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Blue Apron Holdings Inc. shares gained 0.7% in Friday morning trading after Gabelli & Company analyst Matthew Trusz initiated coverage of the company with a buy rating. He sees the company as “turning the corner on well-publicized operational issues,” namely its transition to a new facility in Linden, N.J. Trusz points to a couple indicators that suggest Blue Apron may be rebounding, including search trends. He figures that the meal-kit firm has an $8 billion total addressable market currently, representing 8.25 million households in the U.S. That could grow as more people become comfortable ordering groceries online, he wrote. Trusz also sees “good reasons” for Walmart Inc. to either partner with Blue Apron or buy it outright. He has a private market value of $6 on shares. Blue Apron shares have tumbled 79% from their June IPO price, while the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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Ralph Lauren Corp.’s price target was raised to $105 from $85 at Wells Fargo despite what analysts call “disappointing” third-quarter results. Analysts rate Ralph Lauren shares market perform. Expectations had been rising through the quarter, but sales were in-line with guidance and earnings were driven by the tax overhaul and currency exchange, analysts wrote in a note. Moreover, the fourth-quarter outlook is more “muted” than expected. Both the good news and bad news is that the quarter showed more of the same, as the company’s turnaround plan is creating fewer promotions and supply chain efficiency that helps margins, but investors want more. “[I]nvestors’ expectations continue to move higher in anticipation of a positive inflection in North America, and we believe there’s still improvements that need to be made before we see positive growth there,” wrote analysts led by Ike Boruchow. Wells Fargo says distribution pullback will continue to hurt sales, brand popularity needs to improve, and pricing will continue to have an impact as it works its way to target levels. Ralph Lauren shares are up 22.5% for the last three months, outpacing the S&P 500 index , which is up 8.6% for the period.

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Stocks opened lower Friday after strong January jobs data, including a pickup in wage growth, stoked worries over a potential inflation pickup that could spur the Federal Reserve to quicken the pace of rate increases. The S&P 500 declined 0.6% to 2,805.45, while the Dow industrials were off 198.98 points, or 0.8%, at 25,987.39. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.5% to 7,348.12.

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Shares of VMware Inc. climbed 1.7% in premarket trade, after the cloud infrastructure company’s largest shareholder, Dell Technologies Inc., disclosed that it was evaluating a business combination with VMware. Dell said it was evaluation other business opportunities, including an initial public offering of common stock and “maintaining the status quo.” In response to Dell’s disclosure in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, VMware Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said, “We are not in a position to speculate on the outcome of Dell’s evaluation of potential business opportunities. Dell has been a tremendous partner since it became our majority owner and we’ve accelerated our growth.” VMware’s stock has gained 5.7% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 9.4%.

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Shares of Chevron Corp. slumped 1.8% in premarket trade Friday, after the energy giant reported fourth-quarter earnings that rose more than 7-fold from a year ago, but primarily because of a one-time tax benefit. Net income rose to $3.11 billion, or $1.64 a share, from $415 million, or 22 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The results included a $2.02 billion benefit related to tax legislation. The FactSet EPS consensus was $1.23. Total revenue rose to $37.62 billion from $31.50 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $37.4 billion. Among Chevron’s business segments, upstream earnings rose to $5.29 billion from $930 million and downstream earnings grew to $1.28 billion from $357 million, while losses from “all other” segments widened to $3.46 billion from $872 million. Separately, Chevron raised its quarterly dividend to $1.12 a share from $1.08 a share, payable in March. The stock has rallied 8.9% over the past three months, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has climbed 10.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has run up 11.4%.

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Treasury yields rose at the start of the U.S. trading session, extending its gains to set a 4-year high. The 10-year note yield climbed 6.6 basis points to 2.837%, the highest since Jan. 2014. The 30-year bond yield rose 5.9 basis points to 3.065%, while the 2-year note yield was up 2.5 basis points to 2.186%. Bonds have come under pressure on concerns that stronger wage gains could spur inflationary pressures, eroding the value of debt. Bond prices fall when yields rise. Hourly wages rose 0.3% in January to raise the 12-month increase to 2.9% from 2.6%, the fastest pace since June 2009.

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The U.S. dollar strengthened against its major rivals on the back of the December jobs report on Friday, just one day after trading around a three-year low that it first hit last week. Nonfarm payrolls beat expectations at 200,000 jobs added, while wage growth, which had been lagging in previous reports, and the increase of which is seen as crucial to get inflation to rise, hit an 8.5-year high. The Federal Reserve had long cited low inflation as an issue for the U.S. economy and its path to monetary policy normalization. In this week’s Fed meeting, the central bank said inflation was likely going to rise toward its 2% target, and market participants are beginning to alter their expectations for more rate hikes than previously indicated this year, which could drive the dollar higher. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index was last up 0.5% at 89.085

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Apple Inc. eclipsed Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in terms of smartphone shipments for the December quarter, research firm IDC said late Thursday. Apple shipped 77.3 million devices, up 19.2% from a year ago, while Samsung shipped 74.1 million, up 18.4%, according to IDC’s figures. Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo rounded out the top five. Overall smartphone shipments slipped 6.3% in the quarter. “The latest flock of posh flagships may have had consumers hitting the pause button in the holiday quarter,” said Anthony Scarsella, an IDC research manager, in a release. “With ultra-high-end flagships all the rage in 2017, many of these new bezel-less wonders proved to be more of a luxury than a necessity among upgraders.” In its earnings release Thursday night, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the iPhone X, which starts at $999, was has been the company’s best-selling phone since its November launch. He also said that Apple sold 77.3 smartphones in the quarter. Apple shares are up 0.5% in premarket trading and up 31% over the past 12 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, is up 32%.

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Following Alphabet Inc.’s fourth-quarter earnings release, analysts at Stifel have cut their rating on shares to hold from buy. The analysts, led by John Egbert, raise a number of “longer-term concerns,” including the impact of Amazon.com Inc.’s ever-expanding retail dominance on Google’s search segment. Egbert cites a third-party study saying that more than half of all consumer-product searches begin at Amazon: “This has the potential to cannibalize Google’s revenue from retail advertisers.” He added that Google’s traffic-acquisition costs have been rising as a percentage of total gross revenue. “Rising TAC presents a greater risk to multiple compression rather than margin erosion in the near term, though greater-than-expected TAC could continue to create a headwind to margin expansion,” Egbert wrote. He kept his price target of $1,150 unchanged. Alphabet shares are down 4.1% in premarket trading but up 44% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 Index is up 24% in that time.

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Avista Corp. said Friday it was raising its quarterly dividend to 37.25 cents a share, which is up 4.2% from 35.75 a share. The electricity and natural gas generation and distribution company said the new dividend will be payable March 15 to shareholders for record on Feb. 23. At Thursday’s stock closing price of $50.08, the new annual dividend rate of $1.49 a share implies a dividend yield of 2.98%, compared with the implied dividend yields of 2.90% for the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF and 1.79% for the S&P 500 . Avista shares, which were still inactive in premarket trade, have lost 3.5% over the past three months, while the energy ETF has climbed 10.4% and the S&P 500 has gained 9.4%.

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