Business
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Amgen Reports Fourth Quarter And Full Year 2020 Financial Results

Jaime E. Love

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Feb. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2020 versus comparable periods in 2019. Key results include:

  • For the fourth quarter, total revenues increased 7% to $6.6 billion in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2019, driven by higher volume growth, partially offset by lower net selling prices.

  • For the full year, total revenues increased 9% to $25.4 billion driven by higher volume growth, partially offset by lower net selling prices and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • GAAP earnings per share (EPS) decreased 3% to $2.76 in the fourth quarter and 4% to $12.31 for the full year primarily driven by the amortization of costs associated with our November 2019 acquisition of Otezla, partially offset by an increase in revenues.

  • Non-GAAP EPS increased 5% in the fourth quarter to $3.81, and 12% to $16.60

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Business
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UPDATE 1-NZ jobs surprise rules out rate cuts, tightening could be back sooner

Jaime E. Love
 (Adds details, comment from analyst)
    By Praveen Menon
    WELLINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - New Zealand's jobless rate
dropped unexpectedly and wages expanded, ruling out prospects
for further central bank rate cuts and sparking talk that
monetary tightening may be back sooner than expected.
    The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.9% in
the December 2020 quarter from 5.3% in the September 2020
quarter, Statistics New Zealand said in its statement.
    That beat forecasts by economists polled by Reuters who had
expected an unemployment rate of 5.6%.
    The New Zealand dollar          rose a quarter of a cent on
the strong jobs data, as traders ruled out any rate cuts by the
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).
    "Thoughts of further RBNZ easing have turned to thoughts of
RBNZ tightening, via macro-prudential policy," said Jarrod Kerr,
Chief Economist at Kiwibank.
    Kerr said RBNZ has already tightened conditions by bringing
back mortgage lending
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Technology & Computer
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Team takes next big step to scale up quantum computing

Jaime E. Love
Beyond qubits: Sydney takes next big step to scale up quantum computing
The Cryogenic CMOS chip platform. The chip itself is just below the shining component, which houses the qubits. Credit: University of Sydney

Scientists and engineers at the University of Sydney and Microsoft Corporation have opened the next chapter in quantum technology with the invention of a single chip that can generate control signals for thousands of qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers.


“To realise the potential of quantum computing, machines will need to operate thousands if not millions of qubits,” said Professor David Reilly, a designer of the chip who holds a joint position with Microsoft and the University of Sydney.

“The world’s biggest quantum computers currently operate with just 50 or so qubits,” he said. “This small scale is partly because of limits to the physical architecture that control the qubits.”

“Our new chip puts an end to those limits.”

The results have been published in Nature Electronics

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Business
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HomeServe Cares Foundation Awards $132,000 in Grants in 2020

Jaime E. Love

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

In 2020, HomeServe USA, a leading provider of home repair solutions, awarded seven grants totaling more than $92,000 through its HomeServe Cares Foundation (HSCF) “Caring for Community” grant program. The grants are awarded to non-profits and municipalities to support community-based programs. In a year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of the grants supported initiatives to help restock food pantries, purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and install new safety measures.

With communities continuing to struggle to ensure at-risk residents are taken care of during the pandemic, HSCF also made four significant contributions totaling $40,000 to food banks in late December 2020 and in early January 2021. The recipients were the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama in Birmingham; Second Harvest Food Bank of New Orleans in Louisiana; the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee; and

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