The Traderszone Network

S&P mini futures fell as much as 0.7 percent to 1,931.75, slipping from two-week highs hit the previous day on budding optimism on corporate earnings and the global economy. “Just when markets got some relief on the world economy, we had this news.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue, helped by stronger sales of its phones, Surface tablets and cloud-computing products for companies, while keeping its profit margins largely intact. The results on Thursday allayed fears of investors in recent days that the industry shift toward lower-margin cloud services was proving hard for established technology leaders to master. Microsoft shares, which have climbed 33 percent over the past year, rose another 3 percent in after-hours trading to $46.36.

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Australia, Indonesia and South Korea skipped the launch of a China-backed Asian infrastructure bank on Friday as the United States said it had concerns about the new rival to Western-dominated multilateral lenders. China’s $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is seen as a challenge to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, both multilateral lenders that count Washington and its allies as their biggest financial backers.

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Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) sales projections for the crucial holiday quarter disappointed Wall Street and third-quarter results missed forecasts, sending the online retailer’s shares 9 percent lower on Thursday. After an unusually busy first half of the year that saw the online retailer spend on developing everything from mobile phones and Hollywood-style production to grocery deliveries, investors were ready to see it curtail its ambitions and start delivering sustainable profits. Thursday’s after-hours share losses wipe more than $15 billion off of Amazon’s market value.

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Overall, however, the Fed said its “severely adverse” scenario was largely similar to the one it had used in its 2014 run of the so-called stress tests, mandatory for any bank with assets of more than $50 billion. The tests were introduced after the 2007-09 financial crisis, and are an increasingly important part of the Fed’s toolkit to make sure the largest banks stay safe, and to avoid a repeat of costly taxpayer bailouts.

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Department of Justice raising questions over a dozen demands, including the banks’ cooperation with other nations. In the letter dated Oct. 21, the lawyers questioned the terms of a proposed non-prosecution agreement over how banks can achieve amnesty through the disclosure program announced last year. The disclosure program that allows some Swiss banks to pay fines to avoid or defer prosecution over tax evasion by their U.S.

Lockheed Chief Financial Officer Bruce Tanner told analysts on Tuesday that the company was close to reaching a deal with the Pentagon office that runs the $399 billion weapons program, the costliest arms project. The Pentagon reached an agreement earlier this month with engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), that lowered the cost of the engines that will power the seventh batch of jets by 4.5 percent. Lockheed, the Pentagon’s No. 1 supplier, delivered the first airplane from the sixth lot of jets on Wednesday.

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