Category: Stock Market News

CA Inc. shares rose in the extended session Wednesday after the software developer’s quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations. CA shares advanced 4.1% to $31.20 after hours. The company reported adjusted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 60 cents a share on revenue of $1.01 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 57 cents a share on revenue of $988.3 million. CA expects fiscal 2017 adjusted earnings of $2.51 to $2.56 a share on revenue of $4.04 billion to $4.08 billion. Analysts expect $2.49 a share on revenue of $4.05 billion.

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Oil futures climbed on Wednesday, as a drop in U.S. crude inventories and declines in domestic production lifted prices to their highest settlement since early November. The Energy Information Administration reported that crude stockpiles fell by 3.4 million barrels last week and total production edged down for a ninth week in a row. June WTI crude rose $1.57, or 3.5%, to settle at $46.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 140,000 barrels a day in April from a month earlier, to 32.52 million barrels a day, according to a S&P Global Platts survey released Wednesday. Platts attributed the increase to higher output from Iran and Iraq, which lifted production by 150,000 barrels a day each. “Iran and Iraq’s hefty production increases fly in the face of the failed Doha production freeze talks,” Paul Hickin, associate editorial director of S&P Global Platts, said in a statement. “The question is how much higher can and will they go before production plateaus, because that would make a resurrection of a freeze plan at the June OPEC meeting more plausible.”

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General Motors Co. stock got an upgrade to equalweight from underweight by analysts at Morgan Stanley, who cited the shares’ recent metrics in relation to peers as a “temporary peak in profit heading into a unsustainable and difficult future.” GM could pursue changes in its core business that would impact share price significantly, the Morgan Stanley analysts said. That would include seeking alternatives for its Cadillac division and forming a separate auto technology and transport entity, they said. Shares of GM are flat on Wednesday, and are down 1.4% so far this month, underperforming the S&P 500 index , which is up 0.5% in the same period.

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Michael Kors Holdings Ltd.’s stock tumbled 12% to a 2 1/2-month low in morning trade Wednesday, weighed down by disappointing results from, and the subsequent plunge in the share price of, Fossil Group Inc. . Analyst Ike Boruchow at Wells Fargo Securities said he estimates that Fossil’s legacy licensed portfolio suffered a year-over-year decline in the mid-teens percentage range during the latest quarter, which he believes “bodes quite poorly” for Michael Kors given that Kors’ brand accounts for roughly half of Fossil’s licensed business. Kors’ stock was still up 9.4% year to date, but was down 30% over the past year. The S&P 500 has slipped 1.4% over the past 12 months.

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The retail sector was getting hammered Wednesday, after Office Depot Inc. and Staples Inc. called off their merger and several retailers reported disappointing results. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF dropped 3.4% to a seven-week low, with 95 of its 97 components losing ground. The biggest loser was Office Depot’s stock, which plunged 39% to a three-year low on volume that was already about seven times the full-day average. Staples shares cratered 17%. The third-biggest decliner was Macy’s Inc.’s stock , which tumbled 11% to a near four-year low on more than triple the average volume after the department store chain slashed its earnings outlook, citing continued weakness in consumer spending for apparel and related categories. Elsewhere, Fossil Group Inc.’s stock plummeted 29% after a profit and sales miss, which also weighed on Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. shares , which slumped 12%. Shares of Ascena Retail Group Inc. , the parent of apparel retailers including Dress Barn Inc., Ann Inc. and Charming Shoppes Inc., shed 7.6%. The top gainer in the retail sector ETF was the nemesis of brick-and-mortar retailers, Amazon.com Inc., which shares rose 1.2%.

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Oil futures turned higher on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 3.4 million-barrel decline in crude-oil supplies for the week ended May 6. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday had reported a 3.45 million-barrel increase, while analysts polled S&P Global Platts expected a 300,000-barrel increase. Gasoline supplies fell by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles were down 1.6 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. June crude was at $45.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 46 cents, or 1%. Prices traded lower at $44.22 before the data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures turned higher on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 3.4 million-barrel decline in crude-oil supplies for the week ended May 6. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday had reported a 3.45 million-barrel increase, while analysts polled S&P Global Platts expected a 300,000-barrel increase. Gasoline supplies fell by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles were down 1.6 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. June crude was at $45.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 46 cents, or 1%. Prices traded lower at $44.22 before the data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures turned higher on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 3.4 million-barrel decline in crude-oil supplies for the week ended May 6. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday had reported a 3.45 million-barrel increase, while analysts polled S&P Global Platts expected a 300,000-barrel increase. Gasoline supplies fell by 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles were down 1.6 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. June crude was at $45.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 46 cents, or 1%. Prices traded lower at $44.22 before the data.

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Fitch Ratings downgraded its long-term issuer default rating on The Gap Inc. into speculative grade, or “junk”, status Wednesday after the retailer warned about slumping sales in its first quarter. The agency cut the rating to BB-plus from BBB-minus and said the outlook is stable. The move “reflects Fitch’s reduced confidence in stabilization of sales, expectations of continued gross margin volatility, and belief that Gap will need to continue using real estate actions and large-scale cost reduction programs to protect EBITDA in the face of sales declines,” the agency said in a statement. Fitch is expecting EBITDA to fall to the $2 billion range in 2016 from $2.3 billion in 2015 and a peak of $2.7 billion in 2014, with leverage expected to remain in the mid-3 times range. The rating also includes positive elements to The Gap story, it said, citing capital discipline, positive free cash flow, scale and investments in omnichannel capabilities. Shares were up 0.3% in early trade, but are down 22% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 is up 1.6%.

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