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While the stock market holds steady for the moment, high-yield bond exchange-traded funds continue to fall toward 15-month lows, which may be a worrisome sign for Wall Street. “High-yield bonds are risky, and thus they tend to be more sensitive to changes in financial market liquidity,” Tom McClellan, publisher of the investment newsletter McClellan Market Report, wrote in a recent research note. That’s why high-yield bonds proxies tend to trade more like stocks than Treasurys, McClellan has said, so continued declines in junk-bond ETFs could be warning for more trouble for stocks. The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF [: jnk] is down 0.9% and the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF is shedding 0.8%, with both trading at the lowest levels since mid-November 2016, while the S&P 500 is down just 0.1%.

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

Shares of Cardlytics Inc. , a payments data company, slid about 8% in their trading debut Friday, after pricing at the low end of their price range late Thursday. The stock was down $1 at $12 at last check. Underwriters priced the IPO of 5.4 million shares at $13 a share to raise $70.2 million. The stock is trading on Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol “CDLX.” BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan were joint book-runners for the IPO. In the nine months ending in September, Cardlytics logged losses of $16 million on sales of $91 million.

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From:: Stock Market News

Uber Technologies Inc. said Friday that it had settled its lawsuit with Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo that hinged on an alleged theft of trade secrets. “I want to express regret for the actions that have caused me to write this letter,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a statement. He added: “While we do not believe that any trade secrets made their way from Waymo to Uber, nor do we believe that Uber has used any of Waymo’s proprietary information in its self-driving technology, we are taking steps with Waymo to ensure our Lidar and software represents just our good work.” Waymo alleged that one of its former engineers, Anthony Levandowski, stole thousands of documents before leaving the company and founding his own self-driving start-up, which was acquired by Uber early on. In a statement, Waymo said that it had reached an agreement with Uber “to ensure that any Waymo confidential information is not being incorporated in Uber Advanced Technologies Group hardware and software,” according to the Verge. Alphabet shares are up 2.2% in Friday trading and 24% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 has gained 12% in that time.

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

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. shares dropped 6% in extremely heavy morning trade Friday after a report by new analysis service EP Vantage said that the biotech had halted treatment at United Kingdom sites testing its golodirsen therapy due to “one serious adverse event” that could be related to the therapy. Golodirsen is a Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy intended for boys with the gene that’s amenable to skipping exon 53, and positive trial results last fall have had Wall Street hoping for faster-than-normal approval of the therapy. The issue in the UK trial was reportedly rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of damaged skeletal muscle, according to EP Vantage. Sarepta told EP Vantage that the trial’s dosing was halted because of “UK-specific stopping rules,” and the company is asking the UK to restart dosing. Wall Street largely brushed off the news on Friday, with analysts describing the development as “may not be material,” “unlikely to be major issue” and the stock decline as “likely an overreaction.” After speaking with Sarepta, RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said the company told him that the patient had fallen before infusion of the therapy, which means the side effect could be related to the fall or the disease itself, not necessarily the medication. The temporary dose halt could affect the trial’s eventual data, but it is not a huge problem because only six patients are enrolled in the UK of about 99 patients total, he said. Sarepta shares have lifted 3.1% over the last three months, compared with a 0.9% rise in the S&P 500 .

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

The charts suggest the S&P 500 is likely to experience a “strong, counter-trend (oversold) trading rally,” that could take potentially take the index up about 7% from current levels, and “possibly higher,” said Dan Wantrobski, technical strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. He said over the longer term, the corrective cycle could extend further, with the next downside support seen in the 2,540-to-2,550 range. But over the short run, bullish technical divergence, in which some momentum indicators made higher lows while the S&P 500 made lower lows, suggests a potential selling exhaustion, Wantrobski said. Breaking through the 2,660-2,680 resistance zone would indicated that the S&P 500 could “easily retrace” back toward the mid-2,700-to-low-2,800 range, if not higher, he said. The S&P 500 was last up 1.3% at 2,613, after closing Thursday at 2,581.00, which was 10.2% below the Jan. 26 record close of 2,872.87.

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

U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday but the main indexes were still on track for hefty weekly losses. The bounce in early trade follows sharp losses during the previous session which sent the S&P 500 and Dow industrials into correction territory, defined as a drop of 10% or more. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 346 points, or 1.5%, to 24,205. The S&P 500 index rose 34 points, or 1.4% to 2,614, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 103 points, or 1.5% to 6,876. Among the best performers on the S&P 500 Nvdia Corp. [s:NVDA] jumped 7.6% after upbeat earnings.

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

Shares of Juniper Networks Inc. soared 5.5% in premarket trade Friday, after the networking products company disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) without taking any action. The company previously disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission is also conducting an FCPA investigation, which has not yet been resolved. Separately, Juniper said Chief Customer Officer Vincent Molinaro will step down, after four years in the role. He will continue has CCO until a successor has been named. The stock has shed 2.7% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 1.7%.

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

The 82-point rally in Dow Jones Industrial Average futures is unanimous, as shares of all 30 components rose in premarket trade. The biggest gainers were from a diverse group of sectors, as shares of United Technologies Corp. and General Electric Co. both rose 1.7%, Apple Inc. and Home Depot Inc. gained 1.6% and Walt Disney Co. rose 1.4%. The bounce comes after the Dow closed Thursday down 10.4% from its Jan. 26 record close, to enter correction territory for the first time in two years.

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

Videogame retailer GameStop Corp. said Friday it has terminated the employment of Chief Operating Officer Tony Bartel and executive vice president of strategic business and brand development, Michael Hogan, with immediate effect. In a regulatory filing, the company said the terminations were without cause and the executives will receive payment and benefits provided in their contracts. Shares were slightly lower premarket, but have fallen 38% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 13%.

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

Shares of Intuit Inc. slipped 0.2% in premarket trade Friday, after the tax preparation software company, which products include TurboTax, warned that fiscal second-quarter revenue and operating income would miss expectations, but raised its adjusted profit outlook. The company said the lowered revenue outlook is because the tax season opened later this year, but it affirmed its full-year outlook as revenue was expected to shift to the third quarter. The company cut its second-quarter revenue outlook to $1.160 billion to $1.165 billion from $1.160 billion to $1.180 billion, and its operating income outlook to $15 million to $20 million from $35 million to $45 million. For adjusted EPS, which excludes non-recurring items, the company raised it outlook to 34 cents to 35 cents from 31 cents to 34 cents. The company affirmed its 2018 revenue outlook of $5.64 billion to $5.74 billion. “Every tax year is different and this year is no exception with the IRS opening its doors six calendar days later than last year,” said Dan Wernikoff, general manager of TurboTax. The stock has tacked on 0.2% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.1%.

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