Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Nike Inc. surged 3% afternoon trade Friday, and were the biggest percentage gainers within the Dow Jones Industrial Average , as they closed in on a 2 1/2-month high. The athletic apparel maker said late Thursday that it entered into a strategic partnership with funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management to optimize Nike’s supply chain. Separately, Foot Locker Inc. reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results, with the chief executive making upbeat comments about Nike products on the post-results conference call with analysts. He noted that were “an awful lot of great Nike product on the feet of a lot of the sprinters and distance runners,” according to a transcript provided by FactSet. Nike’s stock has lost 5.7% year to date, while the Dow has gained 6.5%.

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Oil futures settled narrowly higher Friday to tally a weekly gain of more than 9% with traders holding on to hopes that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will take action to stabilize the market at a meeting late next month. September WTI crude rose 30 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $48.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, the contract, which expires at Monday’s settlement, gained 9.1%.

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MGE Energy Inc. said Friday that it raised its quarterly dividend to 30.75 cents from 29.5 cents, a 4.2% increase. The new dividend is payable Sept. 15 to shareholders of record on Sept. 1. Shares of the public utility fell 1.4% in in afternoon trade. Based on current prices, the new dividend implies and annual yield of 2.2%, compared with the S&P 500 aggregate dividend yield of 2.1%. MGE’s stock has run up 21% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.8%.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised pregnant women and their partners to consider putting off plans to travel to all parts of Miami-Dade County after Florida Gov. Rick Scott confirmed that local transmission of Zika virus had spread to another “very small” area of Miami Beach. The CDC particularly warned pregnant women to avoid Miami Beach and the neighborhood Wynwood, where Zika virus was first reported to be locally-transmitted early this month. The Miami Beach area of Zika transmission is just under 1.5 square miles, according to Scott. Five cases of local transmission are attributed to the area, bringing total such cases in Florida to 36, the governor’s office said.

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Gold futures settled lower on Friday as investors searched the latest comments from Federal Reserve officials for clues on the timing of the central bank’s next interest-rate move. December gold lost $11, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,346.20 an ounce. The decline shrank the metal’s gain for the week to 0.2%.

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Oil futures barely budged on Friday after data from Baker Hughes revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 10 to 406 in the latest week. That was the eighth straight weekly climb, and the oil-rig count was the highest since February, according to a note from Citi Futures. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also increased by 10 to 491, Baker Hughes said. September crude was at $48.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 2 cents from Thursday’s settlement. It traded at $48.19 before the data.

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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rocketed 8.5% in active midday trade Friday to a 4 1/2-year high, and have now quadrupled in the past six months. With volume up to 56.4 million shares in afternoon trade, the stock was the most-actively traded on U.S. exchanges. The stock, which is on track to close at the highest level since April 20, 2012, had run up 5.4% on Thursday, after the chipmaker said its next-generation “Zen” chip achieved a 40% improvement in processor performance. The company was not immediately available for comment. Six months ago, the stock had closed at $1.91. Since then, AMD had reported quarterly results that surprisingly beat expectations–the first-quarter report triggered a 52% surge in the stock on April 22 while the second-quarter report sent the stock rallying 12% on July 22. Bearish investors have scrambled to close out their bearish as the stock rallies. Short interest has been cut nearly in half in the past six months, falling in July to the lowest level since May 2012.

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The pound moved sharply lower on Friday afternoon after Bloomberg News reported that U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is likely to invoke Article 50 in early 2017. Triggering the article marks the start of formal negotiations with Brussels over the U.K.’s exit from the European Union and the decision cannot be revoked. Earlier media reports had suggested May would wait until later in 2017 to kick off the talks. The report suggests invoking Article 50 by April, ending “speculation that the U.K. would have several years to prepare to leave the EU,” said Neil Wilson, markets analyst at ETX Capital, in a note. “The less time the U.K. has to get things in order, the greater the market fears the fallout,” he added. Sterling slumped to $1.3058, from as high as $1.3164 earlier in the day. Against the euro , the pound dropped to €1.1536, down from €1.1614.

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Shares of Corrections Corp. of America surged 9% in morning trade Friday, but pared earlier gains of as much as 11%, after Moody’s Investors Service cut the for-profit prison operator’s credit rating to “junk” status. The credit rating agency downgraded the real estate investment trust’s (REIT) senior unsecured rating to Ba1 from Baa3, which is Moody’s lowest “investment grade” rating, and revised the rating outlook to negative from stable. On Thursday, Corrections Corp.’s shares plunged 35% after the Justice Department said it planned to phase out the use of for-profit prison operators. Moody’s said that while the BOP represented just about 9% of Corrections Corp.’s revenue, the steep selloff in Corrections Corp.’s stock has closed access to capital markets at least in the short term. “The rating actions and the negative outlook reflects the substantial uncertainty regarding the ultimate effect that the Department of Justice announcement will have on the REITs cash flows,” Moody’s said in a statement. The stock has lost 28% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.5%.

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GEO Group Inc. said Friday that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has rescinded the renewal of the contract to operate the company-owned D. Ray James Correctional Facility. That’s an about face from GEO’s announcement earlier Friday, in which the company said the BOP renewed the contract to run the Georgia prison. “Based on ongoing discussions between GEO and the BOP, GEO expects to receive a new contract modification to operate the facility under new terms to be negotiated,” GEO said in a statement. The stock is currently halted for news. Prior to the halt, it had shot up 13% after the contract renewal announcement. On Thursday, the stock had plunged 40% after the Justice Department said it planned to phase out the use of for-profit prison facilities. The stock had lost 33% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.5%.

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