For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 9, 2020 – Zacks Equity Research Shares of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. LOW as the Bull of the Day, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. MSGS asthe Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on NIKE, Inc. NKE, salesforce.com, inc. CRM and Microsoft Corporation MSFT.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

As the Covid-19 pandemic stretches past its 200^th day and Americans remain mostly in their homes as much as possible, there have been many winners and losers in the business world. The losers have been businesses that rely on in-person interactions for a significant portion of their revenues. Travel, leisure and entertainment have all suffered mightily.

Technology and technology services like video conferencing and file sharing companies that allow people to work at home more efficiently have been the obvious winners.

There have

Software giant Microsoft will let employees work from home permanently if they choose to, US media reported on Friday, becoming the latest employer to expand work-from-home provisions prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

US tech news website The Verge said most Microsoft employees are still at home as the health crisis drags on, and the company doesn’t expect to reopen its US offices until January of next year at the earliest.

But when it does, workers can chose to work from home permanently with their manager’s approval, although they will have to give up their office space.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged all of us to think, live and work in new ways,” human resources head Kathleen Hogan said in a note to employees obtained by The Verge.

“We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual work styles, while balancing business needs and ensuring we live our culture.”

Microsoft is the latest of the tech giants to enshrine working from home as a permanent fixture of its operations.

According to the Verge, which that cited an internal memo, instead of cautiously reopening its US workspaces and crossing its fingers that employees—or their loved ones—don’t end up with covid-19 as a result, Microsoft will shift to a “hybrid workspace.”

What that “hybrid” space actually looks like will mean different things to different employees. Every one of them will get the option to work remotely “for less than 50%” of their workweek, permanently. With supervisor approval, whoever, Microsoft will be granting some workers permanent remote status.

While Microsoft’s not the first major tech player to let its employees turn their homes into their forever-offices—Twitter first gave its employees that option back in mid-May—it’s still an idea that some tech CEO’s

Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently, The Verge reported on Friday, as more companies continue to embrace remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us to think, live, and work in new ways,” Microsoft Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan said in a note to employees obtained by The Verge. “We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles, while balancing business needs, and ensuring we live our culture.” Moving forward, company employees will have the option to work from home for less than half of the week, or to have their managers approve working from home on a permanent basis. Microsoft employees who opt for full-time remote work will lose their assigned office space but will still be able to use Microsoft’s offices whenever they need. The company said employees can move around the country if they like,

Microsoft officials this week set some new official guidelines for work-from-home for the company’s 166,000 or so employees as of 2019. Most employees will be able to work from home part-time, meaning less than 50 percent. With manager approval, some will have the option to work from home full-time.

The new rules are the result of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. In early March, Microsoft began setting policies around which employees could and should work from home. In July, Microsoft officials said the company planned to reopen its offices partially in January 2021 at the earliest.

Then, as now, some employees are required to be onsite, depending on employees’ roles.

Microsoft management began circulating the new work-from-home rules selectively earlier this week, according to my contacts. The Verge reported on October 9 that Microsoft’s Chief People Office Kathleen Hogan also said employees could have the option of working from

Most Microsoft employees are still working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the tech giant will apparently offer them more freedom to do so when its offices reopen. The company is circulating “hybrid workplace” guidance internally that suggests more flexibility, The Verge reported Friday.

Managers will be able to approve permanent remote work, and employees who take that option will give up their assigned office space but be able to work in certain areas if and when they come into the office, the report said. In addition, employees will seemingly be able to work from home freely if they spend 50% of their work hours at the office.

Workers whose jobs are

Microsoft will let its employees work from home permanently, even once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

In an internal memo seen by The Verge that highlights the company’s plans to create a “hybrid workplace”, Microsoft said it will allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50% of their working week, but has said that managers will be able to approve permanent remote work if staff request it. Part-time working hours will also be available for employees with approval from their manager. 

Currently, the cast majority of the company’s employees are working from home, and Microsoft previously said they would not reopen office until at least January 2021. 

For those whose work can be done entirely remote, there are options to relocate

A new strain of mobile ransomware abuses the mechanisms behind the “incoming call” notification and the “Home” button to lock screens on users’ devices.

Named AndroidOS/MalLocker.B, the ransomware is hidden inside Android apps offered for download on online forums and third-party websites.

Just like most Android ransomware strains, MalLocker.B doesn’t actually encrypt the victim’s files but merely prevents access to the rest of the phone.

Once installed, the ransomware takes over the phone’s screen and prevents the user from dismissing the ransom note — which is designed to look like a message from local law enforcement telling users they committed a crime and need to pay a fine.

Ransomware posing as fake police fines has been the most popular form of Android ransomware for more than half a decade now.

Across time, these malware strains have abused various functions of the Android operating systems in order to

Microsoft rolled out a new Dev Channel test build of Windows 10 on September 30. That build, 20226, has some new storage health monitoring functionality, plus updates and fixes. But the bigger news in today’s blog post about the new build has to do with the Microsoft Your Phone app.

I use the Your Phone app quite a bit as a way to interact with my Android phone right from my Windows 10 PC screen. But setting this app up is harder than it should be, in my experience. I’m betting Microsoft is hearing the same from others, and its team seems to be working to improve the experience.

Microsoft is rolling out a new user experience meant to improve Your Phone device management. There’s a new settings page, designed to improve how users can link a new device, remove an old device and switch between active devices