Category: Stock Market News

Gold futures fell on Friday, posting a loss of about 1.6% for the week, on concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates at its meeting next month. Higher rates can boost the dollar and weigh on dollar-denominated prices for gold. June gold fell $1.90, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,252.90 an ounce on Friday. The settlement was the lowest since April 27.

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Oil futures lost more ground after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for crude was unchanged after falling over the last eight weeks in a row. The U.S. oil-rig count stood at 318 as of Friday. The total U.S. rig count fell 2 to 404. June crude was at $47.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 40 cents, or 0.8%. It was trading at $48.43 before the data.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, recovering some of the losses that were triggered by rate hike fears. The main indexes were on track to end the week roughly where they started. The S&P 500 was up 7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,046. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 37 points, or 0.2%, to 17,478 at the open. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the session up 21 points, or 0.5%, at 4,735.

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Campbell Soup Co. shares rose 0.8% in Friday premarket trading, after the company reported an earnings beat and raised its adjusted earnings per share outlook. The food company said it had net income of $185 million, or 59 cents per share, up from $179 million, or 57 cents per share. Adjusted earnings were 65 cents per share, beating the FactSet EPS consensus of 64 cents. Sales totaled $1.87 billion, slipping from $1.9 billion last year and falling short of the $1.91 billion FactSet consensus. Campbell’s Chief Executive Denise Morrison said in a statement that sales growth was hindered by a weaker soup season in the U.S., challenges with the V8 line of beverages, and a weather-related disruption to the company’s carrot supply. Campbell’s now expects fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS between $2.93 and $3.00, up from $2.88 to $2.96. It reaffirmed its sales outlook between negative 1% and flat. Campbell Soup shares are up 37% for the past year while the S&P 500 is down 4% for the same period.

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Saudi Arabian officials are talking with banks about issuing what would be the country’s first international bond sale, according to a Financial Times report Thursday, which cited people familiar with the matter. The plan to raise debt comes as the country has been using foreign exchange reserves for domestic spending in the wake of collapsing oil prices. Saudi Arabia wants the bond sale to take place later this year, the report said, and banks have been asked to indicate their terms for the sale.

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Cato Corp. said Friday it will raise its quarterly dividend by 10% to 33 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable June 20 to shareholders of record on June 6. At Thursday’s closing price of $36.50 for the discount apparel retailer’s stock, the new annualized dividend of $1.32 a share would represent a dividend yield of 3.62%, compared with the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 2.22%, according to FactSet. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has eased 0.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Cato Corp. said Friday it will raise its quarterly dividend by 10% to 33 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable June 20 to shareholders of record on June 6. At Thursday’s closing price of $36.50 for the discount apparel retailer’s stock, the new annualized dividend of $1.32 a share would represent a dividend yield of 3.62%, compared with the aggregate S&P 500 dividend yield of 2.22%, according to FactSet. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has eased 0.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.2%.

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Foot Locker Inc. reported Friday fiscal first-quarter earnings that rose to $191 million, or $1.39 a share, from $184 million, or $1.29 a share, in the same period a year ago. That matched the FactSet consensus for earnings per share of $1.39. Sales increased to $1.99 billion from $1.92 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $2.00 billion, with same-store sales growth of 2.9% missing expectations of a 4.5% increase. The gross margin rate was flat at 35% of sales, while merchandise inventories increased 2.1% to $1.26 billion. The athletic shoe retailer said it expects full-year same-store sales growth in the mid-single digit percentage range, in line with the FactSet consensus of 4.9%. The stock, which slipped 0.1% in premarket trade, has dropped 10% year to date through Thursday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 5.9% and the S&P 500 has eased 0.2%.

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Debris belonging to the missing EgyptAir jet has been found 190 miles north of Alexandria, Egypt, a spokesman for the Egyptian military said on Friday, according to media reports. Officials said in a statement that “remains of wreckage and belongings” were located early Friday, according to Bloomberg. Late Thursday, Egypt said the wreckage had been found, only to later backtrack. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday that there is still no clue as to why the airplane went down in the Mediterranean, though some officials are leaning towards the terrorism theory. Flight MS804 crashed in the early hours of Thursday en route to Cairo from Paris, with 66 passengers and crew on board.

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From:: Stock Market News

Debris belonging to the missing EgyptAir jet has been found 190 miles north of Alexandria, Egypt, a spokesman for the Egyptian military said on Friday, according to media reports. Officials said in a statement that “remains of wreckage and belongings” were located early Friday, according to Bloomberg. Late Thursday, Egypt said the wreckage had been found, only to later backtrack. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday that there is still no clue as to why the airplane went down in the Mediterranean, though some officials are leaning towards the terrorism theory. Flight MS804 crashed in the early hours of Thursday en route to Cairo from Paris, with 66 passengers and crew.

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