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Yum Brands Inc. has been upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse, but the price target has been lowered to $75 from $86. Yum, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, announced earnings on Tuesday that missed estimates due to troubles in its Chinese business. “The tone of YUM’s conference call, as well as our conversations with investors, suggests the pressure to spin off China (or take other strategic action) will only increase following the dramatic third-quarter miss. We now put a higher probability on this scenario,” Credit Suisse wrote in a note. The firm has updated its theoretical separation model, with a key assumption that the China segment will be converted to a license business paying Yum a 3% royalty. But Credit Suisse hesitated to move to outperform because analysts believe Yum is focused on maintaining its current structure rather than separating the businesses. “While major change will likely occur eventually given building shareholder pressure, a definitive answer here could be months away,” the note said. Yum stock is down 17.4% for the week so far. The S&P is up 2.2% for the same period.

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From:: Stock Market News

Bill Gross has sued Pimco, the company he co-founded, for at least $200 million, the New York Times reported Thursday. Gross is seeking “in no event less than $200 million” from Pimco ​for the damage that was done to his reputation in the year before and after he was fired from Pimco, according to the report. The suit takes aim among ​other Pimco officials at Mohamed El-Erian, who was once in line to succeed Gross and is now the chief economic advisor at Allianz, Pimco’s parent company, the report noted. The lawsuit comes about a year after Gross abruptly left Pimco to run Janus Capital Group’s Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund. Neither Janus Capital nor Pimco were able to immediately respond to an email and call requesting comment.

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From:: Stock Market News

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that supplies of natural gas rose 95 billion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 2. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a climb of between 96 billion cubic feet and 100 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 3.633 trillion cubic feet, up 443 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 155 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. November natural gas was at $2.518 per million British thermal units, up 4.4 cents, or 1.8%. It traded at $$2.50 before the supply data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Pure Storage were down 2.5% Thursday morning, causing the stock to trade below its initial public offering issue price range of $16 to $18. The stock was trading at $15.61, a day after it went public, and below its IPO issue price of $17. In its market debut yesterday, the stock opened at $16.74 and closed at $16.01.

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From:: Stock Market News

Post Holdings Inc. , the consumer packaged goods company that’s home to brands like Grape Nuts, Raisin Bran and Shredded Wheat breakfast cereals, has committed to using 100% sustainable palm oil globally by Dec. 2016. The company said its business units are “relatively minor users of palm oil,” but they will only purchase it from sources that don’t contribute to deforestation. Post is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and says it will work with its suppliers to support this effort. Post is up 43.7% for the year so far. The S&P is down 3.2% for the same period.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Mortgage rates dropped after a weak jobs report, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.76% in the week ending Oct. 8, down from 3.85%. That’s the eleventh straight week the 30-year benchmark has held below 4%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.99%, down from 3.07%; the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate mortgage averaged 2.88%, down from 2.91%; while the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.55%, up from 2.53%.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower Thursday as investors were cautious ahead of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy-setting meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average looked set to snap a four-day winning streak, opening 50 points, or 0.3%, lower at 16,867. The S&P 500 opened 6 points, or 0.3%, lower at 1,989. The Nasdaq Composite began the day down 20 points, or 0.4%, at 4,770.

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From:: Stock Market News

Polycom Inc.’s stock surged 7.5% in premarket trade Thursday, after New York hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. disclosed in a regulatory filing that it now controls a 6.6% stake in the business communications company. Elliott also disclosed it owned an active stake in Mitel Networks Corp. of 6.3%, a company Elliott proposed that Polycom acquire. Mitel’s stock shot up 9.4% ahead of the open. In a letter to Polycom Chief Executive Peter Leav, Elliott urged Polycom to initiate an industry consolidation strategy, including a possible combination with other mid-tier vendors such as Mitel, to deal with industry challenges. An acquisition of Mitel, for $8.50 a share, which is 21% above Wednesday’s closing price of $7.02, could help push Polycom’s stock by over 30% to $14.75 by the end of 2016, Elliott said.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by 13,000 to 263,000 in the week ended Oct. 3, marking the lowest level since mid-July. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, declined by 3,000 to seasonally adjusted 267,500, the Labor Department said Thursday. The monthly average smooths out fluctuations in the volatile weekly report and is seen as a more accurate predictor of labor-market trends. The extremely low number of people applying for unemployment benefits suggests the U.S. labor market is still fairly healthy despite a slowdown in hiring in August and September. Some 2.2 million people were already collecting weekly unemployment checks in the seven days ended Sept. 26. So-called continuing claims were up 9,000 from the prior week.

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Volkswagen AG’s stock climbed 2.8% in European trade Thursday, as investors await the head of the troubled German car company’s U.S. operations, Michael Horn’s, testimony to U.S. lawmakers. In a prepared statement regarding the emissions cheating scandal, to be delivered to the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee at 10 a.m. Eastern, Horn offers a “sincere apology” for the yearslong deception, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. While U.S. lawmakers are likely to ask when Horn first became aware of the cheating on emissions, he repeats in his prepared remarks that the company disclosed the cheating to regulators on Sept. 3, but also that he was informed in spring 2014 of “possible emissions noncompliance that could be remedied,” the WSJ report said.

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From:: Stock Market News