Category: Stock Market News

Carnival Corporation said Thursday that it is increasing its dividend by 17% to $0.35 a share. “The increase in our quarterly dividend follows a 20 percent increase less than a year ago and reflects our sustained earnings improvement and growing net cash flow which is forecasted to reach $4.5 billion in 2016,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, in the press release. The record date for the dividend is May 27, 2016 and it will be payed June 17, 2016. Shares of Carnival were down 1% in premarket trade Thursday.

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Kohl’s Corp. confirmed Wednesday that its executive vice president of marketing, Will Setliff, has left the company. “Will Setliff has announced his resignation from Kohl’s, effective this week. We thank Will for his many contributions to Kohl’s during his service and wish him well in his future endeavors,” the retailer said in a statement emailed to MarketWatch. Michelle Gass, Kohl’s chief merchandising officer, will continue to oversee the company’s marketing. Kohl’s also confirmed that it is conducting an external search for Setliff’s successor. Kohl’s shares closed up 1.3%, but are down 44.4% for the past year. The S&P 500 is down 0.5% for the past 12 months.

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Gap Inc. said Wednesday that it has named Sonia Syngal global president of Old Navy, effective immediately. Syngal has been with Gap Inc. for 12 years and previously served as senior vice president of Old Navy’s international division in 2013. She was most recently the executive vice president of global supply chain and product operations for Gap Inc. She succeeds Jill Stanton, who has been interim head of Old Navy since Oct. 2015. She stepped into the role when Stefan Larsson left the brand to become chief executive of Ralph Lauren Corp. . She will continue as a strategic advisor to Old Navy “to support a seamless transition,” according to the press release. Both Syngal and Stanton will oversee the company’s global supply chain and logistics. The Old Navy brand reported a 6% same-store sales decline for the month of March. Gap shares closed up 1.5%, but are down 3.1% for the year so far. The S&P 500 is up 1.9% for the year to date.

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Gap Inc. said Wednesday that it has named Sonia Syngal global president of Old Navy, effective immediately. Syngal has been with Gap Inc. for 12 years and previously served as senior vice president of Old Navy’s international division in 2013. She was most recently the executive vice president of global supply chain and product operations for Gap Inc. She succeeds Jill Stanton, who has been interim head of Old Navy since Oct. 2015. She stepped into the role when Stefan Larsson left the brand to become chief executive of Ralph Lauren Corp. . She will continue as a strategic advisor to Old Navy “to support a seamless transition,” according to the press release. Both Syngal and Stanton will oversee the company’s global supply chain and logistics. The Old Navy brand reported a 6% same-store sales decline for the month of March. Gap shares closed up 1.5%, but are down 3.1% for the year so far. The S&P 500 is up 1.9% for the year to date.

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Derivatives marketplace CME Group announced Wednesday that it plans to shut its New York trading floor at the end of the year because open outcry options volume on the floor represent only 0.3% of the company’s overall energy and metals trading volumes. The options products will be listed and available for trading on CME Globex. Last summer, CME Group ended virtually all open outcry futures trading, also known as pit trading of futures contracts, in both New York and Chicago. The company’s Chicago trading floor will remain open for trading of options on futures contracts and S&P 500 futures contracts.

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Pier 1 Imports Inc. shares rose 4% late Wednesday after the furniture and home goods retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales above Wall Street expectations. Pier 1 said its net income fell to $18.7 million, or 23 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $33.1 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company said it earned 39 cents a share. Sales fell 1.4% to $542.3 million in the quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Pier 1 to report earnings of 21 cents a share on sales of $534 million. Shares had ended the regular trading session up 5.6%.

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U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday as financial stocks rallied on the back of better-than-expected results from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up about 187 points, or 1.1%, at 17,908, led by a 4% gain in shares of J.P. Morgan Chase . The S&P 500 Index gained about 21 points, or 1%, to close at 2,082. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished about 75 points higher, or 1.6%, at 4,947.

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Buy the stocks of Altria Group Inc. , Reynolds American Inc. and Philip Morris International Inc. on Wednesday’s dips, said analyst Bonnie Herzog at Wells Fargo, who said she believes concerns over the potential release of e-cigarette regulations are overdone. “As a reminder, regulation of the e-cig/vapor industry is broadly positive for the big tobacco manufacturers since it will increase the barriers to entry and likely entrench them even further,” Herzog wrote in a note to clients. “Keep in mind, even if regs prove restrictive to innovation, this doesn’t mean the end of the category, it just means growth could be slower.” The stocks of Altria dropped 3% and of Philip Morris slumped 1.4% in afternoon trade, a day after closing at record highs. Shares of Reynolds American, which closed at a record on March 10, shed shed 4.2% Wednesday. She said she remains bullish on the tobacco sector, given the strength in the companies’ core businesses, and encourages investors “to take advantage of the weakness and buy the stocks.”

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Global Water Resources Inc. set the expected price range for its initial public offering at $5.25 to $6.25. The water resource management company is offering 1 million shares to the public, as it looks to raise $6.25 million in the IPO. The company plans to apply for listing on the Nasdaq Global Market, under the ticker “GWRS.” The company said the main reason to go public is to give it the option to exercise the redemption of tax-exempt bonds, which needs to be completed within 90 days after the closing of a public share offering. The company had earnings of $21.4 million on revenue of $32 million in 2015, compared with earnings of $64.9 million and $32.6 million in 2014.

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Oil futures settled lower Wednesday, putting an end to a streak of gains that spanned three sessions, after data revealed that U.S. crude supplies rose by a much-bigger-than-expected 6.6 million barrels for the week ended April 8. Prices, however, finished above the session’s lows, finding support from a decline in U.S. oil production and strong demand for gasoline. May WTI crude fell 41 cents, or 1%, to settle at $41.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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