Category: Stock Market News

Oil futures settled at their highest level since July 22 on Thursday, just a day after marking their lowest finish in a week. Comments from Saudi Arabia’s oil minister raised the possibility that major crude producers will take action to stabilize the market at a meeting next month. September WTI crude rose $1.78, or 4.3%, to settle at $43.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Gold futures finished modestly lower Thursday, as the rally in the U.S. stock market and some strength in the dollar prompted prices to surrender earlier gains. December gold lost $1.90, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,350 an ounce, following two straight sessions of gains.

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Shares of CBOE Holdings Inc. slumped 1.7% in midday trade Thursday, after Bank of America Merrill Lynch turned bearish on the options trading exchange, citing weaker volume trends, increasing competition and a what is believed to be peak valuation. Analyst Michael Carrier cut his rating to underperform, after being at neutral since February 2015. He cut his stock price target to $65, which is more than 3% below current levels, from $69. Carrier said CBOE faces “intense competition” in the multi-listed options market, with 14 exchanges competing for share. From 2008 through 2015, he said CBOE’s revenue fell 66%, market share has declined 19% and pricing has dropped 48%. He wrote in a research note this trend could worsen, as he said he thinks “it will be tougher to offset as skillfully as the team as done over the past few years.” Instead of CBOE, Carrier recommends Intercontinental Exchange Inc. , which he rates a buy; the stock is up 0.5% Thursday. CBOE’s stock has tacked on 3.4% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 7%.

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Nordstrom Inc.’s stock surged 6.7% to a three-month high in active midday trade Thursday, as Macy’s Inc.’s blowout earnings report fueled hopes that Nordstrom will report upbeat results after the close, for a change. Volume of 5.6 million shares was already well above the full-day average of about 3.3 million shares. Macy’s stock rocketed 16% after the fellow higher-end department store chain beat fiscal second-quarter earnings, revenue and same-store sales expectations, and said it would close 100 stores to focus on its more profitable stores and digital sales. that may have emboldened Nordstrom investors, who have suffered through earnings and revenue misses the past three quarters. The stock had plunged by an average of 12% on the day after the past three quarterly reports. Nordtrom is expected to report quarterly earnings per share of 56 cents, revenue of $3.68 billion and a same-store sales decline of 3.1%. The stock was still down 5.4% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has tacked on 4.1%, the S&P 500 has gained 7% and Macy’s shares have climbed 14%.

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Sterling dropped to a fresh post-Brexit low against the euro on Thursday, as concerns over the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union and aggressive easing measures from the Bank of England continued to weigh on sentiment. The pound sank to €1.1598, the lowest since Aug. 28, 2013, according to FactSet data. That level was enough to take out the previous post-Brexit low of €1.1605 hit on July 6, almost two weeks after the Brexit vote. Recent data have started to show how the referendum has impacted the U.K. economy. A report out on Thursday showed housing prices grew at their slowest pace in three years in July as uncertainty over the future put house buyers on hold. In response to weak data and lackluster economic forecasts, the Bank of England last week announced an aggressive easing package. The central bank cut rates, expanded QE, announced a corporate bond-buying program and offered ultracheap loans to banks.

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Natural-gas futures pared their gains to trade nearly flat on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity rose 29 billion cubic feet for the week ended August 5. That was above the average rise of 25 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.317 trillion cubic feet, up 361 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 440 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. September natural gas traded nearly flat at $2.563 per million British thermal units, barely changed from Wednesday’s settlement of $2.561. It traded higher at $2.572 before the data.

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Shares of mall operators were taking a beating in morning trade Thursday, after Macy’s Inc. said it was closing 100 full-line stores. General Growth Properties’ stock dropped 3.2%, which made it the biggest decliner among S&P 500 components. The second-biggest decline was Simon Property Group Inc.’s stock , which slumped 2%. The stores Macy’s will close will be announced at a later date, but could include many that act as mall anchors. The closures highlight the decline in profitability in many of its brick-and-mortar locations, and an increased focus in digital sales. The 11 biggest decliners in the S&P 500 are real estate investment trusts, although not all are retail mall operators. Among the other shopping center REITs, shares of Macerich Co. shed 1.3% and Kimco Realty Corp. lost 1.2%. The iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF slid 0.9%. Meanwhile, Macy’s stock soared 14% to pace the S&P 500 gainers.

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Under Armour Inc. said Thursday that has appointed three new executives. Kip Fulks, who was Chief Executive Kevin Plank’s first partner and has served in various leadership roles, has been appointed chief product officer. He’ll be in charge of strategy and integration of marketing, merchandising and other areas to reach international athletes. Colin Browne will join Under Armour on September 6 to serve as president of global sourcing. He joins from VF Corp. where he led sourcing and product supply in Asia. And Andy Donkin joins the company on August 22 as chief marketing officer. He was previously head of worldwide mass and brand marketing at Amazon.com Inc. Under Armour shares are up 3% in Thursday trading, but down 21.3% for the past year. The S&P 500 Index is up 4.6% for the last 12 months.

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U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday, as oil prices attempted to stabilize and a round of U.S. data offered an upbeat picture of the economy. The small gains came after stocks closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by a slump in oil prices. On Thursday, weekly jobless claims ticked down to 266,000, staying below the 300,000 layoff level for 75 weeks in a row. The import-price index for July rose 0.1%, while export prices ticked up 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 56 points, or 0.3%, to 18,556, the S&P 500 index added 6 points, or 0.3%, to 2,182, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 23 points, or 0.4%, to 5,227.

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Starbucks Corp. said Thursday that it will expand its York, Pa. distribution center, adding 1.2 million square feet of space. The expanded facility will create 300 full-time jobs over the next three to five years. The York distribution center, which will increase capacity by 35%, will be fully operational in September, and will become the largest Starbucks distribution center in the world. It will supply 3,000 stores across the Northeast, parts of Canada and Europe. Starbucks shares are up 0.2% in premarket trading, but down 7.4% for the year so far. The S&P 500 Index is up 6.4% for the year to date.

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