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Whole Foods Market Inc. announced Wednesday that it will celebrate at least one food holiday each month in 2017. The effort kicks of on Jan. 20 with National Cheese Lovers Day, when guests will be able to sample a variety of cheeses at all stores, and continues with National Green Juice Day on Jan. 26. The green juice holiday will be accompanied by $2-off digital coupon on any large store-made smoothie or juice from Jan. 25 to Jan. 31. Future food holidays will be announced a week in advance. Whole Foods shares are up 0.2% so far in Wednesday trading, and up 4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 20.7% for the last 12 months.

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From:: Stock Market News

State Street Corporation , the Boston-based global financial services company, will pay a $32.3 million criminal penalty and an additional equal amount to the SEC to resolve the government’s investigation into a scheme to defraud at least six of the bank’s clients through secret commissions, according to the Department of Justice. The commissions were applied to billions of dollars of fixed income and equity trades for at least six institutional clients and charged in addition to fees the clients had agreed to pay and despite written instructions to the traders not to charge those clients trading commissions. State Street also took steps to hide the commissions from clients and misrepresented its performance to one of these clients in order to conceal a trading loss. The company admitted the allegations and agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement that requires it to employ an independent corporate compliance monitor for three years. State Street has already fully repaid the victims of the scheme. The government had previously charged two former high-ranking State Street executives, former Executive Vice President Ross McLellan and former Senior Managing Director Edward Pennings, with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with the same scheme. They are scheduled to go to trial in October.

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From:: Stock Market News

Britain’s Supreme Court will issue its decision Jan. 24 on whether the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May must consult the country’s parliament on her plans for Brexit. Its judges have been weighing arguments in the U.K. government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that it doesn’t have the right to unilaterally invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would begin formal talks for the U.K. to withdraw from the European Union. On Tuesday, May laid out her plan for Brexit, which she said would be put to the vote in both Houses of Parliament. The Supreme Court will hand down its decision on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. London time, or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time, according to a post on the court’s official Twitter account.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened little changed Wednesday after mixed earnings reports from banks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earnings were better than expected, however, Citibank revenues disappointed. Investors are also waiting for a speech by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen in the afternoon. The S&P 500 were off 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,265, shortly after open. The Nasdaq Composite was flat at 5,537. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 54 points or 0.3%, to 19,770.

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From:: Stock Market News

General Electric Co. said Wednesday it has won over $1.4 billion in power generation orders from Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity. The orders are for setting up power plants and to provide technology upgrades and maintenance services. “Using GE’s expanded portfolio of technologies and solutions, this project will provide more reliable and sustainable electricity for the country to help achieve better operations and higher levels of efficiency,” said Steve Bolze, chief executive of GE Power. GE’s stock, which was up 0.1% in premarket trade, has rallied 7.9% over the past three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has run up 9.2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. slumped 1.3% in active premarket trade Wednesday, after Credit Suisse turned bearish on the department store chain, citing expectations of limited sales growth amid store closures and stagnant apparel and accessories merchandising. Analyst Christian Buss cut his rating to underperform from neutral. He also downgraded fellow discount department store chain Kohl’s Corp. to underperform from neutral on concerns over deteriorating store margins, sending the stock down 1.8% in premarket trade. Separately, Nordstrom Inc.’s stock surged 1.6% premarket, after Buss upgraded the high-end department store chain to outperform from neutral, citing expectations of relatively strong earnings growth as a result of investments in speed of execution and ecommerce. He raised his stock price target to $58, which is 31% above Tuesday’s closing price of $44.38, from $48. J.C. Penney’s stock had tumbled 18% over the past three months through Tuesday, while Kohl’s shares have slipped 3.9% and Nordstrom’s stock has dropped 17% and the S&P 500 has gained 6%. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF has tacked on 3.8% over the past three months.

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From:: Stock Market News

Citigroup Inc. said Wednesday it had net income of $3.57 billion, or $1.14 a share, in the fourth quarter, up from $3.34 billion, or $1.02 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $17.0 billion from $18.5 billion a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.12 and revenue of $17.3 billion. Shares were slightly higher premarket, but have gained 37% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 20.6%.

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From:: Stock Market News