REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon
Attendees take pictures of the new Tesla Energy Powerwall Home Battery during an event at Tesla Motors in Hawthorne, California April 30, 2015. Tesla Motors Inc unveiled Tesla Energy - a suite of batteries for homes, businesses and utilities - a highly-anticipated plan to expand its business beyond electric vehicles.
Tesla finally unveiled its new line of products Thursday night in San Francisco, called "Tesla Energy." The company described it as "a suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities fostering a clean energy ecosystem and helping wean the world off fossil fuels."
LinkedIn shares tumbled by up to 19% in pre-market trading after the company reported first quarter earnings results Thursday. Although Q1 revenues beat expectations, LinkedIn's Q2 guidance of between $670 million and $675 million fell short of forecasts for $717.5 million. The company's $1.5 billion acquisition of Lynda.com in April will generate up to $25 million in full-year revenue, it said.
April was the euro's strongest month in five years. The currency rose by 1.7% on a trade-weighted basis, and is down about 6.6% year-to-date.
British industrial growth slowed in April. Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector came in at just 51.9, a seven month low, versus expectations for 54.6, and down from 54.4 the prior month.
China's official manufacturing PMI is hovering around stagnation. Its PMI stood at 50.1 in April, just above the neutral 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
Japanese core consumer inflation rose for the first time in 10 months, relieving the central bank that's been battling deflation. Core inflation, excluding volatile fresh food prices, rose 2.2% year-on-year in March, logging the first increase since May 2014.
The Atlanta Fed is forecasting very weak US GDP growth in the second quarter. Its forecast model nailed the very weak 0.2% annualized rise in Q1 GDP, and is predicting a rise of just 0.9% in the second quarter.
Goldman Sachs is joining the Bitcoin bandwagon. The New York Times reports that Goldman "struck a partnership with a major Chinese investment firm, IDG Capital Partners, to lead a $50 million investment into Circle Internet Financial, a start-up that aims to use the technology underlying Bitcoin to improve consumer payments."
Thousands of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders are in Omaha, Nebraska for the company's annual meeting this weekend. It's CEO Warren Buffett's 50th anniversary at the helm of the company, and attendees will be paying rapt attention to everything he says about stocks and the economy.
There's plenty economic data on tap today. The PMI Manufacturing Index drops at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by the ISM Manufacturing survey at 10:00 a.m. We'll also get the latest readings on Consumer Sentiment and Construction Spending at 10:00 a.m. Auto sales data for April will roll in throughout the morning, and the latest oil rig count from Baker Hughes will cross at 1:00 p.m.