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Rachel Brand, the No. 3-ranking official behind Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, plans to leave her post after nine months on the job, the New York Times reported late Friday. Her profile has risen in recent weeks amid speculation about the future of Rosenstein, who tapped Robert Mueller to lead an investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and contacts with the Trump campaign and who has been criticized by President Trump, who has also lashed out at Sessions for recusing himself from oversight of the Russia probe. If Rosenstein were to be fired or otherwise vacate his position, Brand, as associate attorney general, would have been in line to step into that role.

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From:: Stock Market News

It should come as no surprise that a week of volatile price action and slumping stocks saw a jump in trading volume. Total composite volume for the week was 54,528,267,895 shares, the highest since the week ending Aug. 12, 2011, according to WSJ Market Data Group. Stocks gained ground late Friday, but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell by more than 5% this week. Total composite volume for Friday was more than 11.8 billion shares, making it the second-largest volume day of the year after Tuesday, when more than 12.04 billion shares changed hands.

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From:: Stock Market News

Chief of Staff John Kelly has made clear to President Trump that he’s willing to resign over the handling of domestic abuse allegations against former Staff Secretary Rob Porter, according to an ABC News report which cited sources who have spoken with Trump and Kelly. While Kelly’s fate is in question, the report said sources did not believe his departure is imminent. Tom Barrack was approached to gauge his interest in the chief of staff position but wasn’t interested, the report added.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. bounced back from correction territory to close higher on Friday but the market still posted hefty losses for the week. All main indexes rallied in the afternoon with technology, real estate and energy sectors leading the gains while 27 out of 30 Dow stocks finished higher. Friday’s rebound comes as the CBOE Volatility Index stabilized to fall 7.5% to 30.95 after spiking on Thursday. The Dow rose 335 points, or 1.4%, to close at 24,196 for a weekly drop of 5.2%. The S&P 500 climbed 38 points, or 1.5%, to end at 2,619, down 5.2% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 97 points, or 1.4%, to 6,874 but posted a weekly loss of 5.1%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of pharmacy-benefit managers fell Friday after the White House released a paper pushing for lower biotech drug prices. Shares of Express Scripts Holding Co. declined 2.8%, CVS Health Corp. shares slipped 1.5%, while shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. , with its OptumRx PBM business, swung from a slight loss to be up 0.5%. On Friday, the White House’s Coucil of Economic Advisers released a white paper entitled “Reforming Biopharmaceutical Pricing at Home and Abroad” which called for reducing prices of biotech drugs while raising incentives for medical innovation to promote competition.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of United Technologies Corp. moved lower in late trading Friday, after The Wall Street Journal said Airbus has a problem with an engine made for its A320neo aircraft by United Tech business Pratt & Whitney. Pratt & Whitney’s engine margins have come under pressure in the last year because of production and mechanical problems with the geared-turbofan engine, which is a new-generation of jet engine. Pratt & Whitney issued a short release to say it is in close contact with clients to address the recent finding, which relates to the knife edge seal in the high pressure compressor aft hub on the engine. “This issue is isolated to a limited subpopulation of engines,” said the release. United Tech shares reversed early gains to trade down 3.3%. The stock has gained 12% in the last 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 18% and the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The collapse of short volatility products earlier this week prompted Fidelity, one of the largest retail brokerage companies, to prevent clients from trading ProShares Short VIX Short-term Futures ETF temporarily, the Financial Times reports. SVXY and VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-term ETN , two most popular trading vehicles that allow investors bet on low volatility lost more than 90% of their value during the recent market rout. The Cboe Volatility Index more than tripled since the start of the year to 33.67. According to a Fidelity spokesperson, cited in the Financial Times, retail clients cannot buy or sell SVXY, while margin requirements on other products betting on volatility have been increased. Fidelity expects to lift the temporary restriction on trading in “foreseeable future provided the market cooperates,” according to the FT report. Fidelity didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment on the report.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of women’s clothing brand Guess Inc. were lower Friday, after the company said it would form a special committee to investigate allegations of sexual harassment by co-founder Paul Marciano. “The company is committed to completing an extensive and impartial investigation into all of the facts,” Guess said in a statement. Marciano has denied the allegations, which were made earlier this week by model Kate Upton, who has worked for the brand for several years. Shares fell 18% the day the allegations were first raised by Upton in a tweet. Guess shares have gained 16% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.

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