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Chesapeake Energy Corp. shares surged 7% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company topped earnings estimates for the fourth quarter. Chesapeake said it had net income of $309 million, or 33 cents a share, in the quarter, after a loss of $740 million, or 83 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 30 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 24 cents. Revenue rose to $1.258 billion from $678 million, and were also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.251 billion. Chief Executive Doug Lawler said the company made significant progress in reducing debt in 2017, increasing cash flow and boosting margins. “We further demonstrated the depth of our portfolio by closing on approximately $1.3 billion in asset and property sales and signed additional asset sales for approximately $575 million that we expect to close by the end of the 2018 second quarter,” he said. Shares are down 56% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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An unidentified assailant threw an explosive device that was most likely a grenade into the U.S. embassy compound in Montenegro early Thursday, then killed himself with another explosive device, said the Balkan nation’s government in posts on Twitter. The attacker was a man, and there were no other injuries or deaths, according to multiple published reports. The U.S. embassy was working with local police to identify the attacker, and all visa services at the embassy were cancelled for Thursday, American officials said on Twitter.

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The U.S. women’s ice hockey team won its first Winter Olympics gold medal in 20 years on Thursday, beating the Canada squad. The U.S. won a shootout 3-2 on the sixth round, with Jocelyn Lameroux scoring the winner. The final went to sudden-death overtime after the teams tied 2-2 in regulation time, but neither team succeeded in scoring a golden goal to end the match in the extra 20 minutes. The battle for gold in PyeongChang was a repeat of the final at the last Sochi Winter Olympics, when Canada took the title. Until the 2018 final, the Canadian women’s team had won four straight golds and 24 straight matches at the Olympic Games.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stock futures hinted at a weaker start for Wall Street on Thursday, as the market continued to digest the minutes of the January Federal Reserve meeting. Dow futures fell 114 points, or 0.5%, to 24,667, while S&P 500 futures dropped 7.7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,691. Nasdaq-100 futures slid 31.25 points, or 0.5%, to 6,728.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surrendered a 300-point gain on Wednesday to finish down 166.97 points, or 0.7%, to 24,797.78. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2%. Losses came as the Fed minutes pointing to the “increased likelihood” of more interest-rate hikes to come triggered fresh volatility, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note hitting a fresh four-year high of 2.95%. The yield was hovering at 2.94% on Thursday. Dollar gains also weighed on stocks, though the ICE Dollar Index greenback gave up some of those gains on Thursday, up 0.1% to 90.114.

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Recent low inflation readings are not a “great concern,” and the U.S. central bank should continue to raise interest rates gradually, said Randall Quarles, the new Federal Reserve vice chairman for supervision, on Thursday. In a speech in Tokyo, Quarles said the economy “is performing very well” with a strong labor market and “likely only temporary softness in inflation.” Quarles noted that headline personal consumption expenditure index rose at a 1.7% annual rate in December, just below the Fed’s 2% target. “Suffice to say, a deviation from our target by a few tenths of 1 percentage point, especially one I expect to fade, does not cause me great concern,” Quarles said. A Trump appointee, Quarles was optimistic about the impact of the Republican tax cuts. He said the investment drought that has afflicted the U.S. economy over the past five years “may finally be breaking.”

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Shares of Sturm Ruger & Co. fell as much as 5% late Wednesday after the gun maker missed fourth-quarter sales expectations. The company posted diluted earnings of 59 cents a share in the quarter, compared with $1.10 a share a year ago, and sales reached $118.2 million, compared with sales of $161.8 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 77 cents on sales of $134 million. Shares ended the regular trading session down 2.2%. In the same statement, Sturm Ruger said its board of directors declared a dividend of 23 cents a share for the fourth quarter, payable on March 30 to shareholders of record March 15.

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SailPoint Technologies Holdings Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Wednesday after the identity governance company’s quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street estimates. SailPoint shares surged 7% after hours. The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $5.4 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.3 million, or 6 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 17 cents a share. Revenue rose to $67.8 million from $44.3 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 8 cents a share on revenue of $55.6 million. For the first quarter, SailPoint estimates an adjusted loss of 4 cents to 3 cents a share on revenue of $44 million to $45 million. Analysts expect a loss of 6 cents a share on revenue of $43 million.

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The American Petroleum Institute showed a fall in U.S. oil inventories by around 900,000 barrels last week, news reports said Wednesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration are due Thursday morning. A survey of analysts by The Wall Street Journal produced an average estimate for a 1.9 million barrel rise in crude supplies. April oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange trimmed a decline in electronic trading, changing hands at $61.34 a barrel, a loss of 34 cents.

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From:: Stock Market News

The American Petroleum Institute showed a fall in U.S. oil inventories by around 900,000 barrels last week, news reports said Wednesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration are due Thursday morning. A survey of analysts by The Wall Street Journal produced an average estimate for a 1.9 million barrel rise in crude supplies. April oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange trimmed a decline in electronic trading, changing hands at $61.34 a barrel, a loss of 34 cents.

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From:: Stock Market News

Diebold Nixdorf Inc. said late Wednesday that Gerrard Schmid will join the company as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. He also joins the Diebold Nixdorf board, the company said. Schmid, 49, is a “seasoned” corporate executive with “a track record of delivering value in a transforming environment,” Diebold said in a statement. His leadership will help Diebold Nixdorf “accelerate its evolution as the global market leader in connected commerce,” it said. Shares of Diebold were flat in late trading after ending the regular session down 2.9%.

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From:: Stock Market News