Category: Stock Market News

LendingClub Corp. announced further changes to its leadership Monday afternoon along with earnings, and the online lender’s beleaguered stock plunged yet again in late trading. The company announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Carrie Dolan, whom it said would be seeking to “pursue a new opportunity;” Bradley Coleman, the company’s corporate controller since 2013, will take the position in an interim capacity. LendingClub also said Fannie Mae Chief Executive Timothy Mayopoulos would become an independent director. The online lender has been swiftly remaking the top of the company after the ouster of former CEO Renaud Laplanche, who was sent packing in a cloud of scandal earlier this summer; in addition to new Chief Executive Scott Sanborn, LendingClub has also hired a chief operations and strategy officer and chief capital officer. The company’s quarterly financial statement, released at the same time Monday, showed the effects of the turmoil, with severance charges and investor incentives helping to push LendingClub to a net loss of $81.4 million, or 21 cents a share, much higher than a $4.1 million loss, or a penny a share, in the same quarter a year ago. After adjustments, LendingClub claimed a loss of 9 cents a share on total net revenue of $103.4 million. Analysts on average expected a loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $99.9 million. LendingClub shares fell more than 7% in immediate late trading before clawing back some of those losses to sell for about $4.60, after closing with a 0.8% gain at $4.79. Shares have fallen 32.5% in the past 3 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 6% in that time frame.

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U.S. stocks briefly touched intraday records Monday, but succumbed to selling pressure to end lower as Wall Street caught its breath following Friday’s record-setting rally fueled by a solid employment report. The Nasdaq Composite Index, S&P 500 index and Russel 1000 hit intraday records before pulling back. A sharp rise in crude-oil prices boosted energy companies’ shares but didn’t translate into sustained gains for the broader stock market, as health-care shares sold off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 18,529, the S&P 500 index finished down about 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,180, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up roughly 8 points, or 0.2%, to end at 5,213. Exxon Mobil Corp. enjoyed a 1% climb as crude futures settled higher, while elsewhere in companies news, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would buy start-up Jet.com.

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One might not know all three major market indexes were declining, considering the NYSE exchange’s positive breadth reading. The number of advancing stocks outnumbered decliners on the Big Board by a 1,679 to 1,257 score, while volume in advancing stocks represented 64.2% of total volume. The number of stocks hitting new 52-week highs on Monday dominated the number hitting new lows by a 205-to-3 margin. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 31 points, with 20 of 30 components losing ground. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.3%.

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Oil futures settled at their highest level in about two weeks on Monday, finding support from news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold an informal meeting next month to discuss ways to stabilize the oil market. September WTI crude climbed by $1.22, or 2.9%, to settle at $43.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the highest settlement since July 25, according to FactSet data.

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Gold futures settled lower Monday to finish at a more than one-week low. Growing expectations for an interest-rate increase from the U.S. Federal Reserve following an upbeat report on domestic employment pressured prices for the yellow metal. December gold lost $3.10, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,341.30 an ounce. That was the lowest settlement since July 28, according to FactSet.

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Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings said Monday it is maintaining its A-plus rating on debt issued by United Parcel Service Inc. but revising the outlook to negative from stable, on concerns about the company’s pension deficit, which S&P views as debt. “Although we expect the company’s earnings and cash flow to improve from the growth of its e-commerce business and management’s cost-reduction initiatives, we don’t anticipate that UPS’ pension deficit will decline materially through 2017 because we expect that interest rates will remain low over this period,” the rating agency said in a statement. S&P is expecting UPS’ funds-from- operations-to-debt ratio to remain in the high 30% area through 2017, compared with its previous expectation of a rate of 40% to 55%. If it should fall below 30%, “we could downgrade the company,” said the statement. UPS shares were slightly higher in afternoon trade, and are up 13% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.6%.

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AMC Theatres and Dolby Laboratories [S: DLB] said Monday that they are putting Dolby Cinema installations in 100 theaters by the end of 2017, which is seven years ahead of schedule. The two companies said they may also increase the implementation of Dolby, which includes specific sound and visual effects, to more theaters. Currently Dolby Cinema is in 22 AMC locations. Shares of AMC were up 0.5% Monday.

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Delta Air Lines Inc. said late Monday morning that after an early-morning power outage disrupted global service, the system had improved some, though delays and cancellations were still ongoing. About 300 flights were canceled, and 800 of the day’s 6,000 scheduled flights had occurred as of 10:30 am on Monday, the company said. Customers should expect delays and cancellations, and accurate flight status online and from Delta representatives may be delayed, according to Delta. The company has said that customers with canceled or significantly delayed flights are entitled to a refund, and that customers without canceled flights may make a free one-time change to their ticket. After news of the outage, which occurred at 2:30 am Monday in Atlanta, the company’s shares slumped 1.8% in pre-market trade. Delta stock dropped 9.8% over the last three months, compared with a 6.1% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. dropped 1.8% in morning trade Monday, after disappointing trial results announced last week prompted Credit Suisse to downgrade the drug giant. Analyst Vamil Divan cut his rating to neutral, after being at outperform since at least October 2013. The stock had plunged 16% on Friday, the second-biggest one-day loss since it went public in January 1972, after a late-stage trial of its lung cancer treatment surprisingly failed to meet its primary endpoint. “While we are not fans of reacting to news, Friday’s developments are too significant and surprising for us to maintain our bullish stance on [Bristol-Myers],” Divan wrote in a note to clients. Divan also upgraded Merck & Co. to outperform after being at neutral since June 2014. Merck’s stock, which lost 2.2% in morning trade, had soared 10% on Friday, the fifth-biggest gain in its history, as investors saw Bristol-Myers’ drug failure as a boon for Merck’s rival drug. Year to date, shares of Bristol-Myers has lost 9.6%, Merck has rallied 18%, the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 3.9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 6.4%.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. announced Monday that it has partnered with Guild Education to enhance its education benefits. Guild Education offers online classes and degrees from universities including Bellevue University and Western Governors University. Chipotle offers employees $5,250 in annual tuition reimbursement, a benefit that was expanded to hourly employees in 2015. When combined with $5,815 in federal grants for qualified undergraduates and the discounted tuition now offered through Guild Education, Chipotle says participants can complete a degree for as low as $250 per year. Chipotle has more than 60,000 employees. The restaurant chain’s shares are up 0.6% in Monday trading, but down 16% for the year to date. The S&P 500 Index is up 6.9% for the year so far.

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