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Shares of Marriott International Inc. rose more than 1% late Wednesday after the hotel chain posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Marriott said it earned $201 million, or 54 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $244 million, or 62 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $415 million, or $1.12 a share, compared with $334 million a year ago. Revenue rose to $5.9 billion, from $5.5 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Marriott to post adjusted earnings of $1.01 a share on sales of $5.7 billion.

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Claiming that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson had “knowingly” allowed his family to use his public office for private gain, a Washington watchdog group on Wednesday filed a request for a “full and formal investigation” by the HUD inspector general. Carson’s wife, son, and daughter-in-law organized an agency “listening tour” of Baltimore business executives who were prospective business clients for Carson’s son and daughter-in-law, said the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The event took place even though a HUD ethics official warned Carson against allowing it. Shortly after that, the daughter-in-law’s consulting firm was awarded a nearly half million dollar no-bid contract from one of those executives, CREW said in a release.

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SunPower Corp. late Wednesday said it has put on hold a $20 million plan to expand its workforce in the U.S. and is considering “other significant cost saving initiatives” to lower its expenses and improve its financial performance. Shares fell as much as 11%, and were halted earlier. The solar-power company reported a wider quarterly loss and a revenue miss for the fourth quarter. SunPower said it lost $569 million, or $4.07 a share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of $275 million, or $1.99 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2016. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $36 million, or 25 cents a share, in the period, compared with $3.3 million, or 2 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell to $658 million, from $1.02 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 11 cents a share on sales of $797 million. The company said it expects revenue of $1.6 billion to $2 billion for the year. SunPower said it had applied for tariff exemptions for certain products following the government’s decision to apply new tariffs on solar cells and modules. “Unfortunately, we are already seeing a negative near-term impact from the ruling as the increased costs due to import tariffs have delayed certain 2018 projects and made other projects uneconomical,” the company said.

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Shares of NetApp Inc. slumped in Wednesday’s extended session after the data management company posted a quarterly loss. Netapp reported it swung to a loss of $506 million, or $1.89 a share, from a profit of $146 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier. The company cited a one-time charge of $856 million associated with U.S. tax cuts for the loss. On an adjusted basis, the company would have earned 99 cents a share. Revenue rose to $1.52 billion versus $1.40 billion a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had forecast adjusted earnings of 91 cents and revenue of $1.50 billion. NetApp shares slumped 8.8% after hours.

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TripAdvisor Inc. shares zoomed 20% higher Wednesday afternoon on a stronger-than-expected forecast for the current year. In a fourth-quarter earnings report, TripAdvisor revealed a loss of $84 million, or 60 cents a share, on sales of $321 million, up from $316 million a year ago. The loss was mostly attributable to a $73 million charge related to new tax laws; after stripping that and other one-time costs out, TripAdvisor reported earnings of 6 cents a share, down from 16 cents a share a year ago. Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of 14 cents a share on sales of $309 million. Excitement seemed to stem from TripAdvisor’s forecast for the current year, which called for adjusted Ebitda to be flat, while analysts assumed it would continue to fall. “We believe our addressable market opportunity, our unique competitive position and our growth strategy position us to return to double-digit revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margins in excess of what we have operated to over the past couple of years,” executives said in prepared remarks. TripAdvisor shares rose to more than $48 in after-hours action, after closing with a 2.1% gain at $40.72. The stock had been damaged amid an advertising war with rivals Expedia Inc. and Priceline Group Inc. , falling 22% in the past year as the S&P 500 index gained 13.9%.

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Florida police in Broward County were responding to a shooting Wednesday afternoon at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The school was on lock down, with students and teachers barricaded, according to reports. According to CNN, there are at least 20 people injured, citing Broward County Fire Rescue. The shooter remains at large, according to a tweet from the Broward Sheriff department. Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said President Trump is aware of the shooting: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected,” she said. The stock market appeared little changed amid the downbeat reports, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index set to book a fourth straight gain. Check back for updates.

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With the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 238 points in afternoon trade Wednesday, and over 1,000 points amid a 4-session win streak, market internal data is suggesting panic-like buying that hasn’t been seen in 15 months. The NYSE Arms Index, a volume weighted breadth measure, fell to 0.447 in afternoon trade. The Arms Index tends to decline below 1.000 when the broader market rises, as the intensity of buyers of advancing stocks increases relative to the intensity of sellers of declining stocks. The number of advancing stocks on the NYSE outnumbered decliners 2,046 to 889, or by a 2.3-to-1 margin, while advancing volume exceeded declining volume 476.4 million shares to 92.4 million shares, or by a 5.2-to-1 margin. Many see Arms readings below 0.500 as implying panic-like activity. The last sub-.500 reading was Jan. 26, at 0.490, when the Dow peaked at 26,616.71. The current reading is the lowest seen since Nov. 9, 2016 when the Dow rallied 257 points; on Nov. 10, the Dow jumped another 218 points.

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Oil futures rebounded from early losses, ending sharply higher after a smaller-than-expected rise in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.41, or 2.4%, to settle at $60.60 a barrel after earlier trading as low as $58.20. Oil bounced back from earlier weakness after the Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles rose 1.8 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast, on average, a 2.6 million barrel rise.

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.

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From:: Stock Market News