Home Depot earns $2.25 billion

ATLANTA (AP) — The Home Depot Inc. (HD) on Tuesday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $2.25 billion.

The Atlanta-based company said it had profit of $2.08 per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.26 per share.

The home-improvement retailer posted revenue of $28.26 billion in the period, beating Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $27.61 billion.

UK jobless claims rise 69%

LONDON (AP) — Unemployment claims in Britain jumped by a record amount in April to their highest level since the 1990s, underscoring the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the economy despite government programs to keep workers on payrolls.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak downplayed the chances of a swift recovery in a parliamentary hearing. He could not, in short, pledge to secure every job or business. An immediate bounce back is not a given.

“Obviously the impact will be severe,” he said. “We are likely to face a severe recession the likes of which we have never seen.”

Jobless claims surged by 856,000 in April, to 2.1 million, the highest since 1996 and an increase of 69% from the month before, the Office of National Statistics said Tuesday.

AT&T quits Venezuela market

MIAMI (AP) — AT&T said Tuesday it will immediately ditch Venezuela’s pay TV market as U.S. sanctions prohibit its DirecTV platform from broadcasting channels that it is required to carry by the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro.

The Dallas-based company’s closing of its Venezuela unit is effective immediately.

It follows a decision by the Trump administration not to renew a license it had granted AT&T to continue carrying Globovision, a private network, sanctioned by the U.S., owned by a businessman close to Maduro who is wanted on U.S. money laundering charges, three people familiar with the situation told the AP.

AT&T joins a number of other U.S. companies — General Motors, Kellogg Co. and Kimberly-Clark — that have abandoned Venezuela due to shrinking sales, government threats and the risk of U.S. sanctions.