Category: Stock Market News

Shares of CSRA Inc. rocketed 31% in premarket trade Monday, after the government IT company agreed to be acquired by General Dynamics Corp. in a deal that values CSRA at about $6.68 billion. GD’s stock was still inactive. Under terms of the deal, valued at $9.6 billion including debt, GD will pay $40.75 in cash for each CSRA share outstanding, which is 32% above Friday’s closing price of $30.82. GD expects the deal, which is projected to close in the first half of 2018, to add to earnings per share and cash flow in 2019, and generate cost savings of about 2% of the combined company’s revenue by 2020. GD expects to fund the deal with available cash and new debt. “We see substantial opportunities to provide cost-effective IT solutions and services to the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and federal civilian agencies,” said GD Chief Executive Phebe Novakovic. “The combination enables GDIT to grow revenue and profits at an accelerated rate.” GD’s stock has rallied 15% over the past 12 months, while CSRA shares have lost 0.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 13%.

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U.S. stock futures rose early Monday, indicating markets could extend a move higher seen at the close of last week. Dow futures rose 163 points, or 0.7%, to 24,330, while S&P 500 futures climbed 15.65 points, or 0.6%, to 2,634.75. Nasdaq-100 futures gained 25.50 points, or 0.4%, to 6,442.50. The Dow , S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each lost around 5% last week, marking the biggest weekly declines for those indexes since early 2016. However, stocks booked sharp gains in a move higher that came late in Friday’s session, something which could continue on Monday. Asian stocks also moved higher on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite Index up nearly 1%. The ICE Dollar Index fell 0.4% to 90.129, while gold prices rose $9.70, or 0.7%, to $1,325.40 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 65 cents, or 1.1%, to $59.85 a barrel.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stock futures rose early Monday, indicating markets could extend a move higher seen at the close of last week. Dow futures rose 163 points, or 0.7%, to 24,330, while S&P 500 futures climbed 15.65 points, or 0.6%, to 2,634.75. Nasdaq-100 futures gained 25.50 points, or 0.4%, to 6,442.50. The Dow , S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each lost around 5% last week, marking the biggest weekly declines for those indexes since early 2016. However, stocks booked sharp gains in a move higher that came late in Friday’s session, something which could continue on Monday. Asian stocks also moved higher on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite Index up nearly 1%. The ICE Dollar Index fell 0.4% to 90.129, while gold prices rose $9.70, or 0.7%, to $1,325.40 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 65 cents, or 1.1%, to $59.85 a barrel.

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An explosion and fire at a power substation caused a widespread blackout in Puerto Rico on Sunday night, adding to the woes of the island that was battered by two major hurricanes in the fall. Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority said several municipalities, including parts of San Juan, were without power, according to the Associated Press. The incident occurred at the Monacillos power plant in San Juan, according to CBS News. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion. Video posted on social media showed firefighters battling flames at the power plant. The substation reportedly generated about 400 megawatts of electricity. The island’s power grid was largely destroyed by Hurricane Maria, and an estimated 400,000 residents are still without power five months later.

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After last week’s roller-coaster ride on Wall Street, U.S. stock futures indicated gains in Monday trading. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 144 points, or 0.6%, in early Monday trading in Asia. S&P 500 futures were up 14.75, or 0.56%, and Nasdaq-100 futures were up 27.75, or 0.43%. The Dow futures’ advance implied a gain of more than 140 points when the index opens for trading. Last week, the Dow and S&P 500 declined about 5.2% each, as the Dow posted two 1,000-point drops, while the Nasdaq fell 5.1%.

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Comcast Corp. may revive its effort to acquire 21st Century Fox after the entertainment giant turned down its original bid in favor of Walt Disney Co. , the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Disney announced the $52.4 billion deal for Fox in December. Comcast’s bid was reportedly around $60 billion, but there were concerns that the deal could face antitrust challenges. The Journal reported Comcast may choose to take no further action, and that Fox’s upcoming release of a proxy statement on the process of the merger may influence the decision.

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Sunday sued the Weinstein Co., Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, accusing the Hollywood production company of civil rights abuses for failing to protect its employees from “vicious and exploitative mistreatment of company employees.” The lawsuit complicates a deal to buy the company; the New York Post on Sunday reported that Maria Contreras-Sweet had pulled a $500 million acquisition offer. Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by more than 60 women. Schneiderman said in a statement Sunday than any buyer of the Weinstein Co. must make sure Weinstein’s alleged victim get compensated, Reuters reported. Last week, the Los Angeles Police Department passed along three cases accusing Weinstein of sexual crimes to the city’s district attorney’s office. Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing.

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The cinema-going subscription service MoviePass, under fire Friday for abrubtly and irreversibly revoking the membership of a number of users over terms-of-service violations, has lowered its monthly price to $7.95 from $9.95. The lowering last summer of the monthly cost to less than $10 from earlier levels that were several times higher caused the company, in which Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. holds a controlling interest, to experience a surge in demand. It explained to MarketWatch at the time that it was able to take its price that low, allowing movie goers to attend as much as one screening a day for less than the average cost in many cities of a single theater ticket, because its subscriber rolls and data held value to third parties. In a news release late Friday, MoviePass said it drives more than 5% of the total U.S. box office.

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President Trump has decided not to release the Democratic response to the Devin Nunes memo alleging abuses of surveillance powers against Trump campaign foreign-policy adviser Carter Page. Democrats called the Nunes memo biased and misleading and said it comprised cherry-picked information from the documentation of one part of the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump had widely been expected to OK the memo’s release by Saturday at the latest. A letter from White House counsel Don McGahn indicated the memo, most closely associated with Rep. Adam Schiff, could yet be declassified and released after certain passages are addressed. The Nunes memo was released without redactions. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, appearing late Friday on CNN, said he would withhold judgment as to whether the White House decision was politically motivated until he and other members of the House Judiciary Committee heard from “the professionals” at the FBI and Justice Department. A letter signed by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray accompanied the McGahn letter and supported the view that national-security and other concerns existed, CNN reported. Swalwell has in the past indicated a belief that the White House collaborated with Nunes, a House Republican from California who had previously recused himself from involvement with the Russia probe because of perceptions of conflict, on the majority memo.

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From:: Stock Market News

President Trump has defied expectations in deciding not to release the Democratic response to the Devin Nunes memo alleging abuses of surveillance powers against Trump campaign foreign-policy adviser Carter Page. Democrats called the Nunes memo biased and misleading and said it comprised cherry-picked information from the documentation of one part of the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump had widely been expected to OK the memo’s release by Saturday at the latest. A letter from White House counsel Don McGahn indicated the memo, most closely associated with California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, could yet be declassified and released after certain passages are addressed. The Nunes memo was released without redactions. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, appearing late Friday on CNN, said he would withhold judgment as to whether the White House decision was politically motivated until he and other members of the House Judiciary Committee heard from “the professionals” at the FBI and Justice Department. A letter signed by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray accompanied the McGahn letter and supported the view that national-security and other concerns existed, CNN reported. Swalwell has in the past indicated a belief that the White House collaborated with Nunes, a House Republican from California who had previously recused himself from involvement with the Russia probe because of perceptions of conflict, on the majority memo.

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