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Oil futures settled higher on Friday after Baker Hughes reported a weekly decline in the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil. Prices, however, lost about 4.8% for the week on the back of a hefty increase in U.S. crude supplies. November crude settled at $47.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 88 cents, or 1.9%, for the session.

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From:: Stock Market News

Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s stock climbed 1.2% in afternoon trade Friday, and had been up as much as 4.6% earlier in the session, after the yoga-gear maker was upgraded at Credit Suisse. Analyst Christian Buss raised his rating to outperform, after being at neutral since Dec. 13, 2013, because he said he believes demand is “back on track” and margins are “increasingly likely to recover.” He raised his stock price target to $64, which is 20% above current levels, from $57.”We performed a detailed analysis of Lululemon’s initiatives to improve product margin, which suggests modest gains could translate into meaningful upside to street estimates over the next 18 months,” Buss wrote in a note to clients. The stock has dropped 15% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has slipped 4.8%.

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Shares of Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell Friday after the casino operator posted weak quarterly results on shrinking revenue from Macau operations. Wynn said third-quarter profit sank 61% as revenue at its Macau operations slumped 38%. Chief Executive Steve Wynn said during a conference call that there is a lot of confusion in the Macau gambling industry due to the lack of clarity on the Chinese government’s policy toward new hotels and casinos. “None of us are really clear on what our environment is going to be like going forward, and it makes planning and adjusting almost a mystical process,” said Wynn. Wynn shares slid 1.1% to $72.94 for a year-to-date loss of 51%.

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Gold futures fell on Friday, but scored a gain for the week. “Gold is down a bit after U.S. inflation data turned down the heat on the yellow metal, putting some support under the dollar,” said Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group. Gold’s recent rally, however, managed to erase most of the losses from earlier this year, he said. December gold settled at $1,183.10 an ounce on Comex, down $4.40, or 0.4%. That put an end to a five-session streak of gains, but prices ended the week 2.4% higher.

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From:: Stock Market News

Spirit Airlines Inc. was downgraded to equal-weight from overweight at Morgan Stanley following a guidance update late Thursday in which the airline said it expects a year-over-year unit revenue decline in the fourth quarter that’s greater than the third-quarter decline. Margin guidance for the third quarter rose to 27% from the guidance range of 22% to 25%, prompted by better-than-expected unit costs. “Altogether, we believe the growth story, while still intact, has less appeal when margins compress closer to the industry average per our forecast,” wrote Morgan Stanley in a note. The firm is also lowering the price target to $53 from $66. Spirit Airlines stock has dropped 14% today and 43% for the year so far. The S&P is down 1.6% for the year-to-date.

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United Continental Holdings Inc. said Friday its Chief Executive Oscar Munoz was admitted to a hospital Thursday, without giving further details. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and we are respecting their privacy,” the airline said. The company continues to operate “normally,” it said. Earlier Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Munoz had a heart attack and United executives were waiting to hear back from his family and doctors about the severity of the heart attack and then decide whether the company would need an interim leader. Shares of United Continental fell 2.9%.

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Oil futures gained more ground Friday after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell 10 to 595 as of Friday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes natural-gas rigs, was at 787, down 8 rigs. Compared to last year, the total rig count has fallen by 1,131, with the oil rig count down 995. Nov. crude climbed to $47.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 86 cents, or 1.9%. It was trading at $47.10 just before the data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Yum Brands Inc. rallied Friday after the fast-food restaurant operator announced the addition of Keith Meister, a protege of Carl Icahn, to its board late Thursday. Meister has spearheaded efforts to induce changes at several companies, including Williams Cos. and Fidelity National Financial Inc. The owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains also lowered its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2015 and now expects earnings per share to be either flat or rise by single digits. Starting in November, Yum will resume release of monthly same-store sales data for China, which it has not done since December 2013. Yum shares rose 4% to $72.04. The stock is down 13% so far this month on continued sluggish performance of its China business.

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Twitter Inc. said Friday that it doesn’t know if Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO, owns 4% of the company. A Twitter account with the handle @Steven_Ballmer tweeted early Friday that the account holder, which it says is Steve Ballmer, owns at least 4% of Twitter. But the account isn’t verified, which may mean it’s a fake account, and another account @clipperstebeb is verified. That account has tweeted that @Steven_Ballmer is the new handle. “We only get notified if someone has a >5% stake (because they have to file with the SEC),” Twitter said in an email to MarketWatch. MarketWatch has reached out to Ballmer for comment. Twitter is down 0.2% in morning trade, erasing an earlier gain of 1.4%

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Job openings dropped in August after reaching a record in the previous month, the Labor Department said Friday. Job openings fell to 5.37 million from 5.67 million in July. Job openings declined in state and local government (-33,000) and nondurable goods manufacturing (-25,000), according to the report. Over the last 12 months, professional and business services and health care and social assistance have seen the largest gains, as 445,000 new positions have come open. The hiring rate stayed at 3.6%, and the quits rate stayed at 1.9%.

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From:: Stock Market News