Category: Stock Market News

The surge in oil prices is helping keep the Dow Jones Industrial Average positive, but also doing a number on the Dow Jones Transportation Average . Crude oil futures spiked up 3.3% toward a 1 1/2-year high, after some oil producing countries agreed to production cuts. That helped push the stocks of Dow industrials components Exxon Mobil Corp. up $1.97, or 2.2%, and of Chevron Corp. up $1.33, or 1.2%. Those price gains added a combined 23 points to the Dow, which was up 12 points in afternoon trade. The oil price jump also weighed on the shares of the Dow transports’ six airline components, American Airlines Group Inc. , Delta Air Lines Inc. , Southwest Airlines Co. , JetBlue Airways Corp. , United Continental Holdings Inc. and Alaska Air Group Inc. . The price declines shaved a combined 60 points off the Dow transports, which was down 102 points. The Dow industrials were now up 13% year to date while the transports were up 24%.

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Shares of Pfizer Inc. surged 2.5% in midday trade Monday, after the drug giant said it was raising its quarterly dividend by 6.7%. The company said the new dividend of 32 cents a share, up from 30 cents, will be payable March 1, to shareholders of record on Feb. 3. At the current stock price of $32.51, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 3.94%, compared with the aggregate yield for the Dow components of 2.33%, according to FactSet. “The dividend increase demonstrates our continued commitment to deliver value to our shareholders and our confidence in the business,” said Chief Executive Ian Read. The stock has edged up 0.7% year to date, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has lost 4% and the Dow has run up 14%.

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Energy stocks enjoyed a broad rally Monday, after an agreement by non-OPEC members to cut production sent crude oil futures surging to a 17-month high. The SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF shot up 1.6% in morning trade, to the highest level since June 17, 2015. Among the ETF’s more-active components, Chesapeake Energy Corp. shares climbed 1.7%, paring earlier gains of as much as 6.2% to a 14-month high in intraday trade of $8.20. With volume of 21 million shares, the stock was the third-most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges. Shares of Chevron Corp. rose 2.2% and of Exxon Mobil Corp. rallied 2%, as they paced the gainers within the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Elsewhere, Noble Corp.’s stock gained 1.2%, Transocean Ltd. shares hiked up 1.5% and shares of Marathon Oil Corp. tacked on 2.7%.

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Shares of Lionbridge Technologies Inc. climbed 3.4% in morning trade Monday, after the the marketing company announced an agreement to be acquired by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital in a deal valued at $360 million. Under terms of the deal, H.I.G. will pay $5.75 in cash for each Lionbridge share outstanding, which is 3.2% above Friday’s closing price of $5.57. Lionbridge will have a 45-day “go-shop” period in which it can solicit other buyout bids. “Our Board of Directors believes this transaction is in the best interest of our stockholders and affirms Lionbridge’s tremendous value and market-leadership,” said Lionbridge Chief Executive Rory Cowan. Lionbridge’s stock has rallied 17% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.

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Retail job gains in October and November totaled 521,800, 14% fewer than the 604,300 retail jobs added during the period last year, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. In November alone, retail employment grew by 371,500 but was 9.3% below last year, the lowest November increase since 2010. “As more and more shoppers move online, there is less need for extra workers in the brick-and-mortar stores,” said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In September, the group anticipated a shift towards hiring focused on e-commerce operations. Since then, retailers like Macys Inc. have said the holiday hiring will have a focus on online sales.

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U.S. stocks opened mostly lower on Monday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a new intraday record, as the blue-chip index struggled toward 20,000. The Dow gained 7 points, or 0.02%, to 19,769. The S&P 500 index fell 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,258. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 23 points, or 0.4%, to 5,420. Meanwhile, surging oil prices helped support energy shares. U.S.-traded crude futures rose nearly 5% in recent trade.

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Shares of Viacom Inc. fell more than 5% on Monday after CNBC reported Vice-Chair of the board, Shari Redstone, was withdrawing support to merge the media and entertainment company with CBS Corp. . The two companies split 11 years ago. Shares of CBS were down a little more than 1%. Viacom’s film and TV businesses have struggled as of late, as Redstone and former Chief Executive Philippe Dauman led a public battle for control of the company. Redstone won out and had planned to combine Viacom and CBS, which executives at the latter had been sternly against historically. Viacom shares are down more than 6% in the year to date, underperforming CBS, which is up nearly 33% and the S&P 500 Index, up more than 10%.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. shares rose 1.7% in Monday premarket trading after the fast-casual chain announced that founder Steve Ells will be named sole chief executive. Co-CEO Monty Moran has stepped down from his role, effective immediately, and will retire from Chipotle in 2017. Ells will remain chairman of Chipotle’s board. “Given the ongoing challenges facing the company, the board felt strongly that it was best for Steve to resume leadership of the company going forward,” Neil Flanzraich, lead director of the board, said in a statement. Operations have become “over-complicated,” Ells said in a statement. He plans to simplify operations and revamp the company’s employee incentive program in an effort to improve guest experience. Ells also announced a new company mission: “Ensure that better food, prepared from whole, unprocessed ingredients is accessible to everyone.” The previous mission was to “Change the way people think about and eat fast food.” Chipotle has been battling back from an illness outbreak that began late 2015. Shares are down 34.5% for the past 12 months while the S&P 500 index is up 12.3% for the same period.

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Shares of Lockheed Martin Corp. slumped 2.7% in premarket trade Monday, after President-elect Donald Trump called out the defense contractor, saying in tweet that the F-35 stealth fighter program’s cost is “out of control.” Trump said Monday that “billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases” after he is inaugurated on Jan. “20. In an interview on Fox News Sunday,” Trump repeated his doubts after the F-35 jet being built by Lockheed, adding that government procurement officials should be barred for life for working for defense contractors. Trump’s tweet about Lockheed follows a similar tweet about Boeing Co. last week, in which he said the order to build new Air Force One planes should be canceled because of spiraling costs. The company and the White House disputed Trump’s claims about the costs. Lockheed’s stock has run up 8.5% since the election through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.6%.

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Prudential Financial Inc. said Monday that it will suspend the distribution of its MyTerm insurance product through all Wells Fargo & Co. branches and website while it reviews the bank’s sale practices. The MyTerm product was launched in 2007, and is designed to give customers more choices and access to life insurance. The company had entered into a distribution agreement with Wells Fargo in June 2014. The suspension of the agreement follows Wells Fargo’s sales practice scandal earlier this year. “We stand behind the MyTerm product but have decided to suspend sales of that product through Wells Fargo’s retail banking franchise until we have all the facts about whether it is being distributed properly and in the best interest of customers,” said Steve Pelletier, chief operating officer of Prudential’s U.S. business. Prudential’s stock was little changed in premarket trade, while Wells Fargo’s tacked on 0.3%. Year to date, Prudential shares have climbed 30%, Wells Fargo’s stock has gained 5.1% and the S&P 500 has advanced 11%.

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