Category: Stock Market News

Oil prices settled higher Friday for a fifth straight session, as declines in U.S. crude supplies continued to boost prices to their highest in more than three years. Prices also posted a gain for the week, their fourth such rise in a row. News that the Trump administration extended sanctions relief for Iran, as expected, and data showing the first weekly rise in active U.S. oil-drilling rigs failed to squash bullish sentiment. February West Texas Intermediate crude rose 50 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $64.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest finish since Dec. 5, 2014 according to FactSet data. It rose about 4.7% for the week.

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Shares of Aflac Inc. tumbled 7.1% in active afternoon trade Friday, enough to pace the S&P 500’s losers, although the insurer said a report that former employees alleged fraud and abuse was “false” and “without merit.” Volume spiked to 10.5 million shares, or more than 6-times the full-day average. The stock, which closed at a record $91.69 on Thursday, pared earlier intraday losses of as much as 8.7%. “Recent media stories regarding Aflac contain false allegations made by a very small group of independent contractors. Aflac intends to aggressively fight these allegations beginning with filing for their dismissal,” the company said in a statement. A report by The Intercept late Thursday said Aflac exploited workers, manipulated accounting and deceived shareholders and customers, citing multiple current and former employees, as well as three previously unreported lawsuits. In Aflac’s response, the company said it has “investigated these claims and found them to be without merit.” The stock has run up 22.6% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF has gained 12.7% and the S&P 500 had climbed 22.7%.

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Gold futures rose on Friday as weakness in the dollar helped prices finish the week about 1% higher. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.8%, poised for a loss of 0.9% for the week. The dollar softened and some “momentum and positioning for next week” may have given gold an “extra boost,” said Jeff Wright, chief investment officer at Wolfpack Capital. February gold rose $12.40, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,334.90 an ounce, marking the highest finish since Sept. 11, according to FactSet data. The weekly rise was also gold’s fifth in a row.

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President Donald Trump has extended sanctions relief for Iran, which will keep the Iran nuclear agreement intact for another several months, a senior administration official said Friday. At the same time, the Trump administration announced new sanctions not related to the nuclear agreement, targeting Iranian officials over human-rights abuses. The official said it’s the last time Trump will issue a waiver over the nuclear agreement unless the multilateral deal is altered.

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Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 10 at 752 this week. The oil-rig count had fallen by 5 last week, and it hasn’t posted a rise since the week ended Dec. 8. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also rose by 15 to 939, according to Baker Hughes. February West Texas Intermediate crude was up 15 cents, or 0.2%, from Thursday, to $63.95 a barrel, up a bit from shortly before the rig data, but well below the day’s high of $64.23.

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Wheat futures fell Friday, poised for their lowest finish since late December. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that planted acres of winter wheat for 2018 are expected to total 32.6 million acres, down less than 1% from 2017. “U.S. wheat planted acres were higher than expected, actual U.S. feed usage of wheat was down and Russia production was higher than expected, resulting in record wheat exports out of Russia,” said Sal Gilbertie, president and chief investment officer at Teucrium Trading LLC. March wheat fell 2.4%, at $4.23 a bushel. Corn futures also fell, with the March contract down 0.5% at $3.47 a bushel. March soybeans added 0.4% to $9.53 a bushel.

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The U.S. central bank should be able to avoid drama like the infamous “taper tantrum” of 2013, said Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, on Friday. “We’ve learned the lessons of the past and are being thoughtful and watchful as the year unfolds,” Harker said. “While it should be a year of developments, it should also be a boring one,” he said. Harker said the Fed has never before faced a need to shrink its balance sheet from $4.5 trillion, but said the process should remain “slow” and “mechanical.” The Philadelphia Fed President, who is not a voting member of the Fed’s interest-rate committee this year, said he thinks two rate increases this year would be the appropriate path of policy.

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Tesla Inc.’s fourth-quarter deliveries came in below expectations, but progress made in Model 3 production and more realistic production targets left Instinet analyst Romit Shah feeling pretty bullish on the stock. “While our forecasts decrease for the first half of 2018, we are encouraged by the progress on Model 3 production and continue to expect Tesla to deliver substantial (+100%) revenue growth in 2018,” Shah wrote in a note published Friday following a series of electric vehicle announcements at this weeks CES show in Las Vegas. “We believe that Tesla may have finally set a beatable production target while also allowing itself to address customer feedback and prioritize quality control.” While GM’s Chevy Bolt electric vehicle finished the year on a strong note and along with the Nissan Leaf offers the main competition for Tesla, “we believe that these vehicles are in distinctly different classes relative to Tesla’s lower to mid-luxury Model 3 sedan,” said Shah. On the Byton, the international brand of Chinese EV startup Future Mobility Corp., Shah said Chinese original equipment manufacturers seem best equipped to challenge Tesla, but are likely to focus for now on their huge domestic market and expected growth in the luxury segment. “China remains Tesla’s third largest region and second largest country by sales volume, per our estimates,” said the analyst, who rates Tesla a buy. Tesla shares were slightly higher on Friday, but have gained 46% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 22%.

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Retail sales during the holiday season rose 5.5% in 2017 to $691.9 billion, exceeding the National Retail Federations forecast of a 3.6%-to-4% increase. The final total represents “the strongest gain since the Great Recession,” the group said Friday. The organization credits low unemployment, strong consumer confidence, a rising stock market and income raises for the showing. There were increases across all retail categories except sporting goods, which was down 0.5% year-over year. Building materials and supplies stores were up 8.1%, furniture and home furnishings grew 7.5% and electronics and appliance stores were up 6.7%. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is up 20.1% for the last three months, outpacing the S&P 500 index, which is up nearly 9%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which is up 12%.

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Business inventories in the U.S. rose 0.4% in November after no change in the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday. Sales jumped 1.2% in the month. The ratio of inventories to sales, meanwhile, fell to 1.33 from 1.34. That’s how many months it would take to sell all the inventory on hand. One year ago, the inventory-to-sales ratio was higher at 1.40, reflecting an excessive buildup in production not matched by sales. Now companies appear to have a better handle on inventories.

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