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The Federal Reserve shouldn’t be “too timid” or “delay too long” to raise interest rates, said San Francisco Fed President John Williams on Friday. In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Williams challenged the Wall Street view that a rate hike in March is now off the table given the January jobs report. “I don’t agree. All our meetings are live,” he said. He also disagreed the Fed needed to wait to see details of Trump’s fiscal policy legislation before raising rates. “This economy is proving it can grow at a steady rate without as much monetary stimulus as we’ve been giving,” he said. “We actually can make decisions based on that without knowing what happens in terms of fiscal policy later in the year.” Williams is not a voting member of the Fed policy-committee this year. The market is pricing in a 9% chance of an interest-rate hike in March compared with an already low 18% probability on Thursday, according to CME Group.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Myos Rens Technology Inc. more than doubled on heavy volume Friday on no apparent news, for the second time in less than a month. The stock rocketed 112% in afternoon trade, enough to make it the biggest gainer on the Nasdaq exchange. Volume spiked to 19.3 million shares, which was about 21 times the full-day average. The company did not release any news Friday, a company spokesperson told MarketWatch. Myos Rens is a biotherapeutics and bionutrition company, which says on its website that its Fortetropin product is a “clinically proven natural” way to build lean muscle. On Jan. 11, the stock soared more than five fold–from $1.30 to $6.82–on volume of 16.4 million shares, also as the company did not release any news. The stock has now run up nearly four-fold over the past 12 months, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF has tacked on 7% and the S&P 500 has gained 20%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures settled modestly higher Friday and logged a weekly gain on the back of expectations that output cuts by major producers will continue to chip away at global oversupply. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March West Texas Intermediate tacked on 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $53.83 a barrel. WTI notched a weekly gain of about 0.7%. The gain for oil came as the Baker Hughes report revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 17 to 583 rigs this week, a third straight weekly gain. Investors were also weighing news of fresh U.S. sanctions on oil-producer Iran. But those sanctions aren’t expected to put limits on its crude exports.

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From:: Stock Market News

Gold prices closed with slight gains Friday, adding to a weekly rise that is the best in about eight months. April gold settled up $1.40, or 0.1%, at $1,220.80 an ounce. The metal rang up a weekly gain of about 2.6% which would represent its best weekly advance since the week ended June 10, according to FactSet data. Gold had a bumpy ride on a the day but edged higher as the dollar lost ground in the wake of a the Friday jobs report. The U.S. created 227,000 new jobs in January to mark the largest gain in four months and the unemployment rate rose to 4.8% as more workers looked for jobs, but the big weak spot was wage growth. Average wages edged up 0.1% to $26 an hour. Hourly pay increased 2.5% from January 2015 to January 2016, down from 2.8% in the prior month, suggesting that inflation may not be as brisk as the Federal Reserve or the market had been pricing in.Lower inflation might give the Fed pause in raising rates and is a drag on the dollar , which can give dollar-priced assets like gold room to rise.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed executive orders that would start a process of rolling back the fiduciary rule and the Dodd-Frank bank reform law. “Today we are signing core principles for regulating the United States financial system,” Trump said. The text of the orders has not yet been released.

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a Friday letter to Kaleo Inc. criticizing the around $4,500 price tags of its two products, opioid overdose treatment Evzio and allergic reaction treatment Auvi-Q. Kaleo prices these products at high levels, it says, to allow patients with commercial insurance to pay no out-of-pocket costs. But Klobuchar challenged that explanation. “These programs may simply shift costs to other parts of the healthcare system, which are eventually passed on to consumers through higher premiums,” she said. “Many worry this pricing strategy may allow pharmaceutical companies to benefit from increased profits while hiding the true costs to consumers.” Big price increases on Evzio, from $690 to over $4,500 over the last three years, are “worrisome,” she said. She called the $4,500 price tag for an Auvi-Q two-pack “especially disturbing.” The senator asked Kaleo to explain its Evzio price increases and Auvi-Q’s pricing structure in her letter. Auvi-Q, a competitor with Mylan Inc.’s EpiPen, is not yet on the market and expected to be available starting Feb. 14.

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From:: Stock Market News

Callaway Golf Co.’s stock tumbled 9.1% in active afternoon trade Friday, after the gold equipment seller’s disappointing fourth-quarter results. Volume of 2.9 million shares in recent trade was more than triple the full-day average. The company said late Thursday it swung to a profit of $1.28 a share from a loss of 33 cents a share, because of the reversal of a deferred tax valuation allowance. Excluding that, the adjusted loss of 18 cents a share missed the FactSet consensus for a loss of 17 cents a share. Revenue rose to $164 million from $153 million, but missed the Fact Set consensus of $171 million. Woods sales of $29.5 million missed the FactSet consensus of $37 million, irons sales of $39 million were below expectations of $48 million and golf balls sales of $31.2 million was just shy of the FactSet consensus of $31.9 million, while putters sales of $14.0 million beat expectations of $13.6 million. Callaway’s stock has run up 18.5% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has climbed 20.1%.

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From:: Stock Market News