Category: Stock Market News

A merger between Tesla Motors Inc. and SolarCity Corp. could be announced as soon as Monday, Reuters reported, citing sources. The deal is expected to include an option that will leave the residential solar-power company open to seek other offers for a period of time after the agreement with Tesla is signed. Talk of a tie-up has been in the works for weeks, and Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is heavily invested in SolarCity. Recently, Musk laid out his “Master Plan” for Tesla, in which he sees a future with electric trucks and buses, and autonomous electric car-sharing networks with renewable energy powered by SolarCity. Neither Tesla, nor SolarCity could immediately be reached for comment.

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The computer network used by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was hacked, according to a Reuters report that cited people familiar with the matter. The attack is connected with earlier hacks on Democratic committees, Reuters said. The Justice Department is investigating whether the hacking has threatened U.S. security, Reuters said. That, according to the news organization, is a sign the federal government believes the hacking is state sponsored. On Wednesday, Republican nominee Donald Trump said “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 (Clinton) emails that are missing,” [l: although a day later Trump told Fox News he was being sarcastic about the invitation. Earlier this week, the Democratic convention opened amid a scandal involving the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers.

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U.S. stocks ended the month on a high note, with the S&P 500 closing just a few points off a record level. All three main indexes posted solid monthly gains. For the benchmark S&P 500 and Dow industrials this was the fifth consecutive monthly advance. For the Nasdaq Composite, the monthly gain was the largest since March. The S&P 500 index hit an intraday record level at 2,177.13, but closed off the highs. The index rose 3.54 points, or 0.2% to 2,173.60, finishing the week flat. Over the month, the index of large-cap stocks gained 3.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 24.11 points, 0.1% to 18,432.24 and posted a 0.8% loss over the week. Over the month, the blue-chip index gained 2.8%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index ended the session up 7.15 points, or 0.1%, at 5,162.13, posting a 1.2% gain over the week and a 6.6% gain over the month.

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Neither presidential nominee may agree, but United Parcel Service Inc. is all for free trade agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. When U.S. has entered into a free-trade agreement with a country, U.S. exports to that country rise by about 20%, Chief Financial Officer Richard Peretz said in an interview with MarketWatch. And every 22 packages that crosses a border supports one UPS job, Peretz said. “Global trade has been a catalyst for the U.S. economy for more than the last decade,” Peretz said. He said the agreements can especially benefit small and medium-sized businesses. In a conference call with analysts following UPS’s second-quarter results, Chief Executive David Abney said trade deals like the TPP are “vital” to the health of the U.S. economy. “We encourage out political leaders to support and pass pending trade legislation,” Abney said in the call, according to a transcript provided by FactSet. The stock slipped 0.8% in afternoon trade. It has climbed 12% year to date, while shares of rival FedEx Corp. have advanced 8.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 6.3%.

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Oil futures settled higher on Friday, finding support from a weaker U.S. dollar, but prices finished the month with a loss of roughly 14% as a glut of crude supplies and gasoline inventories weighed on the market. September WTI crude climbed by 46 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $41.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have now posted losses in three out of the seven months of the year so far.

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Gold futures settled higher on Friday on the back of a sharp decline in the U.S. dollar as weaker-than-expected data on U.S. economic growth gave the Federal Reserve more reason to move cautiously in its plans to hike interest rates. December gold rose $16.30, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,357.50 an ounce. Futures prices ended the month with a climb of roughly 2.8% from the settlement of the most-active contract on June 30, according to FactSet data. Prices have now posted gains in six out of the seven months so far this year.

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Oil futures continued their climb Friday even after data from Baker Hughes revealed a weekly rise in the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil–the fifth increase in a row. The active U.S. oil-rig count rose 3 to 374 as of Friday. Last week, the data showed a rise of 14 oil rigs–the largest increase of the year so far. The total U.S. rig count climbed by 1 to 463 in the latest week, according to Baker Hughes. September crude was at $41.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 23 cents, or 0.6%, from Thursday’s settlement. It traded at $41.27 before the data.

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Facebook Inc.’s time as one of the top five largest U.S. companies by market value lasted less than a day, as Amazon.com Inc. surged right past it in morning trade, in the wake of better-than-expected results. Amazon’s stock jumped $11.46, or 1.5%, bringing its market value to about $360.5 billion. Facebook’s stock slipped 27 cents, or 0.2%, to bring its market value down to $356.9 billion. Amazon moved up two spots since it reported results, pushing Berkshire Hathaway Inc. further down the list to seventh, at $356.4 billion. Rounding out the top five, Apple Inc. was worth $561.3 billion, Alphabet Inc. was at $540.9 billion, Microsoft Corp. was at $441.1 billion and Exxon Mobil Corp. was worth $365.7 billion.

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Shares of Talend S.A. soared 52% Friday in the company’s market debut on the Nasdaq. Talend, which provides big data and cloud solutions for companies, opened at $27.66 Friday, above the company’s issue price of $18. The company sold 5.25 million American depositary shares to raise $94.5 million. The offering was underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Barclays Capital Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

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Four Florida Zika virus cases were “likely” locally transmitted, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a press conference Friday, suggesting the start of the disease’s transmission by mosquitoes in the U.S. Though many cases of Zika virus have been confirmed here, these are the first reported that likely were not travel-related. The state’s Department of Health believes active transmission of the virus is happening in a small area north of the downtown Miami area, which is the only area of the state the department is currently testing for local mosquito transmission. Scott said that the department would be increasing various mosquito-fighting efforts along with other response activities.

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