Uber and Lyft’s losses | Calamatta Cuschieri

The Maltese market closed in the red on Friday, with MSE Equity Total Return Index ending the session 0.069% lower, to 9,812.567 points. Best performer was Malta Properties Company plc by adding 5.30% to close at 0.695, followed by RS2 Software plc which jumped 2.11% to close at 1.94. Biggest fall was seen from Loqus Holdings plc, it shed 28.82% to close at 0.061, followed by GlobalCapital plc which slid 20% to close at 0.20. Malta International Airport plc and Valletta plc also closed on the negative side. They fell 1.94% and 0.46% to close at 7.6 and 1.075 respectively.

A slump in shares of automakers, miners and chipmakers led European stocks to their biggest losses in more than seven months on Friday after Washington’s announcement of new tariffs on Chinese goods raised fears of a further hit to global growth. The pan-European STOXX 600 index sank 2.5% to hit a six-week low. Germany's trade-sensitive DAX slumped 3.1%, while losses for luxury goods makers, which draw a large part of their revenue from China, dragged down France's CAC 40 .FCHI by 3.6%.

U.S. stocks dropped Friday amid the latest escalation of the U.S.-China trade war, and as traders considered what a mostly in-line report on the state of the domestic labor market in July might imply for the Federal Reserve’s next policy move. The S&P 500 index slid 0.73%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.37%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.32%.

Uber and Lyft report earnings while losing more than just money

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. were expected to lose money for a while after their initial public offerings, but so far the two ride-hailing companies are losing more than just money.

Since Uber and Lyft made their earnings debuts, they have both lost the same two top executives — their chief operating officers and chief marketing officers. Uber announced the departure of its COO and CMO just a week after reporting earnings for the first time, while Lyft‘s COO surprisingly exited in late July, following its CMO out the door. Uber didn’t stop there, losing three board members since the IPO and slashing roughly a quarter of its marketing staff.

Meanwhile, it is possible that gains for Uber and Lyft could be showing up in how much its customers pay. Both companies suggested in their first earnings report that their pricing war may be coming to an end, and at least one analyst said that prices seemed to be going up for Uber in areas where smaller rival Lyft is strong, as a way to attract drivers looking for bigger payouts.
 

This article was issued by Nadiia Grech, Junior Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.