Category: Stock Market News

Oil futures settled lower Thursday as a bigger-than-expected climb in U.S. crude inventories and recent strength in the U.S. dollar helped prices tally their first weekly loss in six weeks. May WTI crude settled at $39.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 33 cents, or 0.8%, for the session. Prices declined roughly 4.1% for the week, according to FactSet data.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Gold futures fell Thursday, holding ground at about a one-month low, pressured by strength in the U.S. dollar and the potential for an U.S. interest-rate hike as early as next month. Gold for April delivery settled at $1,221.60 an ounce, down $2.40, or 0.2%. For week, prices lost 2.6%, according to FactSet data. Markets will be shut for Good Friday.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures pared some losses after data Thursday from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for crude fell by 15 to 372 as of Thursday. Meanwhile, the total U.S. rig count fell 12 to 464, which is another record low. May crude was at $39.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 35 cents, or 0.9%. It was trading lower at around $39.17 before the data.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures pared some losses after data Thursday from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for crude fell by 15 to 372 as of Thursday. Meanwhile, the total U.S. rig count fell 12 to 464, which is another record low. May crude was at $39.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 35 cents, or 0.9%. It was trading lower at around $39.17 before the data.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

General Dynamics Corp.’s stock shed 3.8% toward a six-week low, after the aerospace and defense company was downgraded at Deutsche Bank, which cited “alarming” investory and sales trends surrounding its Gulfstream business jets. Analyst Myles Walton cut his rating to hold, after being at buy for at least the last three years. He said the Gulfstream G650 inventory and price trends are “quickly becoming a problem,” with 13% of G650s now available for sale, and rising. “We estimate the G650 drives two-thirds of the profit in the aerospace segment…but that the production we’re seeing may be as much as 20%-30% ahead of true demand,” Walton wrote in a note to clients. The stock has now lost 5.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.7%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

General Dynamics Corp.’s stock shed 3.8% toward a six-week low, after the aerospace and defense company was downgraded at Deutsche Bank, which cited “alarming” investory and sales trends surrounding its Gulfstream business jets. Analyst Myles Walton cut his rating to hold, after being at buy for at least the last three years. He said the Gulfstream G650 inventory and price trends are “quickly becoming a problem,” with 13% of G650s now available for sale, and rising. “We estimate the G650 drives two-thirds of the profit in the aerospace segment…but that the production we’re seeing may be as much as 20%-30% ahead of true demand,” Walton wrote in a note to clients. The stock has now lost 5.9% year to date, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.7%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Pandora Media Inc.’s stock surged 10% in active trade Thursday, as the addition of a long-time media executive to the music streaming services board of directors fueled merger speculation. The company said late Wednesday that it expanded the size of its board to 10 members from nine, with the addition of Anthony J. Vinciquerra, who Pandora said has three decades of media industry experience, and has been a senior advisor to private equity firm Texas Pacific Group in the technology, media and telecom sectors since 2011. Speculation about a merger has been around for a while, but analyst Rich Tullo at Albert Fried & Co. said adding Vinciquerra to the board gives “a little credence” to the speculation. “If I were selling Pandora, I would add a director like Mr. Vinciquerra to the board,” Tullo wrote in a note to clients. “If I were buying Pandora, I would send Mr. Vinciquerra to Pandora to aid in integration. Just a speculation.” The stock was still down 20% year to date, while the S&P 500 has slipped 0.9%.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

Natural-gas futures turned modestly higher on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity rose by 15 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 18. That was below with the rise of between 18 billion and 22 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by Platts. The weekly climb, however, is the first one of the year, marking an end to the heating season. Total stocks now stand at 2.493 trillion cubic feet, up 1.02 trillion cubic feet from a year ago and 846 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas rose about a penny to $1.80 per million British thermal units. Prices traded $1.785 before the supply data.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks on March 31 on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday. The meeting will give the two leaders a chance to discuss a range of issues and to address areas of disagreement constructively, he said.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday and are on track for a third straight day of losses, as oil prices also slumped for a third day in a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 shed 7.46 points, or 0.4%, to 2,028.78, while the Dow industrials slid 68.21 points, or 0.4%, to 17,422.94. The Nasdaq Composite lost 28.77 points, or 0.5%, to 4,739.72. U.S.-traded crude-oil futures were down nearly 3% in recent action, bringing oil’s weekly decline to 6.3%. Here’s a guide to which markets will be closed for the Easter holiday.

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.

…read more

From:: Stock Market News