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Industry tracker IDC trimmed both its tablet and PC forecasts on Wednesday, citing broad market declines, large inventory of notebooks and slower-than-expected adoption of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system. IDC now expects worldwide PC growth to fall by nearly 9% in 2015 and “not stabilize until 2017,” which would mark five straight years of deceleration. It expects the commercial market to lead a broader PC recovery starting in 2017, but expects volume declines within the consumer sector to continue through 2019. Separately, IDC forecast a bigger-than-expected deceleration in tablet sales of 8% in 2015, compared with its previous outlook of a 4% decline. Both Apple Inc.’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows are expected to gain market share over the next few years, while Google Inc.’s is expected to decline slightly, according to IDC.

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Apple Inc.’s stock is on track to open Wednesday with a bearish “death cross” pattern hanging over it for the first time since December 2012. The 50-day moving average is set to open at $121.2497 on Tuesday, according to FactSet, crossing below the 200-day moving average, which is at $121.5105. Many chart watchers view a “death cross” as marking the point where a short-term decline turns into a long-term downtrend. Apple’s stock has lost 22% since closing at its Feb. 23 record of $133 through Tuesday’s close. It was rising 2.2% in premarket trade Wednesday. Some might view the current death cross as especially poignant, because the 200-day moving average is moving lower when it occurred. When the last “death cross” appeared on Dec. 7, 2012, the 200-day moving average was still ticking higher. The last time it appeared as the 200-day was declining was Sept. 23, 2008, when the stock closed at $18.12 on a split-adjusted basis. The stock didn’t bottom until Jan. 20, 2009 at $11.17, a decline of 38%.

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A pair of reporters were shot and killed in Virginia during an on-air interview Wednesday morning. The journalists were affiliated with station WDBJ7, according to Reuters. According to reporters, the journalists killed in Bedford County, Virginia were Alison Parker and Adam Ward. There is no information on a motive for the shooting.

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Google Inc. was upgraded to buy from neutral and added to Goldman Sachs’ Conviction List of top stock picks on Wednesday. Analyst Heather Bellini raised her price target on the stock to $800 from $680, which represents more than 30% upside from its earlier view. The average price target among more than 40 analysts polled by FactSet is $766.48. The catalyst for the upgrade was improved monetization in mobile search and YouTube, as well as comments from the company’s Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat to keep a check on expenses. Bellini said the new financial focus will improve margins and drive the stock “over the next few quarters.” Shares of Google were up 4.5% in premarket trade, putting the stock on track to open around $640.41. Its shares have risen 12% over the last three months, outperforming the broader S&P 500, which is down 11%. Google announced plans to reorganize into a new umbrella company called Alphabet earlier this month.

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The dollar strengthened against its main rivals Wednesday after official data showed orders for durable goods rose 2% in July. The spike, driven by strong demand for autos and military hardware, was much larger than the 0.6% seasonally adjusted decline forecast by economists polled by MarketWatch. The euro fell to $1.1360 after the data from $1.1400 shortly before. The dollar strengthened to 119.85 yen from 119.70 yen. The pound was little-changed at $1.5573.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Orders for durable or long-lasting U.S. goods rose 2% in July, led by demand for automobiles and military hardware. That was much stronger than the seasonally adjusted 0.6% decline forecast by economists polled by MarketWatch. Orders minus transportation, however, rose a smaller 0.6%, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Meanwhile, orders for core capital goods — a proxy for business investment — climbed 2.2% to mark the biggest gain in 13 months. Still, business investment over the past year is down 3.8%, reflecting more cautious spending by manufacturers. Shipments of core capital goods, a category used to help determine quarterly economic growth, rose 0.6% in July.

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Improvements to Best Buy Co. Inc.’s inventory productivity and outlook led analysts at Raymond James to upgrade the stock to strong buy from market perform with a $40 price target. Raymond James analyst Dan Wewer said in a note that Best Buy’s “company-specific” improvements are beginning to offset the inherent challenges facing the consumer electronics industry, and he expects this to create an opportunity for better-than-expected earnings through 2016. Wewer said that he’s excited by the profit growth from share buybacks, the company’s potential for revenue growth and improved outlook for the international segment. “We anticipate the valuation of its stock will rise–reaching 14.2x our 2016 EPS estimates, above [Best Buy’s] three-year historical average of 12.2x and lower that its three-year high of 17.6x,” Wewer wrote. Shares of Best Buy are down more than 15% in the year to date, while the S&P is down more than 9%

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General Growth Properties Inc. increased on Wednesday its stock repurchase program by $500 million, with no expiration date. Including the amount left over from previous buyback authorizations, the real estate investment trust can buy back up to $600 million worth of its shares. At Tuesday’s closing price of $24.92, that would represent the repurchase of about 24.1 million shares, or 2.7% of the shares outstanding, according to FactSet. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 11% year to date, while the S&P 500 has shed 9.3%.

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Express Inc.’s stock surged 12% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the apparel retailer’s better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and upbeat outlook prompted Normura analyst Simeon Siegel to make a simple recommendation to investors: “Buy the shares.” Express reported earnings that more than tripled, revenue and same-store sales that handily beat analyst expectations and provided a fiscal third-quarter profit outlook that was above analyst projections. “Given recent volatility, shares have faded and we expect this [Q2] print to further validate management’s initiatives,” Siegel wrote in a note to clients. “We continue to believe [Express] is an underappreciated story and we expect ongoing multiple and earnings expansion.” The stock has dropped 11% so far this month through Tuesday, in line with the S&P 500’s decline, but has rallied 15% year to date while the S&P 500 has lost 9.3%.

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Abercrombie & Fitch Co. shares surged 12% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the teen apparel retailer beat earnings and sales estimates for its fiscal second quarter. The company said it had a net loss of $0.8 million, or 1 cent a share, in the quarter to Aug. 1, after a profit of $12.9 million, or 17 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding certain items, the company had EPS of 12 cents, well ahead of the FactSet consensus for a loss of 4 cents a share. Sales fell 8% to $817.8 million, also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $812 million. Same-store sales fell 4% in the quarter, but were better than the consensus for a decline of 6%. “We delivered a meaningful sequential improvement in comparable sales, stabilized gross margins and achieved significant expense reductions,” Executive Chairman Arthur Martinez said in a statement. The company made better progress in revitalizing its Hollister brand than its core Abercrombie & Fitch brand, and is working to hire experts on brand design and merchandising to boost that effort, he said. Looking ahead, the company expects continued improvement in same-store sales, albeit skewed more toward the crucial fourth quarter. Shares have fallen 40% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has lost 9%.

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From:: Stock Market News