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The Treasury Department will run out of “extraordinary measures” to keep borrowing and deplete its cash balance sometime during the first half of November, the Congressional Budget Office said in a new estimate Wednesday. The nonpartisan agency had previously said Treasury would run out of borrowing ability between mid-November and early December. The CBO’s new estimate is roughly in line with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew’s statement that extraordinary measures would be exhausted “on or about” Nov. 5. Lew has urged lawmakers to raise the borrowing cap as soon as possible.

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From:: Stock Market News

Warren Buffett is probably not a very happy man, as his investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , appears to be losing nearly $390 million on its investment in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday. Berkshire owned 60.39 million shares of Wal-Mart as of June 30, according to FactSet, making the retail giant its seventh-biggest holding. With the stock plunging $6.44, or 9.7%, in afternoon trade–on track for the biggest one-day price drop in its history–after the company provided a downbeat fiscal 2017 earnings outlook, Berkshire’s Wal-Mart stake is worth $388.85 million less than it was on Tuesday. What might make Buffett feel a little better: Walton Enterprises LLC, the holding company of the Walton family that founded the retailer, owns 1.42 billion Wal-Mart shares, or about 44.2% of the shares outstanding, according to FactSet. That means the Walton family is losing $9.12 billion in one day on its Wal-Mart stake.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book indicated some slowing in the economy, with two of the 12 districts reporting that the pace of growth had slowed from mid-August until early October and one noting an overall decline in activity. The strong dollar was seen as a headwind for manufacturing as well as tourism spending. The survey found that six districts reported modest growth, while three described growth as moderate. Two more simply said activity increased. The Beige Book, which is a collection of anecdotes about the economy, reported moderate consumer spending, generally weaker manufacturing, improving conditions for real estate, increased lending activity and tighter labor markets. Wage pressures were mostly subdued after reports of higher pay in the August report.. The Beige Book will be used by the central bank in deliberations for the October interest-rate-setting meeting.

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From:: Stock Market News

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Aa2 long-term rating and stable outlook after the company announced plans to buy back up to $20 billion in stock in the next two years. The move, which is about $11 billion in ‘new availability’, according to Moody’s analyst Charlie O’Shea, is “within our band of tolerance for the ratings, especially as no new debt is necessary to execute the plan,” he said in a statement. Moody’s has historically factored in share buybacks to its ratings, but Wal-Mart has not conducted any of late as it focuses on store and e-commerce investments, he said. “In addition, the company has deleveraged through both sizeable debt repayments as well as with our recent reduction in lease multiple to 5 times from 8 times, creating additional cushion within our 35% retained cash flow/net debt ratings trigger,” he said. Wal-Mart had long-term debt of $38.6 billion on its balance sheet as of July 31, according to a regulatory filing.

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From:: Stock Market News

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s stock was on track to suffer the biggest price drop in its 43-year history, after the discount retail giant provided a downbeat profit outlook at its analyst meeting. The stock tumbled $$5.93, or 8.9%, to $60.80 in midday trade, the lowest price seen since May 16, 2012. The price decline is shaving off about 40 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which was down about 100 points in midday trade. The percentage decline in Wal-Mart’s stock is on course to be the biggest since Feb. 16, 2000. The second-biggest price decline of $5.25 was seen on Feb. 16, 2000.

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From:: Stock Market News

GoPro Inc.’s stock dropped 2.1% in morning trade Wednesday, and hit a record intraday low earlier in the session, after the wearable action-camera maker was downgraded at Piper Jaffray, which cited concerns over softening demand and falling margins. Analyst Erinn Murphy cut her rating to neutral, six months after upgrading GoPro to overweight. Murphy slashed her stock price target to $25, which is 8.3% below current levels, from $54. She said the results of Piper Jaffray’s semi-annual teen survey showed that demand was waning, as have an analysis of electronic product rankings on on Amazon.com . “We believe we are starting to see the tipping point of demand in our survey and against a holiday with no new products likely on deck, prefer to sit on the sidelines,” Murphy wrote in a note to clients. Recent price reductions on certain camera models suggest gross margin could be pressured. The stock was down as much as 4.6% earlier at the record intraday low of $26.68, which was still 11% above the IPO price of $24. GoPro went public on June 26, 2014.

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From:: Stock Market News

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shares tumbled 9% Wednesday, as the company unveiled plans for the next several years aimed at boosting growth in its U.S. and e-commerce businesses. Wal-Mart told analysts it is planning to buy back $20 billion of its own shares over the next two years. The retail giant said at an investor day that it has drawn up a three-year plan to drive its U.S. and e-commerce businesses with investments in people and technology. The company will make capital investments of about $11 billion in fiscal 2017 and another roughly $1.1 billion on e-commerce and digital initiatives. That’s after an estimated $12.4 billion of capital investments in fiscal 2016. As a result of the heavy investments, the company expects per-share earnings to decline 6% to 12% in fiscal 2017, but to rise 5% to 10% by fiscal 2019. Wal-Mart is expecting net sales growth of 3% to 4% over the next three years, equal to $45 billion to $60 billion. “This framework is intended to enhance the experience in stores, leverage Walmart’s unique supply chain capabilities to lower costs and build deep digital relationships with customers,” the company said. The company also said sales in the current fiscal year will be flat, mostly due to the strength of the dollar. Shares are down 29% in the year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 4.6%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Expedia Inc. sank on Wednesday after competitors TripAdvisor Inc. and Priceline Group Inc. announced a booking partnership. The tie-up will pave the way for greater options for travelers using TripAdvisor and Priceline sites. Expedia slid 6.4% to $120 to top S&P 500’s decliners, on track to snap a three-day winning streak. The stock, however, is still up about 40% for the year. TripAdvisor soared 19% to $79.54 on the news while Priceline shed 2.6% to $1,310.20.

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From:: Stock Market News

Intel Inc. shares fell Wednesday after the semiconductor company reported lower earnings in the third quarter on the back of weak demand for personal computers. Intel said late Tuesday its earnings fell 6.3% to $3.11 billion, or 64 cents a share, on revenue of $14.47 billion. Shares of Intel were off 2.1% to $31.38. The stock is down nearly 14% year to date.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Inventories at U.S. businesses were flat in August, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The unchanged reading was below the 0.1% gain expected by economists polled by MarketWatch. Business sales were fell 0.6% in August, the biggest drop since January. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, rose to 1.37 from 1.36 in July. One new piece of information was retail inventories, which rose 0.3% in August compared with a 0.1% drop in sales. Excluding autos, retail inventories rose 0.4%.

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From:: Stock Market News