Category: Stock Market News

Greek bond prices fell Thursday after the European Central Bank said it hasn’t decided about reintroducing a waiver that would allow the central bank to accept Greek bonds as collateral for refinancing operations. As prices fell, the yield on 10-year Greek debt rose 3 basis points to 7.35% and the yield on 2-year debt rose 8 basis points to 7.37%. A waiver would be helpful to Greek banks as that would reduce their dependence on the costlier emergency liquidity assistance program. On the equity side, the Greece Athex Composite fell 1.1% to 638.26.

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U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday, weighed down by falling oil prices and as data on private-sector hiring pointed to continued strength in the labor market, increasing the likelihood of a rate increase this summer. Investors were closely watching a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s news conference. A retreat in oil prices weighed on energy shares. The S&P 500 index fell 6 points, or 0.2%, to 2,093, The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 60 points, or 0.4%, to 17,727, while the Nasdaq Composite began the day down 14 points, or 0.3%, to 4,938.

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Oil prices erased gains on Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to reach an agreement on a production ceiling. Crude oil lost 1.7% to $48.19, after trading as high as $49.47 earlier in the day. Brent oil dropped 1.3% to $49.09, coming off an intraday high of $50.30. The reversal came as Reuters reported OPEC had stopped short of changing its output policy at a closely watched meeting in Vienna. The cartel scrapped its production ceiling at its meeting in December, but speculation had risen ahead of Thursday’s meeting that it would revive the cap.

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Visual analytics company Qlik Technologies Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by private-equity firm Thoma Bravo in an all-cash deal valued at about $3.0 billion. Qlik shareholders will receive $30.50 in cash per each Qlik share, or a premium of 40% over the company’s 10-day average stock price prior to March 3, 2016. Qlik will keep its corporate headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania. The company is expecting the deal to close in the third quarter. Shares rose 4% in premarket trade, but are down 9% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.7%.

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Exelon Corp. said Thursday that it is shutting down two nuclear plants due to the lack of progress on the Next Generation Energy Plan. This Illinois energy legislation would provide $1 billion for low-income assistance, double energy efficiency programs, provide rebates and funding for solar projects, and reduce customer charges for energy delivery by half. The Clinton Power Station in Clinton, Ill. will close June 1, 2017 and the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova, Ill. will close June 1, 2018. The steps to close the plants include immediately taking one-time charges between $150 million and $200 million for 2016, cancelling fuel purchases and outage planning that impacts more than 1,000 workers, and ending capital investment projects that will impact more than 200 workers. The company said 1,500 employees run the two plants daily, with 4,200 workers impacted directly and indirectly. According to numbers provided from a state report, closing the plants would increase wholesale energy costs between $439 million and $645 million annually. Exelon shares are inactive in premarket trading, but up nearly 24% for the year to date. The S&P 500 is up 2.7% for the year so far.

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Shares of Ciena Corp. soared 13% in premarket trade Thursday, after the optical networking company reported fiscal second-quarter profit and sales that beat expectations. For the quarter ended April 30, earnings fell to $14.0 million, or 10 cents a share, from $20.7 million, or 17 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 34 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 27 cents. Revenue rose 3.1% to $640.7 million from $621.6 million, beating the FactSet consensus of $630.8 million. For the current quarter, the company expects revenue in the range of $655 million to $685 million, surrounding the FactSet consensus of $668 million. “This quarter’s strong financial performance is a result of the investments we’ve made to diversify our business, in particular the expansion of our packet business and our momentum in key geographies,” said Chief Executive Gary Smith. The stock has tumbled 14% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.7%.

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Goldman Sachs trimmed its share price estimates on Apple Inc. Thursday to factor in lower growth expectations for smartphones and tweak its iPhone expectations with a detailed regional focus. Analysts led by Simona Jankowski cut the price target to $124 from $136. Goldman recently lowered its smartphone unit growth forecast for 2016/17 to 5%/4% from $6%/7%. The bank also lowered its fiscal 2016 earnings per share forecast to $8.39 from $8.40, but kept it above the $8.29 consensus, based on 211 million iPhone unit sales versus 212 million. “Our reductions are driven by lower market growth, as well as lower ASPs on a greater shift from developed to emerging markets, which we expect will drive a higher mix of the lower-priced iPhone SE (and its successors) relative to the higher-priced iPhone 7 (and its successors),” said the note. Apple shares were down 0.5% in premarket trade, and are down 6.5% in the year so far, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 2.5%.

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A 39-year-old engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, was the victim of a murder-suicide shooting on campus Wednesday, according to media reports. William S. Klug, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was identified as the man who was shot, according to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, citing several sources. Various news reports have said the shooter was a still-unnamed male student who was upset by receiving poor grades. The campus was locked down for several hours after the Los Angeles Police Department responded to reports of a shooting around 10 a.m. local time.

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The global oil market is set to become more balanced in the second half of the year, as production from non-OPEC countries is falling fast, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Thursday. In the opening address for its bi-annual meeting in Vienna, Qatar’s oil minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada said 2016 supply forecasts for non-OPEC output has been revised down and the cartel now anticipates a contraction of 740,000 barrels per day this year. That is more than 2 million barrels a day lower than the growth seen in 2015, Al-Sada said. “This trend stems mainly from reduced cashflows, investment cutbacks and the deferral or cancellation of projects,” he said. The oil official also raised concern about a 20% drop in global exploration and production spending seen last year, with a further 15% drop forecast for 2016. “This is a major concern for an industry that generally sees investments increasing year on year to sustain production. It is important to keep in mind the link between the marginal cost of production, the oil price and investments,” he said. OPEC is meeting in Vienna on Thursday to discuss the oil outlook for 2016. A press conference is expected around 4 p.m. local time, or 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Oil prices were higher as the cartel kicked off the meeting, with Brent up 0.3% at $49.89 a barrel and crude oil 0.4% higher at $49.18.

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Iran is aiming for a significant increase in oil production to reach an output of 4.8 million barrels a day within five years, according to Dow Jones Newswires. In April, the Middle Eastern country produced 3.38 million barrels a day, an increase of 150,000 barrels over March, according to Platts. Speaking to journalists ahead of the closely watched OPEC meeting in Vienna, the country’s oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh hinted Iran won’t agree to a deal to cap production, seen as a measure to boost oil prices, the report said. Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, media reports suggested the cartel would agree to a new output ceiling after it scrapped its 30-million-barrel-day cap at its December meeting. However, without the consent of Iran, an production deal looks unlikely. The Venezuelan oil minister stressed that Iran must be included in any OPEC production agreement, according to DJ. Crude oil was up 0.3% at $49.16 a barrel, while Brent rose 0.4% to $49.90.

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