Category: Stock Market News

The South African rand dropped to its weakest level against the dollar in eight weeks after Bloomberg reported that one of the country’s largest fixed-income money managers would stop lending to six of the country’s largest state companies. The dollar was up 1%, buying 14.64 rand in recent trade, compared with 14.50 rand late Tuesday. The asset manager’s reported decision comes at a time when confidence in South Africa’s government is faltering. The country’s long-serving President Jacob Zuma is fighting a court’s ruling that he face nearly 800 charges of corruption.

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U.S. stocks on Wednesday kicked off trading in the red, following a report of monthly private-sector employment that came in slightly better than Wall Street expectations, potentially adding more reasons for the Federal Reserve to follow through with talk of lifting interest rates in the coming months. The dollar ticked higher and stocks inched down after the ADP report showed the U.S. economy added 177,000 private-sector jobs in August, compared with estimates of 175,000 from economists polled by MarketWatch. The S&P 500 index declined 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,173, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 30 points, or 0.2%, at 18,423, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 6 points, or 0.1%, to 5,215. Among company movers, Deutsche Bank was in the spotlight amid reports that Germany’s largest bank considered combining with rival Commerzbank AG .

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Rovi Corp. said on Wednesday it’s named Pete Thompson as chief operating officer, effective Sept. 6. Thompson previously served as senior vice president of the Mediaroom Business Group at Ericsson, where he was responsible for defining the future of home entertainment, according to a news release. Thompson will oversee product integration of the combined Rovio and TiVo Inc. companies after Rovi’s acquisition of TiVo closes.

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Brown-Forman Corp. said Wednesday it had net income of $144 million, or 37 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter to end July, down from $156 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales slid to $661 million from $699 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 37 cents and sales of $674 million. The owner of alcohol brands including Jack Daniel’s, Finlandia and Korbel, said the results were “largely as anticipated considering the absence of previously disposed brands and the difficult comparisons against last year’s launch of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire in the United States.” The company is now expecting full fiscal-year EPS to range from $1.71 to $1.81, wrapped around the current FactSet consensus of $1.77. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 1.4% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.

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Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network said on Wednesday it has expanded its deal with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to broadcast the Oscars through 2028. That adds eight years to ABC’s existing contract. The most recent 88th annual Academy Awards garnered 34.425 million total viewers, per Nielsen’s same-day ratings, which was down from the previous year’s 37.257 million viewers and the smallest audience since ABC’s 2008 broadcast. The 89th Academy Awards will be televised Feb. 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. A host for the show has not been decided.

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Amazon.com Inc. is in the food business. The online retailer, which also dabbles in film and TV production, said on Wednesday its Prime members in Houston can receive free one-hour delivery from Amazon Restaurant’s partners, which include P.F. Changs, Carraba’s, Max’s Wine Dive and other popular restaurants in the area. And Amazon is guaranteeing customers pay the same price as they would in the restaurant, no menu markups, or Amazon will refund the price of the item.

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Genesys said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. in a deal valued at about $1.4 billion. Genesys, an omnichannel software company, said it will pay $60.50 in cash for each share of Interactive Intelligence, a cloud company, equal to a 36% premium over the stock’s closing price on July 28, the trading day before media reports that Interactive Intelligence was considering strategic moves. The deal is expected to close by year end. Genesys said it will finance the deal through a combination of cash on hand and debt. Interactive Intelligence shares were halted premarket for the news, but are up 80% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.

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Deutsche Bank AG has explored a possible merger with rival German lender Commerzbank AG , Manager Magazin reported on Wednesday, without citing any sources. The German magazine said the merger talks were only theoretical and at a very early stage. It was unclear whether the discussions will be resumed. The publication also said the bank was considering other options to bolster profitability, including a possible reintegration of its Postbank branches that were put up for sale. Deutsche Bank has recently struggled to stay profitable, reporting a 98% slide in profits in the second quarter, hurt by a weak performance in its trading and investment banking units. Its shares plunged to a record low in July after the U.K.’s Brexit vote fueled uncertainty in Europe. Shares of Deutsche Bank were up 1.8% on Wednesday, while Commerzbank rose 4%. Spokesperson from both Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank declined to comment on the report

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Gap Inc. confirmed on Tuesday that a fire Monday night has shut down the company’s distribution center in Fishkill, N.Y. All employees who had been at the facility were safely evacuated, according to the Gap. “While it will take time to understand the full impact and cause of the fire, we have contingency plans in place and are working across our North American network of distribution centers to continue to serve our customers,” Gap spokesperson Debbie Felix said in a statement. Analysts at Wells Fargo say the event creates uncertainty. “[W]e would be concerned that this could create a meaningful bottleneck [given] the upcoming critical holiday season,” Wells Fargo wrote in a brief Tuesday note. “On top of that, this disruption to their supply chain could require incremental shipping, storage and distribution costs, in addition to any write-downs of damaged inventory and the cost of the property damage.” Gap shares are flat in after-hours trading, but closed down 4.3%. Gap stock is down 22.8% for the past year while the S&P 500 Index is up 9.4% for the same period.

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Medicines Co. shares dropped in the extended session Tuesday after the biotech company said an ongoing study of a drug meant to remove bad cholesterol from the walls of blood vessels has yet to show effectiveness. Medicines Co. shares fell 10% to $36.05 after hours. The company said an interim analysis of 40 patients treated with the drug MDCO-216 did not meet the “pre-defined, upper statistical boundary for efficacy.” The company said it has enrolled 120 patients in the study and will continue and results will be presented in November.

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