Category: Stock Market News

In one fell swoop, Snap Inc.’s stock hurdled its 50-day moving average, its 200-day MA and a 9-month long downtrend line, creating a bullish “breakaway gap” which suggests it may have launched its first uptrend since going public 11 months ago. The stock had bouncing around a relatively narrow range since it closed at a record low of $11.83 on Aug. 11, 2016. On Wednesday, after the ephemeral-messaging company reported late Tuesday quarterly results that beat expectations for the first time, the stock opened at $17.15, above its 50-day MA at $14.60, above its 200-day MA at $15.80, above a downtrend line starting in May that extended to about $14.65 and to trade above its IPO price of $17 for the first time in seven months, before extending gains. “Breakaway gaps occur when price suddenly breaks through a formation boundary and signal the beginning of a trend,” according to a report of a study conducted by the Market Technicians Association. “These are thought to be the most profitable gaps [to trade].” It was up 46% in afternoon trade, the biggest-ever one day gain since it went public on March 2, 2017. It has climbed 36% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.5%.

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Rabobank, a Roseville, California subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a felony conspiracy charge for concealing deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program and obstructing the regulatory examination of the bank. Rabobank will forfeit $369 million. Rabobank admitted to conspiring with several of its former executives to defraud the United States by unlawfully impeding the OCC’s ability to regulate the bank, and to allowing hundreds of millions of dollars in untraceable cash, sourced from Mexico and elsewhere, to be deposited into its rural bank branches and transferred via wire transfers, checks, and cash transactions, without the proper notification to federal regulators as required by law. Rabobank had been cited for nearly identical failures in 2006 and 2008. A Rabobank vice president, George Martin, also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement for his role in aiding and abetting the scheme. Martin admitted his conduct in Dec. 2017. Chief executive officer Mark Borrecco said in statement on Rabobank’s site, “Settling these matters is important for the bank’s mission here in California. Reinforced with strong levels of capital and liquidity, and enhanced internal controls and risk management functions, we are committed to growing with our customers for years to come.”

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Hudson’s Bay Co. said Wednesday that it has rejected an unsolicited offer for its German business from Signa Holding GmbH after a review. “It significantly undervalues our German business and related real estate assets and is not supported by sufficient certainty of financing to warrant further consideration at this time,” said David Leith, lead independent director of the Hudson’s Bay’s board. Included in Hudson’s Bay’s portfolio are Galeria Kaufhof, a German department store group, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor. Hudson’s Bay shares are down 7.2% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 17.6% for the period.

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Yields for short-dated Treasury bills due in early March fell from their elevated levels on Wednesday after Senate leaders said they struck a two-year budget deal that would lift the debt ceiling. The bill most be voted on in Congress. The yield for the one-month bill maturing in March. 08 slipped around 11 basis points to 1.352%. Before the agreement, investors had avoided bills set to mature in early March, pushing its yields higher above later maturities, when the Treasury Department was expected to exhaust accounting maneuvers. Bond yields move inversely to prices. As a result, the yield spread between government paper maturing in March and April has been negative in the past few weeks, producing an unusual kink in the so-called yield curve, which traces a bond’s maturities against its yield.

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Oil prices dropped Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark marking its lowest settlement in about a month. The Energy Information Administration reported a second-straight weekly increase in U.S. crude stockpiles and data from the agency showed weekly domestic crude production topped 10 million barrels a day to reach a fresh record. March West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.60, or 2.5%, to settle at $61.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest finish since Jan. 8, according to FactSet data.

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Japan’s biggest mobile-phone carrier Softbank Group Corp. is in talks to acquire a stake in Swiss Re AG worth up to $10 billion or more, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Swiss Re executives recently traveled to Tokyo to discuss the sale of up to a third of the reinsurer with Softbank’s Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, said the journal. Son has invested in a variety of companies and technologies, including e-commerce, driverless cars and virtual reality, and Softbank is majority owner of U.S. wireless company Sprint Corp. Swiss Re has a market cap equal to about $33 billion, said the journal.

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Gold futures dropped Wednesday to their lowest settlement in a month as strength in the U.S. dollar and strength in U.S. Treasury yields dulled investment demand for the precious metal. Gold had found little support from the recent U.S. stock market selloff and stocks were mixed in volatile trading as gold prices settled. April gold fell $14.90, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,314.60 an ounce, That was the lowest finish since Jan. 9 and biggest single-session dollar and percentage loss since November, according to FactSet data.

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Senate leaders said Wednesday they’ve reached agreement on a two-year budget deal that would raise spending for both defense and domestic programs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced the deal on the floor, just a day before government funding is due to expire. Earlier Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she and several other Democrats would vote against it unless they were guaranteed a vote on immigration.

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“Black Panther” continues to break advanced ticket sales records. Online ticket retailer Fandango, majority owned by Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, said on Wednesday that the Walt Disney Co. film from Marvel Studios is now outpacing presale tickets of all other first-quarter film releases in Fandango’s 18-year history. “Black Panther” is on track to surpass previous January to March presale record holders “The Hunger Games,” which went on to gross $694.4 million worldwide in 2012, and “Beauty and the Beast,” which was last year’s second highest grossing film domestically. Fandango had previously said “Black Panther” was also outpacing all other superhero films in advance ticket sales. “It’s not just a superhero movie, it’s a ground-breaking cultural event,” said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis in a statement. “It is hands down the first major movie event of 2018. We’re also seeing increased interest from larger groups of ticket-buyers looking to celebrate next weekend’s historic release.” Analysts at Box Office Pro expect “Black Panther” to bring in $139 million in its opening weekend and some forecasts are closer to $200 million. Shares of Disney are down 3% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 18% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 25%.

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The Justice Department said it’s indicted 36 people for their alleged role in an internet-based cybercriminal enterprise engaged in the large-scale acquisition, sale, and dissemination of stolen identities, compromised debit and credit cards, personally identifiable information, financial and banking information, computer malware, and other contraband. It said 13 people were arrested in the U.S., Australia, the U.K., France, Italy, Kosovo and Serbia. Its members allegedly caused more than $530 million in actual losses to consumers, businesses, and financial institutions, the Justice Department said. The group was called the Infraud Organization and had a slogan, “In Fraud We Trust,” the government said.

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