Good morning and welcome to the IC’s live blog, covering the biggest business stories of the day.
America 'on the move'
Good morning and welcome to the IC’s live blog, covering the biggest business stories of the day and the overnight news from the US.
“America is on the move again”, said President Biden yesterday as he marked his first 100 days in office. Speaking to Congress, Biden unveiled a planned $1.8trn ‘American Families Plan’ aiming to address education and childcare. He also described his $2trn American Jobs Plan as a “blue-collar blueprint to build America”.
“America is rising anew”, the president said, “ready for a take-off”. “We’re working again, dreaming again, discovering again and leading the world again”.
Apple soars on iPhone sales
Biden’s address came amid a flurry of corporate earnings releases from Stateside companies, with Big Tech taking centre-stage this week. Bolstered by iPhone sales, Apple’s (US:APPL) revenues rose more than a half in its second quarter ending 27 March, reaching a record $89.6bn.
The quarter reflected “the enduring ways our products have helped our users meet this moment in their own lives”, chief executive Tim Cook said, “as well as the optimism consumers seem to feel about better days ahead”.
Facebook (US:FB) also posted numbers last night, achieving 48 per cent sales growth in its first quarter to $26.2bn. This followed on from forecast-beating numbers from Microsoft (US:MSFT) and Alphabet (US:GOOGL) a day earlier, as reported by Lauren Almeida in our developing coverage of this quarter’s big tech results.
This side of the Atlantic, several trading updates rolled in on Thursday morning across the spheres of healthcare, consumer goods, gambling, mining and more. Read our take in the blog below.
