Category: Stock Market News

Shanda Group has acquired an 11.7% stake in the online lender Lending Club Corp. , according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The news sent shares of Lending Club up 6.6% in early trade Monday. Shanda Group is a Singapore-based investment company, headed by Chinese national Tianqiao Chen. The filing was dated May 11, before the news on May 16 of a Justice Department investigation of the company, which had forced its chief executive and founder to resign a week earlier. Renaud Laplanche was ousted after the company’s board uncovered improper activity in its lending process. The news sent the stock down sharply, causing it to shed about $700 million in market value in a single day. The stock has fallen 77% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has lost 3.4%.

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Big Lots Inc. shares are down 1.4% in Monday trading after the low-priced retailer was downgraded to hold from buy at Deutsche Bank. Bank analysts have concerns that margin pressure will come from a few directions, including wage inflation and increased online promotions or free shipping to gain consumer attention. The bank also believes the retailer will have trouble reaching the 2.2% same-store sales increase forecast for the first quarter, which the company will report on Friday. Deutsche Bank lowered the price target to $47 from $49. While Deutsche Bank analysts believe Big Lots has made gains from furniture financing, better merchandising and marketing, and other improvements, the retailer is facing increased competition, including from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. which reported earnings that beat estimates on Thursday and gave an upbeat outlook. The retail giant also plans to make major price investments. The Wal-Mart threat impacts other retailers in the low-priced space, like Dollar General Corp and Dollar Tree Inc. , Deutsche Bank wrote. “We also believe the core dollar store shopper is healthy today, with spend driven by employment & wage gains and less impacted/swayed by market volatility and political fear-mongering,” the note said. Big Lots shares are up 11.4% for the year so far while the S&P 500 is up 0.5% for the same period.

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U.S. stocks opened little changed Monday, as investors digested a flurry of comments by Federal Reserve officials who continued to hint at the potential of an interest-rate hike in June. Meanwhile, a retreat in oil futures also weighed on risk appetite. The S&P 500 was down a point, or 0.1%, to 2,050. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 12 points, or 0.1%, to 17,486 at the open. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the session up 2 points, or 0.1%, at 4,772.

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The Tribune Media Co. said on Monday it has reached a new long-term affiliation deal with the CW Network, which is jointly owned by Time Warner Inc. and CBS Corp. . The deal will extend affiliate agreements for 12 of Tribune’s affiliated CW TV stations across the country, according to a news release. The renewed markets cover 25% of the U.S., serving more than 28 million households. The two parties said the Chicago affiliate will move from Tribune Broadcasting to Fox Television Stations and WGN-TV in Chicago will become an independent station featuring local news, live sports and syndicated programming.

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Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said Monday that it has named two new brand presidents. Stacia Andersen will lead the namesake Abercrombie & Fitch brand, along with Abercrombie Kids, responsible for all product and consumer-facing activities. She was recently the senior vice president of merchandising for Target Corp. [a: tgt]. She replaces Christos Angelides, who left the position in December 2015. Kristin Scott has been appointed brand president for Hollister. She comes from Victoria’s Secret where she was executive vice president. Fran Horowitz, now the company’s president and chief merchandising officer, was the previous Hollister brand president. She was named to her current role in December 2015. Abercrombie shares are inactive in premarket trading, but up 17.3% in the past year. The S&P 500 is down 3.5% for the last 12 months.

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Insperity raised its dividend by 14% on Monday and increased its stock repurchase program by an additional 1 million shares to 1.5 million. The company lifted the quarterly cash dividend to 25 cents a share, an increase of three cents a share over the prior quarter. The dividend will be paid on June 21 to shareholders of record as of June 7. Shares of Insperity were inactive in premarket trade. They have risen 55% over the last three months, outperforming the 7% increase for the S&P 500.

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From:: Stock Market News

Insperity raised its dividend by 14% on Monday and increased its stock repurchase program by an additional 1 million shares to 1.5 million. The company lifted the quarterly cash dividend to 25 cents a share, an increase of three cents a share over the prior quarter. The dividend will be paid on June 21 to shareholders of record as of June 7. Shares of Insperity were inactive in premarket trade. They have risen 55% over the last three months, outperforming the 7% increase for the S&P 500.

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Ebix Inc. announced a three-for-one stock split on Monday, and revealed plans to increase the company’s authorized buyback plan to 200 million shares from 60 million previously. The company said the split and higher buyback authorization are an effort to increase its financial flexibility and improve the company’s trading liquidity, so that it can focus on future mergers and acquisitions. Shares of Ebix were inactive in premarket trade but have risen more than 35% over the last three months, outperforming the S&P 500’s 7% increase. The stock split would represent the third three-for-one split that Ebix has authorized since 2008. Ebix expects the split to be effective around July 15.

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The strength of the U.S. labor market, inflation levels that are closer to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% and easing international pressures are three factors that support the Federal Open Market Committee’s aim for a slow normalization of interest rates, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in prepared remarks delivered in Beijing Monday. “By nearly any metric, U.S. labor markets are at or beyond full employment,” Bullard said. “This may put upward pressure on inflation going forward.” After a period of low inflation in the U.S., the large movements in oil prices had had a big effect on headline inflation, he said. At the same time, negative global factors appeared to ease in the first half of 2016, supporting the FOMC view. In contrast, the market view that rates will remain at current low levels for some time is supported by two factors, said Bullard: slow real GDP growth and low inflation expectations. “The slower, below-trend pace of recent U.S. growth is inconsistent with a slowly rising path for the policy rate,” he said. Summing up, Bullard said the FOMC median projection is for a gradual pace of rate increases in the next few years. The market-based outlook is “shallower,” he said, expecting just a few rate increases in the period, or almost no normalization. “U.S. evidence from labor markets, actual inflation readings and global influences suggests the FOMC median projection may be more nearly correct,” he said. Meanwhile, “U.S. evidence from recent readings on GDP growth and market-based inflation expectations suggests the market view of the path of the policy rate may be more nearly correct.”

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The board of directors of the Tribune Publishing Co. said Monday that they have rejected a revised takeover proposal from Gannett Co., Inc. . Gannett was offering to buy Tribune Publishing for $15 per share. The Tribune also announced a $70.5 million growth capital investment from Nant Capital, which it said should boost the company’s “transformation strategy.” “Regardless of the outcome of the discussions with Gannett, we are confident that we have the right strategic plan in place to leverage technology and effectively monetize our world class content” said Justin Dearborn, chief executive of Tribune Publishing in the release. Tribune Publishing invited Gannett to agree to a mutual non-disclosure agreement in order to discuss a potential transaction.

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