Category: Stock Market News

Six of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 30 components have hit all-time intraday highs this week, while the Dow remains 1.4% below its May 19, 2015 intraday record of 18,351.36. The Dow’s record close was 18,312.39 that same day. Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. , Johnson & Johnson and McDonald’s Corp. have record highs Wednesday, while the stocks of Visa Inc. , 3M Co. and Home Depot Inc. hit record on Tuesday. Separately, Coca-Cola Co.’s stock hit an all-time high on April 11 and Travelers Companies Inc. shares hit a record April 4, while Verizon Communications Inc.’s stock reached a 16-year high on April 5 and General Electric Co. shares hit an 8-year high on March 31.

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McDonald’s Corp.’s stock tacked on 0.1%, putting it on track for a third-straight record close, after the fast-food giant’s share price target was raised at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, two days before first-quarter results are scheduled to be released. Analyst Jake Bartlett affirmed his buy rating, but boosted his stock price target to $145, which is 12% above current levels, from $135. He raised his earnings-per-share outlook for this year and next, citing expectations that the drag from unfavorable currency moves will be reduced significantly, and an upbeat outlook for same-store sales (SSS) in the U.S. “We see some risk of disappointing about [first-quarter] U.S. SSS, given our perception of high investor expectations…but expect that continued SSS outperformance in the U.S….and EPS upside in 2016 and 2017 due to the weaker U.S. dollar…will ultimately drive [McDonald’s] shares higher,” Bartlett wrote in a note to clients. The stock has climbed 9.1% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has tacked on 3.6%.

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Oil futures pared some of their earlier losses on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 2.1 million-barrel climb in crude-oil supplies for the week ended April 15. That was below the 3.1 million-barrel increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday, but above the climb of 1.6 million barrels expected by analysts polled by Platts. Gasoline supplies fell 100,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by 3.6 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. May crude was at $$40.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 52 cents, or 1.3%. Prices traded at $40.10 before the data.

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UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s stock surged 2.5% to an all-time high in morning trade Wednesday, as investors continued to cheer the company’s decision to exit most Obamacare exchanges in 2017. The stock’s price gain of $3.20 was adding about 22 points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which is a price-weighted index. That was more than offsetting the $2.29, or 4.9%, tumble in Coca-Cola Co.’s stock following disappointing first-quarter results. Coke’s stock slide was shaving 16 points off the Dow. The Dow was up 15 points at a nine-month high. UnitedHealth’s stock has now run up 14% year to date, while Coke shares have gained 3.4% and the Dow has advanced 3.7%.

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U.S. stocks opened little-changed on Wednesday, as a drop in oil prices and a slide in China’s stock market weighed on the main indexes. The S&P 500 was flat at 2,101. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 18,053. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 4,944 at the open.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened little-changed on Wednesday, as a drop in oil prices and a slide in China’s stock market weighed on the main indexes. The S&P 500 was flat at 2,101. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 18,053. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 4,944 at the open.

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BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. said early Wednesday that its phase 1/2 clinical trial for a hemophilia A gene therapy treatment had produced “encouraging” data. The therapy, called BMN 270, could potentially reduce or eliminate need for infusions of Factor VII, a protein that helps with clotting, the company’s chief medical officer, Hank Fuchs, said. Of eight patients with severe hemophilia treated with the therapy, all six of those treated with the highest dose “improved from severe to either moderate, mild or normal range in terms of factor levels based on World Federation of Hemophilia criteria,” the company said. BioMarin’s stock was up slightly in pre-market trading early Wednesday, at 4.2%.

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From:: Stock Market News

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. said early Wednesday that its phase 1/2 clinical trial for a hemophilia A gene therapy treatment had produced “encouraging” data. The therapy, called BMN 270, could potentially reduce or eliminate need for infusions of Factor VII, a protein that helps with clotting, the company’s chief medical officer, Hank Fuchs, said. Of eight patients with severe hemophilia treated with the therapy, all six of those treated with the highest dose “improved from severe to either moderate, mild or normal range in terms of factor levels based on World Federation of Hemophilia criteria,” the company said. BioMarin’s stock was up slightly in pre-market trading early Wednesday, at 4.2%.

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Medtronic PLC said Wednesday it is voluntarily recalling about 10,000 battery packs used in medical devices that monitor patient breathing because of the risk of heat damage. The company said seven of the defective battery packs reportedly had this occur, one of which “involved a fire resulting in smoke inhalation and minor burns.” The battery packs, models 016400 and 010520, are used in the company’s Covidien Oridion-labeled Capnostream 20 and Capnostream 20p Patient Monitors, for use in hospitals and the home. Customers with the affected battery packs were sent a letter last week by Medtronic and in the interim, the company recommends using the monitors with the batteries removed.

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Angie’s List Inc. said Wednesday that it had a first-quarter 2016 net loss of $4 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with net income of $4.4 million, or 7 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet earnings consensus was 5 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter totaled $83.9 million, down from $83.5 million for the first quarter of 2015 and below the FactSet consensus of $86.4 million. The company said it had $24.4 million in membership revenue, a 12% decrease from $30.9 million last year. Angie’s List added 188,242 gross paid memberships during the quarter, a decline from the 229,987 last year. It is piloting a freemium program in some top markets, which will roll out nationwide, said Angie’s List Chief Executive Scott Durchslag in a statement. The company maintained its full-year revenue outlook, between $345 million and $355 million. Angie’s List shares are up 28.3% for the past year, but down 17.7% for the year to date. The S&P 500 is up 2.8% for so far this year.

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