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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 53 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 10. That was generally in line with the decline of 55 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 2.242 trillion cubic feet, down 236 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 395 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas fell 7.8 cents, or 2.6%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.906 per million British thermal units.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Oracle Corp. soared 8% in morning trade, putting it on track for the first record close in 16 1/2 years, as Wall Street analysts cheered the software giant’s quarterly results. Analyst Mark Murphy at J.P. Morgan upgraded Oracle to overweight from neutral, citing the company’s success in cloud subscriptions and the increase in the mix of recurring revenue. He raised his stock price target to $51, which is 9.7% above current levels, from $42. UBS analyst Fatima Boolani reiterated the buy rating while raising the stock price target to $48 from $45, saying beating expectations and the company’s positive tone in the “right areas” suggests the “stars appear to be aligning” for the company. RBC Capital’s Ross MacMillan boosted his price target to $47 from $46, saying he is more confident in the future growth potential as the decline in license revenue appears to be moderating. The stock was trading around $45.50, above the previous record close of $46.31 on Sept. 1, 2000. The stock has rallied 16% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF has climbed 23% and the S&P 500 has gained 18%.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stock-index benchmarks on Thursday opened higher, with the Nasdaq Composite on track to touch an intraday record, a day after the Federal Reserve lifted key interest rates, but implied that the U.S. central bank wasn’t in a rush to hike rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average [: DJIA] opened up 41 points, or 0.2%, at 20,990, the S&P 500 index gained 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,387, while the Nasdaq Composite Index traded near its intraday record of 5,911.79, up 10 points, or 0.2% at 5,910. Weakness in the dollar following the Fed’s policy decision on Wednesday also bolstered gold , sending it 2.4% higher, while yields on the 10-year Treasury note were at 2.52%, lower than where it started the week, as investors have bought government bonds, pushing yields lower after rates were increased by a quarter-point to a range of 0.75% to 1%. Typical bonds sell off, nudging yields higher as rates increase dilute the appeal of outstanding notes, but market participants said the less aggressive Fed stimulated buying. In corporate news, Oracle Corp. gained after reported quarterly results, while the public debut of Canada Goose Holdings Thursday was on investors’ radars.

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From:: Stock Market News

PTC Therapeutics Inc. plans to buy privately-held Marathon Pharmaceuticals’ controversial Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug for about $75 million in cash and $65 million in PTC common stock. Marathon is also eligible for annual net sales-based payments starting next year, and one $50 million sales-based milestone payment, with the purchase expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. The drug, Emflaza, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in February and quickly became controversial once Marathon set its price at $89,000-a-year. Marathon paused the drug’s launch after the outcry. While high price tags are common for rare disease drugs, Emflaza is part of a class of drugs called corticosteroids that are used for DMD in other parts of the world. PTC Therapeutics Chief Commercial Officer Mark Rothera said the company plans to “re-examine the price of Emflaza,” and that more details would be released once the purchase closes. But company leadership also maintained that the drug is a “best-in-class anti-inflammatory disease-modifying therapy,” as Chief Executive Officer Stuart Peltz said on the company’s earnings call. “We believe from both published data and data from our own clinical trial, then Emflaza has approved efficacy and a desirable safety profile over existing steroid-based treatment.” This type of argument is commonly used by drugmakers to justify high price tags. But the company claimed it is committed to patient access, adding that about 9,000 DMD patients could benefit from the drug and “only a small fraction of these patients have been able to access Emflaza,” Chief Financial Officer Shane William Charles Kovacs said. PTC Therapeutics shares declined 6.6% in pre-market trade Thursday after reporting fourth-quarter earnings and announcing the drug acquisition. Company shares have declined 12.3% over the last three months, compared with a 5.6% rise in the S&P 500 .

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From:: Stock Market News

A letter delivered to the International Monetary Fund’s office in Paris exploded Thursday, injuring one staff member. The explosion was caused by a large firecracker, a senior police official in Paris told The Wall Street Journal. The IMF is working with French authorities to investigate the incident. “I condemn this cowardly act of violence and reaffirm the IMF’s resolve to continue our work in line with our mandate,” Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said in a statement. The incident comes after a suspicious package containing explosives was found Wednesday at the German finance ministry in Berlin. That package was found in the mail-handling area of the building, but wasn’t opened.

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The global market for augmented and virtual reality headsets is expected to spike nearly 10-fold, to 99.4 million units shipped through 2021 from 10.1 million in 2016, with the fastest growth in augmented reality headsets, according to market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). That represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58%. Revenue for VR headsets is expected to grow to $18.6 billion in 2021 from $2.1 billion in 2016, while AR headset revenue is expected to jump to $48.7 billion from $209 million, IDC said. The market share for commercial use of the headsets is expected to increase to 38.5% in 2021 from 20.1% in 2016, with consumer market share expected to decline to 61.5% from 79.9%. “While there was clear demand coming primarily from technology enthusiasts, what became readily apparent were the use cases for enterprise users across multiple verticals and for consumers with gaming and content consumption,” said IDC Research Manager Ramon Llamas.

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From:: Stock Market News