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Target Corp. said it will close 13 U.S. stores on Jan. 30, 2016. Affected stores include locations in California, Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin. The company said store associates at the impacted locations have been notified and eligible workers are being offered the option to transfer to another location. “Typically, the decision to close a store is as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability,” the company said in a statement. Target is opening 15 stores in 2015 in major cities including San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Chicago. Target shares are up 1.8% for the year so far while the S&P is up 2% for the same period.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Mortgage rates moved higher on concerns the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates next month, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.87% in the week ending Nov. 5, up from 3.76% last week, in the biggest rise since June. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.09%, up from 2.98%, the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.96%, up from 2.89%, and the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.62%, up from 2.54%.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened little changed on Thursday as contrasting earnings and economic data dominated headlines. The S&P 500 opened flat at 2,101. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also flat at 17,868 at the open. The Nasdaq Composite began the day virtually flat at 5,143.

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Analysts at Wells Fargo said on Thursday they had no choice but to downgrade media and entertainment company Time Warner Inc. to market perform from outperform. The rating change comes a day after Time Warner management provided Wall Street with a disappointing 2016 outlook that will see profits and subscriber numbers drop below expectations. “We believe [Time Warner] is making the right long-term decisions, but it is going to take some time,” analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote in a note. “In fact, we applaud management for taking steps to ‘right the ship’-effectively taking short-term pain for long-term gain. Our sense from following [Time Warner] is that they do not want to be a company that repeatedly lowers guidance. So, our gut tells us that this is is–the worst is over.” Short-term pain was felt by some of Time Warner’s media counterparts as well, as fears surrounding cord-cutting and traditional cable TV were rekindled: 21st Century Fox Inc. , Viacom Inc. , Discovery Communications Inc. , AMC Networks Inc. and Walt Disney Co. suffered selloffs on Wednesday. During Time Warner’s earnings call, Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes said shifts in consumer viewing behavior have led the company to begin providing more on-demand content, rather than license it to distributors such as Netflix Inc. and Hulu, which has been a positive source of revenue. Shares of Time Warner are down 15% in the year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 index, which is up 2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

AMC Networks Inc. reported third-quarter earnings on Thursday of $72.7 million, or per-share earnings of 99 cents, compared with $53.2 million, or 74 cents per share in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share for the media company were $1.09, above the FactSet consensus of 86 cents. Revenue rose to $632.2 million from $519.6 million in the same period a year ago; the FactSet consensus was $603 million. AMC Chief Executive attributed much of the success in the quarter to the performance of the network’s original content, specifically “Fear the Walking Dead” and “Doctor Who,” which the company snagged as part of a deal last year to operate BBC America. AMC shares, which were still inactive in premarket trade, are up 12.5% in the year to date, outperforming the S&P 500 index, which is up 2.1%

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From:: Stock Market News

Oracle Corp.’s stock slipped 0.8% in premarket trade Thursday, after the software company was downgraded at FBR & Co., which cited limited upside potential given secular challenges to the core database business. Analyst Daniel Ives cut his rating to market perform from outperform, but kept his stock price target at $44, which is 8.7% above Wednesday’s closing price of $40.48. He said that while Oracle has had some success with its focus on the cloud, that still remains a small piece of the company’s revenue pie, and competition remains a key issue. Ives believes Oracle need to be aggressive on the merger front, as it is facing the same headwinds as its fellow “mature” technology stalwarts, which led to Dell’s deal to buy EMC Corp. for $67 billion. “Although we have patiently awaited a turnaround story at Oracle, and the company has talked a great talk, the lack of consistent results, and empty M&A strategy, mixed checks in the November quarter so far, and major secular challenges from the likes of Amazon Web Services are hard to ignore, and thus make it tough to be bullish on the name at current levels,” Ives wrote in a note to clients. The stock has dropped 10% year to date, while the SPDR Technology ETF has climbed 7.2% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.1%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Ralph Lauren Corp. said it had net income of $160 million, or $1.86 per share, in its fiscal second quarter, down from $201 million, or $2.25 per share, the previous year. Adjusted earnings total $184 million, or $2.13 per share. The FactSet consensus was EPS of $1.73. Second-quarter revenue totaled $1.97 billion, down from $1.99 billion the previous year. The FactSet revenue consensus was $1.95 billion. The company expects to incur a one-time charge totaling between $120 million and $150 million, associated with a management reorganization. The company expects to achieve $110 million in annual expense savings as a result of the restructuring. Ralph Lauren shares are down 38.7% for the year-to-date while the S&P is up 2.1% for the same period.

See also: Is Ralph Lauren’s new CEO upmarket enough?

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The productivity of U.S. businesses rose in the​ third ​quarter at a decent 1.6% annual pace despite the first decline in hours worked since the end of the Great Recession. Output of goods and services increased 1.2% from July through September, but hours worked fell 0.5%. That’s the first decline since the third quarter of 2009 and it stemmed entirely from a sharp drop in the amount of time manufacturing workers put in on the job. Hours worked by employees who make long-lasting or durable goods sank 3.6%, reflecting the struggles of U.S. manufacturers coping with a strong dollar and less spending by domestic energy firms. Manufacturing output jumped 4.9% in the third quarter, but that’s because companies built up an excess of inventories they are now drawing down. Unit-labor costs rose by a mild 1.4% annual rate. Hourly compensation for all workers rose 3%, but it was just 1.4% adjusted for inflation. In the third quarter, producitivity was revised to show a 3.5% gain instead of 3.3% – the biggest increase in six quarters. Yet over the past 12 months U.S. productivity has risen at a tepid 0.4% rate, and it’s been especially weak since 2011.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed by 16,000 to 276,000 at the end of October to match the highest level in the past two months. Economists polled by the MarketWatch had expected claims to total 262,000 in the seven days running from Oct. 25 to Oct. 31. Despite the increase claims are still near the lowest level in 15 years. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, rose by 3,500 to seasonally adjusted 262,750, the Labor Department said Thursday. The monthly average smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly report and is seen as a more accurate predictor of labor-market trends. Some 2.16 million people collected weekly unemployment checks in the seven days ended Oct. 24. These so-called continuing claims were 17,000 higher compared to the prior week.

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From:: Stock Market News

Casual footwear company Crocs Inc. reported a net loss of $27.7 million, or a loss of 37 cents per share for the third quarter, compared with income of $12 million, or per-share earnings of 12 cents in the same period a year ago. FactSet’s EPS consensus was 10 cents. Revenue for the quarter fell 9% to $274.08 million, compared with $302.4 million in the year-earlier period. The FactSet revenue consensus was $278 million. Chief Executive Gregg Ribatt said the company was hit by challenges from global currencies and macro-level economic conditions in China. “The full impact of our transformation will be seen during the first half of 2016, as we complete the 18-24 month turnaround process that we have been discussing over the past year,” Ribatt said in a statement. Shares of Crocs are down 13% in the year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 index, which is up 2%.

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