Category: Stock Market News

Gold futures fell for a second session on Thursday as the dollar maintained its strength and demand for riskier assets remained relatively robust. The U.S. Dollar Index rose for a third day and U.S. stocks were marginally higher. June gold slid $21.80, or 1.8%, to settle at $1,226.50 an ounce. “Nothing new so far just the momentum is picking up towards the downside but we do not expect any major sell off or new trend developing,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.

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Seagate Technology PLC’s stock plunged toward its worst day since the depths of the Great Recession, in very active morning trade Thursday, after the disk-drive maker cut its fiscal third-quarter revenue and margin outlook. The stock tumbled 19%, the biggest one-day percentage decline since it fell 24% on Jan. 22, 2009. The biggest decline, since the company went public in Dec. 2002, was a 24.5% drop on Oct. 22, 2003. Trading volume reached 28 million shares within the first 90 minutes of Thursday’s regular session, or about six times the full-day average over the past 30 days of 4.7 million shares, according to FactSet. The company cut late Wednesday its revenue outlook for the current quarter to $2.6 billion from $2.7 billion, and its adjusted gross margin outlook to 23% from 25.6%. Pacific Crest analyst Monika Garg said her sector weight rating is now under review, as Seagate margins have been below its target range of 27% to 32% for the past three quarters.

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McDonald’s Corp. has pulled most of its wraps from its menus, with only the Ranch Snack Wrap remaining in some markets, a company spokesperson told MarketWatch. The fast-food giant phased out McWraps last summer, and discontinued two of its Snack Wraps nationally, the honey mustard and chipotle barbeque. The Ranch Snack wrap is made with grilled chicken, iceberg lettuce, jack and cheddar cheeses and a soft flour tortilla, according to the McDonald’s website. McDonald’s shares are up 0.5% in Thursday trading, and up 30.6% for the past year. The S&P 500 is down 0.6% for the last 12 months.

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Natural-gas futures pared some of their earlier losses Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity fell by 3 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 8. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a decline of 1 billion to a climb of 3 billion cubic feet. Total stocks now stand at 2.477 trillion cubic feet, up 956 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 849 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. May natural gas fell 3.1 cents, or 1.6%, to $2.005 per million British thermal units. Prices traded at $1.98 before the supply data.

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Bats Global Markets increased the number of shares it will offer in its initial public offering Thursday to 13.3 million from 11.2 million. The company still has a price range of $17 to $19, and would now raise $239.4 million at the mid-point of its range. The IPO is expected to price Thursday and plans to trade on its own exchange, Bats BZX Exchange, under the symbol “BATS.”

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U.S. stocks opened unchanged on Thursday, after rallying for two straight sessions. U.S. economic data showed benign inflation and a historically low level of first-time jobless claims. A modest rise in oil futures helped boost sentiment. The S&P 500 gained less than a point at 2,082. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 16 points, or 0.1%, at 17,924. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was up by less than a point, at 4,947 at the open.

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SunEdison Inc. shares surged 35% in premarket trade, after the company’s independent directors and audit committee said they had completed a probe of past accounting and found no material misstatements in historical financials or evidence to support a finding of fraud or wilful misconduct by management, apart from by one former non-executive employee. However, “the independent counsel materials identified issues with the company’s overly optimistic culture and its tone at the top,” auditors and directors said in a regulatory filing. Specifically, the company’s cash forecasting efforts lacked controls and were “overly optimistic and a more fulsome discussion of risks and adjustments with the Board was warranted.” The company also lacked controls regarding cash flow management. The wrongdoing by a former employee related to negotiations over the termination of the acquisition of Vivint Solar Inc. . The employee has been terminated. The directors will now require management to provide greater transparency to the board. Shares have lost 92% of their value in the year so far.

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Delta Air Lines Inc.’s stock jumped 1.9% in premarket trade Thursday, after the air carrier beat first-quarter profit expectations. Earnings rose to $946 million, or $1.21 a share, from $746 million, or 90 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as mark-to-market adjustments on fuel hedges, adjusted earnings per share were $1.32, above the FactSet consensus of $1.30. Revenue slipped 1.5% to $9.25 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $9.27 billion, as a rise in domestic passenger revenue was offset by declines in international passenger revenue and cargo revenue. Passenger unit revenue fell 4.6%, as capacity increased 2.7%. For the second quarter, Delta expects passenger unit revenue to decline 2.5% to 4.5% while system capacity is seen increasing 2% to 3%. The stock has lost 5.2% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.9%.

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The Bank of England on Thursday kept its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and made no changes to its 375-billion-pound ($529.99 billion) asset purchase program. The vote was unanimous. Policy makers were widely expected to leave rates where they’ve been since March 2009 ahead of the U.K.’s EU referendum on June 23 on whether to stay in or leave the union. Polls are currently neck-to-neck, sparking jitters in the U.K. financial markets. “There are some signs that uncertainty relating to the EU referendum has begun to weigh on certain areas of activity, as some decisions, including on capital expenditure and commercial property transactions, are being postponed pending the outcome of the vote,” the central bank said in its minutes. “This might lead to some softening in growth during the first half of 2016,” it added. The pound traded at $1.4158 after the BOE decision, slightly higher than $1.4137 ahead of the call.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Bank of England on Thursday kept its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and made no changes to its 375-billion-pound ($529.99 billion) asset purchase program. The vote was unanimous. Policy makers were widely expected to leave rates where they’ve been since March 2009 ahead of the U.K.’s EU referendum on June 23 on whether to stay in or leave the union. Polls are currently neck-to-neck, sparking jitters in the U.K. financial markets. “There are some signs that uncertainty relating to the EU referendum has begun to weigh on certain areas of activity, as some decisions, including on capital expenditure and commercial property transactions, are being postponed pending the outcome of the vote,” the central bank said in its minutes. “This might lead to some softening in growth during the first half of 2016,” it added. The pound traded at $1.4158 after the BOE decision, slightly higher than $1.4137 ahead of the call.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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