Category: Stock Market News

There are two key reasons the Dow Jones Industrial Average is still up, when the other major market indexes are down–Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Chevron Corp. . Goldman’s stock soared $4.78, or 2.2%, to a nine-year high, as the continued climb Treasury yields spurred further buying in financial stocks. Chevron shares jumped $3.16, or 2.8%, to a two-year high, as crude oil prices extended their surge above the $50-a-barrel mark. Those two stocks were adding 54 points to the Dow, which was up 42 points in afternoon trade. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was down 0.4%, the Nasdaq Composite Index was shedding 1.4% and the Russell 2000 Index fell 0.5%.

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Shares of technology stocks sold-off sharply across-the-board on Thursday, with Oracle Corp. and Salesforce Inc. among the biggest laggards. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund , a tech industry-focused ETF, fell 2% in afternoon trade, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% and the tech-heavy PowerShares QQQ Trust fell 1.6%. Shares of Salesforce dropped 3.9% to $69.22 in afternoon trade, while Oracle’s tumbled 3.5% to $38.80. Among the other major decliners were Qualcomm Inc. , down 3.2%, and Facebook Inc. , down 2.8% to $115.07. Apple Inc. was also in the red, but only by half-a-percentage-point, trading around $109.83.

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Bank of Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens will step down as the head of the country’s central bank in July 2017, according to news reports Thursday. Carstens will become the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements in October 2017, BIS said in a statement. Carstens, who has been on BIS’s board since 2011, has served as the head of Mexico’s central bank since 2010. Carstens will succeed Jaime Caruana, who is retiring next year. The Basel, Switzerland-based BIS is a consortium of central banks.

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Natural-gas futures gained more ground Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity fell by 50 billion cubic feet for the week ended Nov. 25. That matched the forecasted decline from analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.995 trillion cubic feet, up 24 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 235 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. January natural gas rose 10.2 cents, or 3%, to $3.453 per million British thermal units. It traded at $3.438 before the data.

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General Motors Co.’s stock surged 2.3% to the highest level since Dec. 10, 2015 in morning trade Thursday, after the auto maker said November U.S. vehicle sales jumped 8% from a year ago, with all four brands showing growth. GM said it estimates that retail market share rose 0.3 percentage points in November to 16.8%, marking the 17th of the past 20 months that market share increased. Of GM’s four U.S. brands, Chevrolet sales rose 5%, Buick sales increased 22%, GMC sales improved 9% and Cadillac sales jumped 17%. GM said average transaction prices after incentives rose to $35,767, or more than $4,000 above the industry average. “All economic indicators show significantly improved optimism about the U.S. economy including consumer and business sentiment, which continue to drive a very healthy U.S. auto industry,” said Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem. “We believe the U.S. auto industry is well-positioned for sales to continue at or near record levels into 2017.” The stock has gained 3.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 7.6%.

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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC said Thursday that it is working with nonprofit organization The Humane League on a plan to source 100% cage-free eggs throughout operations in the U.S., Canada and Europe. This is part of a broader goal to source cage-free eggs across the globe by 2025. InterContinental brands include Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza. InterContinental shares are down 2.1% in early Thursday trading, but up 20.4% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 7.6% for 2016 so far.

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Shares of Ford Motor Co. jumped 2.3% in morning trade Thursday, after the auto maker reported a 5% jump in U.S. vehicle sales in November, as strong demand for F-Series trucks offset a sharp drop in car sales. Total sales rose to 197,574 vehicles, with retail sales rising 10% to 154,114 vehicles, while fleet sales declined 9% to 43,460 vehicles. F-Series sales rose 11% to 72,089 trucks, which Ford said was the best November performance since 2001. Overall, sales of trucks increased 4.9% and of SUVs jumped 18.9%, while car sales declined 9.7%. Within Ford-branded cars, Focus sales tumbled 18.4%, Fiesta sales dropped 16.8% and Taurus sales shed 22.5%. Within trucks, F-Series sales grew 10.6% and E-Series sales rose 17.8%, while transit sales dropped 23.0%.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened with slight gains on Thursday, with investors finding few reasons to push shares sharply higher following a strong month in November. Last month was the best month for the Dow since March, and the best for the Russell 2000 since October 2011. While investors view the market’s uptrend as intact, traders may hold off on making big bets going into the closely watched jobs report on Friday, though continued gains in oil prices could help to support stocks for a second straight session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.22 points, or 0.2%, to 19,174, while the S&P 500 added 2.1 points to 2,202, a rise of 0.1%. Energy shares were among the biggest gainers of both indexes, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF rising 1.2% on the day. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose less than 1 point to 5,323, essentially unchanged on the day.

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Aradigm Corp. shares fell as much as 54% in pre-market trade Thursday after the company announced topline results from two late-stage clinical trials for its Pulmaquin treatment. Pulmaquin, a once daily ciprofloxacin for inhalation for patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis with chronic lung infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, had statistically significant results in one late-stage trial but not in the other, the company said. Aradigm said that the analyses of combined data from both studies represented statistically significant outcomes, and called the results “exciting,” but investors disagreed with the company’s take and sent shares, which closed at $5.24 on Wednesday, plummeting. Aradigm shares rose 31.2% year-to-date, compared with a 7.6% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Kroger Co. shares fell 3.3% in Thursday premarket trading after the grocer provided weak fiscal 2017 guidance. Net income was $391.0 million, or 41 cents per share, down from $428.0 million, or 43 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 41 cents. Sales for the quarter totaled $26.6 billion, up from $25.1 billion last year and beating the $26.3 billion FactSet consensus. Same-store sales for the quarter rose 0.1% without fuel, below the FactSet expectation of a 0.5% rise. Kroger narrowed its guidance for fiscal 2016 to $2.03 to $2.06 per share from $2.03 to $2.13 previously. Adjusted EPS is expected to be $2.10 to $2.15 versus a previous adjusted range of $2.10 to $2.20. The FactSet consensus is $2.13. Fourth-quarter same-store sales are expected to be slightly positive. The company expects fiscal 2017 same-store sales to be positive, but EPS is expected to be below the low end of the company’s 8% to 11% long-term growth rate guidance. Kroger shares are down 22.8% for theear so far while the S&P 500 index is up 7.6% for 2016 to date.

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