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The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday that Citadel Securities LLC will pay $22.6 million to settle charges that its team that processes retail customer orders from other brokerage firms misled those customers about the way it priced trades. According to the SEC, Citadel Execution Services used two algorithms that did not take the other side of the retail orders, called internalization, at the best price observed nor did it seek the best price in the marketplace. That’s despite telling broker-dealer clients that it either took the other side of the trade and provided the best price that it observed on various market data feeds or sought to obtain that price in the marketplace. Citadel Securities executes approximately 35% of the average daily volume of retail equity shares traded in the U.S. markets, according to the SEC’s order. Citadel Securities has since discontinued use of the two algorithms which violated the law from late 2007 through January 2010. Citadel did not admit or deny the findings, but agreed to be censured and pay a penalty of $16 million, return $5.2 million in gains and pay interest of more than $1.4 million.

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From:: Stock Market News

J.P. Morgan & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said he isn’t concerned that President-elect Donald Trump’s trade policies will hurt the economy by pushing for tariffs and adopting a protectionist stance. During a call with reporters on Friday following the bank’s quarterly results, Dimon said despite Trump’s rhetoric and frequent use of Twitter, which indicate the real-estate mogul would retool trade agreements with Mexico and hold a hard line with countries like China, he expects the coming president’s administration to “do the right thing.” “Putting aside the one-liners and election rhetoric, I am comforted by the fact that he’s putting real players on the playing field,” Dimon said. Trump, for example, has repeatedly accused China of manipulating its currency and has threatened to place tariffs on its goods. Critics fear that such a tacked would backfire as China would likely retaliate with tariffs of its own. The U.S. is the biggest market for China, accepting about a fifth of its exports. Shares of J.P. Morgan were up nearly 2% on Friday, following its better-than-expected results, which were giving a lift to financials and the Dow Jones Industrial Average . “Give him some time,” Dimon said of Trump. The J.P. Morgan boss is a part of Trump’s economic brain trust, the Strategic and Policy Forum, which consists of 16 business leaders, headed by Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of private-equity firm Blackstone Group .

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Retail sales for November and December increased 4% year-over-year to $658.3 billion, according to the latest numbers from the National Retail Federation. The final tally includes $122.9 billion from non-store sales, which includes e-commerce. Non-store sales were up 12.6% from 2015. The overall total exceeds the NRF’s forecast of $655.8 billion, which would have been an increase of 3.6%. The organization forecast a 7% to 10% increase in online sales to $117.0 billion. A number of department store retailers like Macy’s Inc. and Kohl’s Corp. have issued profit warnings for the holiday season. Sales at department stores were down 7% adjusted year-over-year while clothing and accessories stores increased 2.5%, furniture and home furnishings stores saw a 4.8% increase, and food and beverage stores saw sales increase 3.6%.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher Friday as investors were relieved by bank earnings results and economic data. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp earnings beat expectations, though Wells Fargo & Co earnings and revenues were lower than expected. Retail sales in the fourth quarter rose by 0.6%, while producer prices inched up by 0.3%. The main indexes were set to book weekly losses, however. The S&P 500 opened up 3.8 points, or 0.2%, at 2,274, hovering near all-time highs. The Nasdaq Composite began the session up 10 points, or 0.2% higher at 5,557. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 37 points or 0.2%, to 19,927.

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Kellogg Co. said Friday that Fareed Khan will join the company as chief financial officer, succeeding Ron Dissinger, who will stay with the company in 2017 to help with the transition. Dissinger announced his retirement in May 2016. Khan joins from U.S. Foods Holding Corp. where he was CFO from 2013 and aided with the company’s IPO. Kellogg shares are unchanged in premarket trading, and up 1.4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 20.1% for the last 12 months.

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Shares of GrubHub Inc. surged 4.5% in premarket trade Friday, after Morgan Stanley turned bullish on the online food-ordering company, citing faster diner growth as a result of accelerating restaurant additions. Analyst Brian Nowak raised his rating to overweight, after being at equal weight since May 2016. He raised his stock price target to $44, which is 18% above Thursday’s closing price of $37.37, from $36. “In our view, active diner growth–a sign of GRUB’s ability to bring on new users–and gross food sales per active diner–measuring GRUB’s ability to grow share of stomach–remain the two most important metrics in evaluating the health of GRUB’s business,” Nowak wrote in a note to clients. “We see bullish indicators in both of these, which are likely to lead to higher earnings power and upward revisions.” The stock has dropped 9.3% over the past three months through Thursday, while the Amplify Online Retail ETF has gained 2.7% and the S&P 500 has tacked on 6.5%.

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Netflix Inc.’s stock rallied 0.9% in premarket trade Friday, after Deutsche Bank upgraded the streaming video service, citing expectations that Netflix will report better-than-expected results next week. Analyst Bryan Kraft raised his rating to hold, three months after starting coverage with a sell rating. He raised his stock price target to $110, but that was still 15% below Thursday’s closing price of $129.18, from $92. Kraft said when he initiated coverage of Netflix, he believed the company had “an attractive business model,” but the stock was priced two years ahead of the fundamentals, and that a sale of the company was “highly unlikely.” His new rating and price target is based on a higher subscriber trajectory internationally, a lower tax rate and the believe that fourth-quarter results will beat guidance for international subscribers. “The key driver of the stock price around earnings reports has predominantly been subscribers,” Kraft wrote in a note to clients. Netflix is scheduled to report results after the market closes on Jan. 18. The stock has run up 29% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.5%.

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GameStop Corp. said Friday same-store sales fell 18.7% in the nine-week holiday period to end December, weighed down by weak demand for “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare” and “Titanfall 2” and aggressive discounting on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Total sales came to $2.50 billion, down 16.4% from the year-earlier period. Chief Executive Paul Raines said sales were hurt by holiday weakness, pricing pressure and lower traffic. “We are disappointed with our overall results, but looking broadly, we did see continued growth in our non-physical gaming businesses and we expect this category to approach 40% of our earnings in fiscal 2016,” he said in a statement. The company is still aiming to save $100 million in sales, general and admin costs by 2019, he said. GameStop is sticking with its fourth-quarter forecast for EPS of $2.23 to $2.28, below the FactSet consensus of $2.33. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but have fallen 8% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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From:: Stock Market News