Category: Stock Market News

Allergan PLC reported Monday a second-quarter loss that widened to $571.3 million, or $1.44 a share, from a loss of $312.7 million, or 80 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as costs related to the divestiture of its generics business, adjusted earnings per share came to $3.35, above the FactSet consensus of $3.33. Revenue rose to $3.68 billion from $3.63 billion, impacted by the loss of exclusivity of Namenda IR. The FactSet revenue consensus was $3.97 billion. U.S. general medicine revenue fell to $1.45 billion from $1.61 billion, while international revenue rose to $757.0 million from $717.1 million. For 2016, Allergan expects adjusted EPS of $13.75-$14.20, surrounding the FactSet consensus of $14.11. Revenue is expected to be $14.65 billion to $14.90 billion. The FactSet consensus is $16.18 billion. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 19% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.8%.

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Vail Resorts Inc. said Monday it has agreed to acquire rival ski-mountain operator Whistler Blackcomb for C$17.50 (USD13.29) a share in cash and 0.0975 Vail shares. The deal is worth C$36 per share, based on closing stock prices and currency exchange rates as of Aug. 5, or a total stock and cash consideration of C$1.39 billion. “Combining Whistler Blackcomb with Vail Resorts’ portfolio of outstanding resorts provides Whistler Blackcomb with increased financial strength, marketing exposure, guest relationships and broadens the geographic diversity of our company with resorts across the United States, as well as in Australia and Canada,” Whistler Chief Executive Dave Brownlie said in a statement. The cash portion of the offer is equal to C$676 million, while the stock part is equal to C$715 million. Shares were not yet trading premarket. Vail stock has gained 12.5% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained about 7%.

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Delta Air Lines Inc. on Monday morning grounded all flights worldwide as a computer issue is leaving passengers unable to check in. In a post to Twitter, the U.S. carrier said “our systems are down everywhere”, prompting all flights to be grounded. The company further explained in a press release that a computer outage has affected flights this morning. “Flights awaiting departure are currently delayed. Flights en route are operating normally,” the airline said. A representative from Delta said the company is still trying to understand the nature of the issue. Delta shares weren’t moving in U.S. premarket trade.

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Delta Air Lines Inc. on Monday morning grounded all flights worldwide as a computer issue is leaving passengers unable to check in. In a post to Twitter, the U.S. carrier said “our systems are down everywhere”, prompting all flights to be grounded. The company further explained in a press release that a computer outage has affected flights this morning. “Flights awaiting departure are currently delayed. Flights en route are operating normally,” the airline said. A representative from Delta said the company is still trying to understand the nature of the issue. Delta shares weren’t moving in U.S. premarket trade.

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The U.K. government is likely to ditch a sale of Lloyds Banking Group shares to retail investors due to market uncertainty following the Brexit vote. According to newspaper The Times of London, the government — which currently owns 9% of the lender — is set to entirely abandon a plan to offload Lloyds shares at a discount because it would be too costly for the Treasury. Former Treasury chief George Osborne in January promised to sell off the government’s stake in the lender to retail investors at a 5% discount to the market price. At the time, the offer would have allowed the government to claw back the average price of 73.6 pence it paid for Lloyds shares during the financial crisis. However, following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union, the bank’s shares have slumped to 54.2 pence, setting the Treasury up for steep losses if it carried out the stock sale. The retail offer was scheduled to take place next month. Shares of Lloyds were up 2.1% in early London trade on Monday.

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Apple Inc has acquired an artificial-intelligence startup called Turi, according to multiple reports Friday afternoon. GeekWire originally reported the purchase, citing anonymous sources that said the price tag was roughly $200 million; Bloomberg News reported the same figure in a report later Friday afternoon. Apple uses AI technology to help power its digital assistant, Siri, but is also working on a number of other initiatives for which Seattle-based Turi’s technology would come in handy. Apple shares were unmoved in late trading Friday, after closing with a 1.5% gain at $107.48, the iPhone maker’s highest closing price since mid-April.

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. late Friday said its operating earnings rose to $4.6 billion, or $2,803 a share, from $3.9 billion, or $2,367 a share, a year ago. The conglomerate led by legendary investor Warren Buffett reported net earnings of $5 billion in the quarter, up from $4 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report adjusted operating earnings of $2,856.14 a share. Berkshire Hathaway stock fell 0.6% after ending the regular session up 1.8%.

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Alibaba Group Holding debunked an unconfirmed report that surfaced early on Friday that it was preparing a potential bid for Netflix Inc. . “We are not preparing any investment into Netflix,” an Alibaba spokesperson told MarketWatch by phone. Shares of Netflix traded up nearly 4% on Friday after the report surfaced, closing around $97.03. They’ve risen 9.5% in the past three months, outperforming the S&P 500 , which is up 6.5%. They’ve underperformed on the year, however, falling nearly 22% in the past 12 months, versus a 4% improvement for the S&P. Separately, Netflix told MarketWatch that it doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation but that it has been “pretty clear about China and [its] long-term goals there.” When the company reported earnings in July, Netflix commented on the tough regulatory environment in China and said the climate for its service “has become more challenging” there, but that it continues to explore options.

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The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed to record high close on Friday as a strong jobs report restored confidence in the U.S. economy. The U.S. created 255,000 new jobs in July, significantly better than the 185,000 growth forecast by economists in a MarketWatch survey. The S&P 500 rose 18 points to close at 2,182 for a weekly gain of 0.4% while the Nasdaq added 54 points, or 1.1%, to end at 5,221, up 1.1% this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 191 points, or 1%, to close at 18,543, advancing 0.6% for the week.

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Oil futures ended slightly lower Friday, paring losses but remaining in negative territory after data showed the number of U.S. oil rigs rose for a sixth straight week. September West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 13 cents, or 0.3%, to end at $41.80 a barrel. For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark rose 0.5%.

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