched an antitrust investigation against Microsoft under its 2008 anti-monopoly law. In January, Microsoft was asked to give an explanation regarding the digital data it provided in the country. In a statement, the Redmond-based software company said that it remains “deeply committed” in offering a wide range of services in China including Windows 10, cloud services, and its research and development center. MSN China website will be shut down on June 7. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock is up by 0.78%.
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As of March this year, First Eagle Investment Management owned more than 23.6 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Overall, 140 hedge funds from our system had long positions in the company at the end of last year.
Nokia Corp Reports Losses
Declining mobile network sales and costs of acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent hurt the first-quarter earnings of Nokia Corp (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) as the company reported a net loss of $583.46 million, down from a profit of $201.35 million posted a year earlier. EPS of $0.03 was in-line with the analysts’ estimates. Revenue in the quarter came in at $6.3 billion, slightly missing the estimates of $6.4 billion. Nokia’s network business suffered an 8% decline in net sales as compared to the first quarter last year. The company faces a tough competition from rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co. In a statement, Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia, said that the bad results were mainly due to the challenging environment in the mobile network domain. Mr. Suri said that the company managed to deliver solid profitability during a time when the risk of integration-related disruption was high. Nokia Corp (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) has plunged more than 7% this morning.
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Follow Nokia Corp (NYSE:NOK)
Out of the total funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 26 investors had positions in Nokia Corp (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) at the end of 2015. Michael Platt and William Reeves’ BlueCrest Capital Mgmt have 95,000 shares of the company as of March 2016.
We will discuss Baidu, Allergan and Dean Foods on the next page.
