Meta reports a successful first quarter

News of the day, Thursday, April 28

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, reported its Q1 earnings, meeting the revenue outlook but missing on earnings per share. The company’s shares increased by 13% after the report. Unlike its historically bad Q4, Meta added users — daily active accounts increased by 4% to 1.96 billion. The main Facebook app lost 1 million daily active users in the previous quarter. The company’s revenue is $27.9 billion, while $28.24 was expected.

The Swedish central bank increased the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.25% today and warned of further tightening, as there is a need to cool down soaring inflation. The Riksbank has announced three more hikes this year and also a balance sheet shrink. "The Board's forecast is that the repo rate will be raised gradually going forward and that it will be somewhat below 2 per cent in three years' time," the central bank said in a statement. The inflation rate in Sweden ran at 6.1%, far above the central bank’s target of 2%.

The price of Brent crude is $105.30, WTI — $102.40, GBP/USD — 1.2536, EUR/USD — 1.0528, and gold costs $1887.40 per ounce.