Month: September 2015

Tech stocks took a beating amid a broad-market selloff Monday, but Twitter Inc. [s:TWTR] largely bucked the trend. Shares of Yahoo Inc. were down 5.3% at the market close Monday, shares of LinkedIn Corp. fell 3.3%, shares of Amazon Inc. were down 3.9%, shares of Apple Inc. fell 2% and shares of Facebook Inc. were down 3.8%. Twitter shares were down just 0.1%. The moves came as the technology-friendly Nasdaq Composite slumped 3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.9%. Twitter has yet to name a chief executive, but a New York Times story Monday stated that several of the company’s investors are in support of interim CEO Jack Dorsey becoming the permanent CEO.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

IBM Corp. said Monday it plans to buy Meteorix LLC, a services partner of cloud-based human resources and finance company Workday Inc. . “The planned acquisition of Meteorix can make IBM one of the leading, most qualified and experienced Workday service providers in the world,” said Bridget van Kralingen, a senior vice president at IBM Global Business Services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Shares of IBM were flat in late trading Monday after ending the regular session down 2%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks finished sharply lower Monday, unable to shake worries over data from China and the outlook for global economic growth. The S&P 500 fell 49.56 points, or 2.6% to settle at 1,881.78, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 312.78 points, or 1.9%, at 16,001.89. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 142.52 points, or 3%, to finish at 4,543.97, weighed down by a sharp selloff by biotech shares.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California announced Monday he’s running for House speaker. In an email to House Republicans, McCarthy said he’s seeking the seat being vacated by current Speaker John Boehner, and that the House GOP’s work is “far from done.” McCarthy is considered the favorite and must win a majority of votes cast in the House to be elected to the speaker job.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The plunge in Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc.’s stock on Monday could be costing billionaire investor William Ackman over $600 million in one day. Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, owned 19.5 million shares, or 5.7%, of Valeant’s shares outstanding as of June 30, according to FactSet. That makes Valeant the largest holding of Pershing Square, and makes Pershing the third-largest sharedholder in Valeant. The stock tumbled $31.18, or 16%, in afternoon trade, following reports that House Democrats were seeking a subpoena to force Valeant to turn over documents related to massive drug price increases. If Ackman still owned the 19.5 million shares he owned at the end of June, those shares would be worth about $607.2 million less than they were on Friday. Since biotechnology stocks turned sharply lower a week ago, after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she’d lay out a plan to prevent price gouging by drugmakers, Valeant’s stock has lost $73.85, or 30%, meaning Ackman would have lost $1.44 billion.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

GoPro Inc. shares fell to their lowest prices since the company’s 2014 initial public offering Monday, despite the addition of a new camera to the company’s consumer offerings. GoPro had declined as much as 7.8% by 2:15 Eastern time Monday, hitting a new low of $29.78. The action-camera manufacturer detailed a new offering in the morning, showing off a camera dubbed the Hero+ that will aim for the lower end of the market, with a price tag of $200. The camera will be the cheapest GoPro to connect to users’ smartphones via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology, a capability the entry-level, $130 Hero does not provide. GoPro’s record lows are still above the company’s IPO price of $24 a share, but well below highs of nearly $100 a share reached since its June 2014 IPO.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

All 10 S&P 500 sectors were in the red Monday with the broader market sliding on the back of global economic concerns. The health-care sector topped the losers, shedding 4.3%, while both the energy and materials sectors were off 3%. In the Dow Jones Industrial Average , only Intel Corp. posted any meaningful gains, rising 0.5%. The S&P 500 fell 2.5% to 1,884 and the Dow declined 1.8% to 16,022. The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 3.3% to 4,533.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. fell sharply on Monday in line with the broad decline in the health-care sector, which is the worst performer in the S&P 500. The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged five Florida residents, including two lawyers with insider trading ahead of Gilead’s buy of Pharmasset Inc. in 2011. The health-care sector dropped 3.9% with almost all the stocks in the sector trading lower except Johnson & Johnson which is up 0.3%. Gilead shares were off 5% to $85.23, on track for fourth consecutive day of losses.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Porsche Automobil Holding SE has lost over $10 billion on its investment in Volkswagen AG in a little over a week, but that hasn’t kept Porsche from buying even more of the troubled German car maker’s stock. As of July 31, Porsche Automobil owned about 149.7 million Volkswagen ordinary shares , or a 51% stake, according to FactSet. With those shares tumbling 60.30 euro, or 36%, since the news of the emissions scandal broke, the value of Porsche’s Volkswagen stake has declined by 9.03 billion euro, or the equivalent of $10.15 billion at current exchange rates. But that loss didn’t stop Porsche from buying more, as the company said over the weekend that it was buying the 1.5% stake in Volkswagen, or 4.4 million ordinary shares, owned by Suzuki Motor Corp. , at an undisclosed price. “Porsche SE considers the purchase of 4.397 million ordinary shares as a strong commitment to its core investment and emphasizes its role as an anchor shareholder in the Wolfsburg-based car maker,” Porsche said in a statement on its website. Porsche Automobil manages the assets held by the Porsche and Piech families, which are descendants of Ferdinand Porsche, who invented the Volkswagen Beetle. Porsche Automobil’s U.S.-listed shares were down 6.4% in afternoon trade, and have tumbled 40% since news of the Volkswagen emission scandal broke.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged five Florida residents with insider trading based on advance knowledge of the acquisition of Pharmasset Inc. by Gilead Sciences Inc. According to the SEC attorneys Robert L. Spallina and Donald R. Tescher and accountant Steven G. Rosen illegally traded on confidential information obtained while acting as advisors to a Pharmasset board member. The advisors purchased Pharmasset securities and then Spallina told Thomas J. Palermo, a financial adviser at a brokerage firm, and Brian H. Markowitz, then Spallina’s next-door neighbor, about the impending deal and they also bought shares based on the tips, says the SEC. Pharmasset stock rose by 84 percent on the deal news and the five defendants sold their shares for a profit of $234,000. The five defendants collectively agreed to pay approximately $489,000 for the settlement which is subject to court approval. “Lawyers and accountants occupy special positions of trust and confidence and are required to protect the information entrusted to them by their clients,” said Joseph G. Sansone, Co-Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News