Category: Stock Market News

Oil futures continued to trade modestly higher on Friday after data from Baker Hughes revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil was unchanged at 406 in the latest week. That followed eight straight weeks of increases. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, fell by 2 to 489, Baker Hughes said. October crude was at $47.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 6 cents from Thursday’s settlement.

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Apptio Inc., a technology business management software company, filed to go public Friday. It currently has a proposed maximum offering price of $75 million and hasn’t yet specified how many shares of class A common stock it will offer. The company reported revenue of $123 million in 2015 on a net loss of $41 million. Apptio has applied to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “APTI.” The lead underwriters are Goldman, Sachs & Co, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

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Gold and oil futures seesawed between minor losses and gains Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a speech at the Jackson Hole, Wyo. economic symposium that the case for another interest-rate increase has strengthened. Gold for December delivery traded at $1,326.50 an ounce, up $1.90, or 0.1%, from Thursday’s settlement. It was trading around $1,333.20 before Yellen spoke. October oil added 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $47.46 on Nymex. It was trading at $47.39 before the speech.

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The dollar strengthened Friday against most of its rivals, turning higher after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the case for raising interest rates has strengthened in recent months. The euro fell to $1.1243 after Yellen’s remarks, compared with $1.1285 late Thursday in New York. The dollar jumped to 100.90 yen, compared with 100.57 yen Thursday. The pound tumbled to $1.3143, compared with $1.3193.

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U.S. stocks opened a touch higher on Friday ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen at the annual economic retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The highly anticipated symposium will be closely followed for hints on the central bank’s outlook for monetary policy. Ahead of Yellen’s speech, a second estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product underscored that the U.S. economy is muddling along, growing at a 1.1% pace. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 50 points, or 0.3%, at 18,499, the S&P 500 index advanced 6 points, or 0.3%, at 2,178, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 12 points, or 0.2%, to 5,224. In corporate news, shares of Herbalife Ltd. were in the spotlight after a report from The Wall Street Journal indicated that Carl Icahn considered selling his 18% stake in nutritional supplement company to a group, including the company’s arch-nemesis and shortseller, Bill Ackman.

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Rackspace , a managed cloud company, is being taken private by Apollo Global Management in a $4.3 billion acquisition, the company said Friday. Rackspace shareholders should receive $32 per share in cash and the total transaction of $4.3 billion includes “the assumption” of $43 million of net cash. The Rackspace board of directors unanimously approved the agreement and recommend stockholders vote in favor of it. “Our board, with the assistance of independent advisors, determined that this transaction, upon closing, will deliver immediate, significant and certain cash value to our stockholders,” Graham Weston, co-founder of Rackspace, said in the release. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2016. Rackspace shares were up 4% pre-market trade Friday. Shares have gained 23% in the past three months, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 4%. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 3 that the companies were close to a deal.

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Shares of Herbalife Ltd. dropped 5.7% in premarket trade Friday, after billionaire investor Bill Ackman said on CNBC that he remained committed to his bearish stance on the nutritional products company. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Ackman nemesis Carl Icahn, who was Herbalife’s largest shareholder with 17 million shares, or 18% of the shares outstanding as of June 30, according to regulatory filings, had recently discussed selling his stake to a group including Ackman. Icahn has owned 17 million Herbalife shares since the first quarter of 2014, when he increased it slightly from 16.97 million shares, filing show. Before that, the last change was to increase it from 16.36 million shares as of March 31, 2013. Ackman said on CNBC that he expressed willingness to buy a small portion of Icahn’s stake, but said he was still held a short position of more than $1 billion in Herbalife. The stock has climbed 16% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 had gained 6.3%.

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American Olympian Ryan Lochte has been charged by Brazil’s police with filing a false robbery report, according to multiple media outlets. The swimming star now must decide whether to introduce a defense in Brazil, and the indictment will be sent to the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission, said a police statement, according to an AP report. Lochte has apologized for his behavior during the Rio Summer Games, following his disputed claim that he was robbed at gunpoint while on a night out with three teammates. He lost all his endorsement deals, then picked up a new sponsor — a company that makes “forgiving” throat drops. Lochte is also reportedly eyeing taking part in “Dancing with the Stars,” a TV show.

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An explosion at a sports center in Chimay, Belgium, early Friday morning killed at least one person, but authorities say the blast was likely the result of a gas leak, not a terrorist attack. “The information that I have is that it due to an accident, probably gas. There is no link to terrorism or anything like that,” a Belgian Crisis Center employee told the Associated Press. Five people were reportedly inside the building, which partially collapsed. Belgian TV station RTL reported two people were seriously injured, and another two hospitalized with minor injuries. The explosion occurred just after midnight in Chimay, a town near the French border, about 75 miles from Brussels.

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Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it is opening its eighth fullment center in Texas. The new facility is the second in Coppell, and it will create hundreds of full-time positions, according to Amazon. The fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship larger items including kayaks, big-screen televisions, and patio furniture. The ecommerce giant said it has more than 10,000 employees in Texas. Amazon also has fulfillment centers in Haslet, Dallas, Fort Worth and Schertz with facilities in San Marcos and Houston under construction. Amazon shares are flat in Thursday after-hours trading, and up 62.8% for the past year. The S&P 500 Index is up 16.3% for the last 12 months.

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