Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Five Below Inc. jumped more than 9% late Thursday after the discount retailer reported fiscal third-quarter earnings above Wall Street expectations and sales slightly under forecast. Five Below said sales rose by 18% to $199.5 million in the quarter, from the $169.7 million in year-ago period. It earned $5.4 million, or 10 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $4.3 million, or 8 cents a share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2015. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 9 cents a share on sales of $201 million. Shares had ended the regular trading day up 1.3%.

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Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. fell more than 6% late Thursday after the gun maker reported fiscal second-quarter earnings and sales above Wall Street expectations. Smith & Wesson said it earned $32.5 million, or 57 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $14.2 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, the gun maker reported a net income of $39.1 million, or 68 cents a share, compared with $14.2 million, or 25 cents a share, a year ago. Net sales reached $233.5 million, from $143.2 million a year ago, Smith & Wesson said. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 57 cents a share on sales of $228 million. The company tweaked higher its sales expectations to a range of $230 million and $240 million for the three months to end Jan. 31; in September, the company had predicted sales in a range of $220 million to $230 million for the quarter. The shares ended the regular trading day up 2.8%.

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Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Thursday after the cosmetics retailer topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter and raised its outlook. Ulta shares surged 4.7% to $269.50 after hours. The company reported third-quarter earnings of $1.40 a share on revenue of $1.13 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast $1.37 a share on revenue of $1.11 billion. For the fourth-quarter, Ulta said it expects earnings of $2.08 to $2.13 a share on revenue of $1.52 billion to $1.54 billion. Analysts estimate $2.05 a share on revenue of $1.51 billion.

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Shares of Darden Restaurants Inc. , which owns the Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse restaurant chains, surged 3.3% toward a record close Thursday, after Guggenheim Securities turned bullish, citing expectations of growing consumers will start favoring casual dining over fast-food restaurants. Analyst Matthew DiFrisco upgraded Darden to buy from neutral. “Our bias is to increase exposure to the more discretionary casual dining segment, as opposed to the more staple in nature quick service, given the outlook for consumer stimulus and already improving consumer confidence,” DiFrisco wrote in a note to clients. As a result, he also downgraded both McDonald’s Corp. and Wendy’s Co. to neutral from buy. Darden’s stock has run up 19% year to date, while McDonald’s shares were little changed, Wendy’s stock has rallied 17% and the S&P 500 has gained 7.1%.

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Wells Fargo & Co. said Thursday that it has amended its by-laws to require the separation of the roles of chairman and chief executive officer. The bank will also require the chairman and vice chairman of the board to be independent directors. The changes were effective Nov. 29. Currently, Stephen Sanger is Wells Fargo’s chairman of the board, while Tim Sloan is CEO. That compares with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. , in which Jamie Dimon is both chairman and CEO. Wells Fargo’s move follows a sales practices scandal that led to the resignation of former CEO John Stumpf. “The Board previously acted to elect an independent Chairman to lead the Board and we believe formalizing this structure is the right decision at this time for the Company and its investors, customers, and team members,” Sanger said. “Efforts to restore the trust of our customers and team members are well underway and will continue until we have fully addressed the issues surrounding retail banking sales practices.” The stock, which climbed 2.4% in afternoon trade, has lost 0.2% year to date, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has run up 18% and the S&P 500 has gained 7.2%.

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Oil futures rallied Thursday to settle at their highest level in about six weeks as prices extended their gains into a second straight session on the heels of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ deal to ease back output. January West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.62, or 3.3%, to settle at $51.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices, which gained 9.3% Wednesday, logged their highest settlement since Oct. 19, according to FactSet data.

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Weather analytics company Planalytics forecasts that a cold blast of air from Dec. 5 through Dec. 11 moving from the West Coast to the East Coast will provide a $107 million lift in apparel store sales year-over-year. Planalytics believes the cold temperatures will reach major cities in the East by the weekend. “For many markets, temperatures will be below normal and below the freezing point as well,” the organization wrote in a news alert. Dec. 2015 was the warmest in more than 120 years, Planalytics said. The warm temperatures hurt sales at retailers like Macy’s Inc. , which are hoping for more seasonable weather this holiday season. There’s a risk of snow in Canada and across northern U.S. as well, which “will drive demand for snow throwers, ice melt shovels, firewood and warm foods,” said Planalytics.

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Gold prices settled lower Thursday, following their worst monthly slide in more than three years, as investors shunned safe-haven assets. Gold for February delivery settled down $4.50, or 0.4%, at $1,169.40 an ounce, while the SPDR Gold Trust ETF declined 0.3%. Silver ticked slightly higher as the March contract for the metal settled up 2.4 cents, or 0.1%, at just under $16.51 an ounce.

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Major exchange-traded funds pegged to moves in crude oil are on track for their biggest weekly gain in more than a year, boosted as OPEC unexpectedly reached a deal to cut production – a move that could address the commodity’s oversupply and help stabilize prices. Crude oil has surged 11% this week, as have the United States Oil Fund LP and the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index exchange-traded note . Among other funds, the United States 12 Month Oil Fund LP is up 8.6% for the week while the PowerShares DB Oil Fund has climbed 10.2%. The VelocityShares 3x Long Crude ETN a triple leveraged fund that offers 300% of the daily move of its underlying index, has skyrocketed about 32% thus far this week. In all the cases, they are on track for their best weekly performance since August 2015. On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers reached a deal to curb daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day, bringing it to a ceiling of 32.5 million barrels.

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If the stock market looks a bit schizoid Thursday, that’s because NYSE breadth data are telling two very different stories. The number of declining stocks on the big board were beating advancers by a score of 1,797 to 1,159. However, volume in advancing stocks was about 55% of total volume, with up volume leading down volume 308.4 million shares to 257.9 million shares. Big board breadth told a similar mixed story on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 42 points in afternoon trade, while the S&P 500 was down 0.4%. The Nasdaq exchange was more in line, with decliners leading advancers 3,959 to 2,553 and down volume beating up volume 399.1 million shares to 283.4 million shares. The Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.4%.

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