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Nutritional-supplement company Herbalife Ltd. saw its shares soar more than 7% Wednesday afternoon after a report indicated that its fiercest critic had unraveled a massive bet that the company would fall to zero. CNBC on Wednesday reported that Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital exited its Herbalife,according to CNBC’s Scott Wapner. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP made a bet against the company five years ago, accusing it of running a pyramid scheme. The company has steadfastly denied those allegations. And the bet that it would collapse in value has been dead wrong. In fact, shares of Herbalife are up 35% so far in 2018, compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index , which are up between 2% and 6% so far this year. In fact, Herbalife shares are up 130% over the past five years, according to FactSet data. Ackman first shorted the stock at around $47 factoring in the cost of the wager, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ackman had said Pershing Square would sell out if the wager gets too risky, but previously pledged to take his crusade “to the end of the earth.”

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From:: Stock Market News

Exchange-traded funds that track the biotech sector fell on Wednesday, underperforming the broad market as Celgene tumbled. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF fell 0.7% while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF was down 0.6%. Among the biggest drags on the sector was Celgene Corp , which tumbled 8.3% in heavy trading after it said the Food and Drug Administration wouldn’t let it file for approval of its ozanimod drug for relapsing multiple sclerosis. Among other big drags on the sector, Depomed Inc. was down 11.7% while Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. shed 17%. Another drugmaker, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. , sank 11% after it reported fourth-quarter revenue that missed expectations and also gave a 2018 outlook that was below forecasts.
Thus far this year, the SPDR ETF is up 7.8% while the iShares fund is up 2.3%. The S&P 500 is up about 2.7% in 2018. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% while the S&P was flat and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was struggling to advance Wednesday afternoon, even as the gauge was scoring a bump from advances in component United Technologies Corp. . Shares of United Tech were up 2%, or $3.11, after CNBC reported that activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital was building a stake in the industrial conglomerate. Meanwhile, shares of Boeing Co. , another industrial giant and Dow component, were gaining 1.3%. The pair of Dow components were contributing about 50 points to the price-weighted benchmark. A $1 move in any one of the Dow’s 30 components equates to a 6.89-point swing in the average. Still, the blue-chip gauge was trading flat in afternoon trade at 25,416. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was up 0.1% at 2,747, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2% at 7,343. All three of the benchmarks have been seeing up-and-down action all session, a day after finishing sharply lower on reignited fears the the Federal Reserve might quicken the pace of its rate hikes in 2018.

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From:: Stock Market News

Tech stocks were the one bright spot in February as the broader market got hammered and the sector was on track to be the only monthly gainer on the S&P 500 index . The S&P 500’s tech sector, which is the largest of the benchmark’s 11 sectors at a $7 trillion market cap, was on track for a 0.7% gain for February, and is up 8.3% for the year. In comparison, the S&P 500 was tracking at a 3% loss for February, and is up 2.5% for the year. With a few hours of February trading to go, shares of Apple Inc. have gained nearly 7% for the month, while shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. have rallied 15%, Red Hat Inc. shares have gained 13%, Micron Technology Inc. shares are up 11%, and Cisco Systems Inc. shares have rallied 9%. Financials are on track to be the second best performing sector in February, running at a 1.6% decline, and energy stocks are faring the worst with the sector down nearly 10% for the month.

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From:: Stock Market News

Moody’s Investors Service revised its outlook on Weight Watchers International Inc.’s ratings to positive from stable on Wednesday, and said it expects strong subscriber, revenue and free cash flow growth in 2018. The company’s B1 CFR (corporate family rating) reflects Moody’s expectation for debt to EBITDA of about 5 times, EBITA to interest expense approaching 3 times and over $150 million of free cash flow in 2018. Leverage was more than 7 times for the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, 2017. “The accelerating subscriber and revenue growth across products and geographies during 2017 hint at what could be a high and sustainable growth trajectory in 2018 and beyond,” the agency said in a statement. Weight Watchers reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings late Tuesday. Shares were up 3.8% Wednesday, and have gained 403% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The largest exchange-traded fund to track the energy sector fell on Wednesday, turning negative after crude inventories showed a bigger-than-expected increase in supplies in the latest week. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF lost 0.4%, turning lower in the aftermath of the data. The fund had previously risen as much as 0.9% on the day. The move lower tracked a decline in crude-oil prices. U.S. crude-oil futures lost 1.3%, as did Brent future, the international oil benchmark. Both had also been in positive territory prior to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s data. In the data, domestic crude supplies rose by 3 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 23. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a climb of 2.1 million barrels. Rising supply, along with falling demand, is a primary driver behind weakness in oil prices. Among specific stocks, Marathon Oil Corp. was down 1.5% while Halliburton Co. was off 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% while the S&P 500 was off 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down less than 0.1%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil prices moved lower Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies rose by 3 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 23. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a climb of 2.1 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a rise of 933,000 barrels, according to sources. Gasoline stockpiles also rose by 2.5 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles fell by 1 million barrels, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast supply declines of 200,000 barrels each for gasoline and distillates. April crude was down 41 cents, or 0.7%, to $62.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from $63.13 before the supply data.

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

Exchange-traded funds that track the home-building sector fell on Wednesday, after the latest read on home sales came in sharply below analyst forecasts. Pending-home sales fell 4.7% to 104.6 in January, the National Association of Realtors said, the lowest reading since October 2014, and the biggest monthly decline since 2010. The reading comes two days after data on new-home sales also came in below forecasts. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF fell 1.2% while the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF lost 1.3%. The PowerShares Dynamic Building & Construction Portfolio was down 0.5%. Among specific stocks, D.R. Horton Inc. fell 1.4%, as did Beazer Homes USA Inc. PulteGroup Inc. was down 1.2% while Toll Brothers Inc. lost 1.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% on Wednesday while the S&P 500 added 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.6%.

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