Category: Stock Market News

Prosecutors in Panama have raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of a tax-haven furor, media reports said Wednesday. During the operation on Tuesday, the team searched for evidence of money laundering and financial backing of terrorism, the Associated Press reported. The aim of the raids was “to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities,” Panama’s attorney general’s office said, according to the BBC. Reports based in the millions of documents leaked from the firm began emerging just over a week ago, casting light on how rich and powerful people have been using offshore accounts and shell companies as tax havens. Mossack Fonseca has denied wrongdoing and has said its systems were hacked.

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Comments on Wednesday from Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi played down the prospect of oil producers taking action on crude output at a key meeting on Sunday in Doha, Qatar. When asked about such action, al-Naimi said, “Forget about this topic,” according to a Reuters report citing comments from him published Wednesday in the Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper. Traders previously have closely watched for al-Naimi to suggest that an output freeze could happen, and that it might even represent the first step toward a collective cut in oil production.

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Prosecutors in Panama have raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of a tax-haven furor, media reports said Wednesday. During the operation on Tuesday, the team searched for evidence of money laundering and financial backing of terrorism, the Associated Press reported. The aim of the raids was “to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities,” Panama’s attorney general’s office said, according to the BBC. Reports based in the millions of documents leaked from the firm began emerging just over a week ago, casting light on how rich and powerful people have been using offshore accounts and shell companies as tax havens. Mossack Fonseca has denied wrongdoing and has said its systems were hacked.

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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Medivation Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Tuesday after the biotech reportedly turned down a buyout offer from French drugmaker Sanofi. Medivation shares jumped 9.1% to $49.90 after hours. The rebuffed offer was reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

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PulteGroup Inc. shares ticked higher in the extended session Tuesday after independent board member James Grosfeld resigned from the homebuilder’s board. Pulte shares advanced 1% to $18 after hours. In a letter attached to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Grosfeld said he resigned because since March 22, “I have been excluded from a number of subsequent Board meetings, and therefore see no useful purpose of remaining on the Board.” Grosfeld, who is also an independent board member on BlackRock Inc. board, owns 1.7 million shares, or a 0.5% stake, of Pulte, according to FactSet data. The development follows a letter from founder Bill Pulte on Monday, blasting Chief Executive Richard Dugas for destroying value in the company. Over the past 12 months, Pulte shares have fallen 20%.

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CSX Corp. on Tuesday reported earnings in line with expectations but a 14% dip in revenues that the railway blamed on lower shipping volumes. The company said it earned $356 million, or 37 cents a share, in the first quarter, down from $442 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the quarter was down 14% to $2.62 billion, from $3 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $2.68 billion. Revenue for 2016 will decline “as a result of coal headwinds combined with other market fundamentals,” the company said in a statement. Shares of CSX rose 0.2% in late trading Tuesday after ending the regular trading session up 1.9%.

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Oil futures rallied above $42 a barrel Tuesday to settle at their highest level of the year, buoyed by a report that said Saudi Arabia and Russia have reached a deal to freeze production ahead of a meeting of major oil producers this weekend. Adding further support, the Energy Information Administration raised its oil-price forecasts and cut its U.S. output expectations for this year and next. May WTI crude rose $1.81, or 4.5%, to settle at $42.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest for a most-active contract this year.

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Gold futures turned higher Tuesday to register modest gains but that was enough to mark the best stretch for the yellow metal in about two months. June gold closed $2.90, or 0.2%, higher at $1,290.90 an ounce. Tuesday’s gain marks four straight sessions of climbing prices–its longest stretch of advances since the period ended Feb. 9, when gold gained for five sessions in a row, according to FactSet data. Gold prices shrugged off a rally in stocks and crude oil to rise as metal’s traders focused on weak corporate quarterly results and a bleak outlook for global growth offered by the International Monetary Fund. Late Monday, Alcoa Inc. reported better-than-expected first-quarter results but delivered a poor outlook for earnings. On Tuesday, the IMF lowered its estimate for global growth, cutting its estimate to 3.2% in 2016 from 3.4%. The IMF also cut its growth estimate for the U.S. to 2.4% in 2016 from an earlier estimate of 2.6%. Stephen Kalayjian, chief market technician, at trading tech firm Knowvera, described that environment as perfect for gold, which is viewed as a safe-harbor asset for investors in times of global uncertainty. “I think there are a lot of positives for gold, right now,” he said.

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Shares of Integrated Device Technology Inc. spiked up as much as 23% in midday trade, before paring gains to be up just 3.8%, after the company disclosed the receipt of a buyout bid by an investor group led by Libin Sun. The group said in a letter to Integrated Device’s board that it would pay $32 a share in cash for the shares they don’t already own. That represents a 65% premium to Monday’s closing price of $19.43, and would value the semiconductor maker at about $4.3 billion. The company was not immediately available for comment. The investor group currently owns roughly 5% of the shares outstanding, according to regulatory filings provided by the company, with Libin Sun owning 6 million shares, or 4.4% of the outstanding shares. The group said the buyout bid, which is nonbinding, will be financed with a combination of debt provided by loans from a third party and equity capital. The stock was down 24% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.7%.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration raised its forecasts for this year and next on West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices in a monthly report issued Tuesday. The government agency said it expects WTI prices to average $34.60 a barrel this year. It previously forecast a 2016 average of $34.04. The EIA also said it expects Brent crude to average $34.73 a barrel this year, compared with a previous forecast for $34.28. For next year, the EIA sees Brent and WTI both averaging $40.58. May WTI oil traded at $41.56 a barrel, up $1.20, or 3%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, buoyed by a report of a Saudi-Russian deal to freeze output. June Brent crude on ICE Futures added $1.47, or 3.4%, to $44.30 a barrel.

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