Category: Stock Market News

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. rival Friday as renewed optimism about the prospects for global economic growth sent oil prices soaring. The U.S. dollar retreated below the key C$1.30 level for the first time in a week, with one dollar buying C$1.2982 in recent trade. By comparison, it bought C$1.3143 late Thursday in New York. Robust data on housing starts and the Canadian labor market also helped support the currency by giving the Bank of Canada more reasons to keep monetary policy on hold. Canada is a major crude-oil exporter and moves in its currency, also referred to as the loonie, are often closely correlated to moves in oil prices.

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DepoMed Inc.’s stock soared 18% in active trade Friday, after hedge fund Starboard Value disclosed a large stake in the drug maker, and said it would push for actions to boost shareholder value. Volume approached 4 million shares within the first 20 minutes of trade, or already almost double the full-day average. DepoMed responded to Starboard on Friday, saying it welcomes communications with its shareholders. The company said, however, that Starboard didn’t try to hold discussion with the company before it the filing late Thursday that disclosed Starboard’s new stake.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, lifted by a rebound in oil prices. The main indexes were still on track to finish the week with modest losses. The S&P 500 climbed 11 points, or 0.6%, to 2,053. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 100 points, or 0.6%, to 17,640. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite advanced 32 points, or 0.7%, to 4,880 at the open.

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Twitter Inc. announced Friday that it is adding Hugh Johnston, chief financial officer and vice chairman at Pepsi Co. and Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of a travel website and founder of a private karaoke company, to its board effective immediately. Fox is also a crossbench peer in the United Kingdom House of Lords. Peter Currie, president of Currie Capital, and Peter Chernin, founder of Chernin Entertainment and The Chernin Group, will leave the Twitter board when their terms end in May. Shares of Twitter were up 1.4% in pre-market trade Friday.

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Under Armour Inc.’s stock price has effectively undergone a 2-for-1 split Friday, after the athletic apparel company issued Class C shares to existing shareholders. The company announced the dividend on March 16, saying it would distribute Class C non-voting stock on a one-for-one basis to all existing holders of Under Armour common stock, which would have the same effect of a 2-for-1 split. The Class A shares were changing hands at $44.39 in premarket trade, compared with Thursday’s closing price of $85.97. The Class C shares, under the ticker “UA.C,” are still inactive premarket, and are shown to have a starting price of $41.56.

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Anavex Life Sciences Corp.’s stock surged 7.1% in premarket trade Friday, after the biopharmaceutical company said its Alzheimer treatment was granted orphan drug designation by the Food and Drug Administration. Orphan drug designation provides sponsors for treatments of rare diseases with development and commercial incentives. Anavex’s drug Anavex 3-71 is a treatment for Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare syndrome associated with the shrinking of the frontal and temporal anterior lobes of the brain, which causes a decline in language and changes in social behavior. There is currently no treatment that has slowed FTD progression. Anavex’s stock has lost 4.5% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.1%.

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Amazon.com Inc. announced Thursday afternoon that the leaders of the two main divisions within the company will receive the title of chief executive officer. Jeff Wilke was named CEO of the e-commerce giant’s consumer arm, and Andy Jassy received the title of CEO for the cloud-computing division called Amazon Web Services. “This is not a reorganization but rather a recognition of the roles they’ve played for a while,” Amazon said in a blog post. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will continue to serve as CEO of the entire company.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. government will appeal a federal judge’s decision to rescind the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s determination that MetLife Inc. is a systemically important financial institution, a Treasury spokesman said Thursday. Earlier, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew blasted the ruling in a statement, saying it would leave MetLife will even less oversight than before the financial crisis.

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Uber Technologies Inc. has agreed to pay $10 million, and possibly $15 million more, to settle charges levied by the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles concerning driver background checks. San Francisco DA George Gascon said in a statement that Uber will pay $10 million up front and have an additional payment of $15 million waived if it complies with terms of a permanent injunction that is also part of the settlement. “The result we achieved today goes well beyond its impact on Uber,” Gascon said in the statement. “It sends a clear message to all businesses, and to startups in particular, that in the quest to quickly obtain market share, laws designed to protect consumers cannot be ignored.” The charges of unlawful business practices centered on allegedly misleading claims about the strength of Uber’s background checks for drivers, as well as fees charged for rides to the airport. Similar allegations in class-action lawsuits led to Uber’s agreement to pay a $28.5 million settlement earlier this year. Uber rival Lyft settled with the district attorneys for $500,000 before charges were actually filed.

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Depomed Inc. shares gained in late trading Thursday after activist investor Starboard Value LP disclosed a fresh stake in the pain-pill firm and attacked the company’s board in a filing. Starboard has amassed a stake of about 6.8% of the Newark, Calif., company, and intends to nominate its own directors due to “concerns regarding serious corporate governance deficiencies, questionable capital allocation decisions, and egregious actions” by Depomed’s current board of directors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Depomed fought off a hostile takeover offer by Horizon Pharma PLC last year, a move that Starboard characterized as “shareholder-unfriendly” in Thursday’s filing. Depomed stock, which has fallen 33% in the past year and has lost more than half its 52-week peak, gained 6.8% in after-hours trading Thursday.

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