Category: Stock Market News

Treasury yields retreated Thursday afternoon following a successful 30-year bond auction. Bond yields rose earlier after minutes from the European Central Bank’s December meeting showed senior officials were looking to change its policy guidance to reflect the strengthening eurozone, drawing speculation the ECB would stop its bond purchases earlier than expected. The 30-year bond yield was down 1.9 basis point to 2.872%, according to Tradeweb. The 10-year note yield fell 0.9 basis point to 2.540%. The 2-year note yield was at 1.977%. The bid-to-cover ratio stood at 2.74, the highest since Dec. 2014. Treasurys trading can be influenced by sales of government paper. The bid-to-cover gives a sense of appetite for the auction, a number showing the ratio of total bids received to bids accepted. “This depth of demand should allay some concerns about a runaway increase in yield,” wrote Aaron Kohli, fixed-income strategist for BMO Capital Markets.

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Dropbox Inc. has filed confidential initial public offering documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission and aims to list its stock in the first half of the year, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. Dropbox shares are worth between $8.15 and $12.63, with the last private fundraising round valuing the business at $10 billion as of January 2014, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Unlike last year’s IPOs of Snap Inc. and Blue Apron Holdings Inc. , investors will be able to compare it with an already public direct competitor: Box Inc. . And the bankers reportedly leading the deal, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, will have an easier time assessing the company’s value and share price ahead of its listing.

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The Senate Banking Committee will take another vote next Wednesday on the nomination of Jerome Powell to lead the Federal Reserve, according to a report by Politico. All but one member of the banking panel backed Powell in the first vote last month. The White House had to resubmit Powell’s nomination to the committee given that a new session of Congress started this month.

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Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. announced full-year sales guidance that misses FactSet consensus. The restaurant chain expects systemwide same-store sales for the year ending Dec. 31, 2017 to be in the range of about a 1.6% to 1.7% decline. Revenue is expected to be in the range of $2.067 billion and $2.069 billion. The FactSet consensus is for a same-store sales decrease of 1.5% and sales of $2.071 billion. Shares are nearly unchanged in Thursday trading, but are up 1.7% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 21.1% for the last 12 months.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 359 billion cubic feet for the week ended Jan. 5. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a decrease of 337 billion, while the five-year average withdrawal is 169 billion. Total stocks now stand at 2.767 trillion cubic feet, down 415 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 382 billion below the five-year average, the government said. February natural gas rose 11.5 cents, or 4%, to $3.021 per million British thermal units, down from $3.034 before the data.

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U.S. stocks opened with modest gains on Thursday, as investors viewed the recent uptrend in equities as intact, though they held off from making big bets going into the earnings season and amid questions surrounding the bond market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, or 52 points, to 25,420. The S&P 500 added 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,753. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 13 points, or 0.2%, to 7,166. All three are coming off their first negative session of 2018, and are near record levels. The day’s trading could be slight as investors look ahead to the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season, which will unofficially begin on Friday with the release of results from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. , among other large-capitalization banks. The stock, a Dow component, rose 0.4% in early trading. Investors continued to pay attention to the bond market after China’s foreign-exchange regulator on Thursday dismissed a Bloomberg News report suggesting Beijing is looking to pare back on U.S. bond buys as “false news.”

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U.S. wholesale prices rose in 2017 at the fastest pace in six years, a buildup in inflation that could push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more aggressively unless it lets up. The producer price index increased 2.6% last year, even after a small decline in December. The PPI dipped 0.1% last month. The core PPI rose 0.1% in December, however

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Tivo Corp. said on Thursday that Rovi, which Tivo owns, has filed new patent infringement lawsuits against Comcast Corp. . Rovi alleges Comcast’s X1 set top box platform infringes on technology invented and patented by Rovi, including pausing and resuming TV shows on different devices, restarting live programming in progress, advanced DVR recording features and advanced search and voice functionality. “Hundreds of media and entertainment leaders around the world recognize the value of our innovations by selecting our products and services and licensing our intellectual property,” Tivo Chief Executive Enrique Rodriguez said in a statement. “Our goal is for Comcast to renew its long-standing license.” In November, the International Trade Commission ruled in favor of Tivo in a previous patent infringement lawsuit brought against Comcast. Tivo said as part of the most recent lawsuit that it plans to file additional legal action with the International Trade Commission on the same patents, seeking an exclusion order that would prevent infringing Comcast set-top boxes from being imported to the U.S. Comcast shares were inactive in premarket trade on Thursday. Shares of Tivo were up more than 2%, but have declined nearly 27% in the last 12 months. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up close to 21% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 27%.

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Endo International Plc shares slid almost 6% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company confirmed that its subsidiary, Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., has received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, seeking information relating to products containing the opioid oxymorphone. The company said the subpoena is seeking documents including those produced in past or pending lawsuits, as well as those relating to safety and efficacy, overdoses, abuse/misuse and overprescribing, among other issues. The company said it intends to cooperate with the subpoena and any related investigation. The U.S. is currently in the midst of an opioid crisis stemming from widespread use of opioids as a pain medication. Endo shares have fallen 42% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 21%.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that it will increase the starting wage for hourly associates to $11, effective during the Feb. 17, 2018 pay cycle. Wal-Mart previously announced wage increases in 2016.The company is also offering a one-time $1,000 bonus to eligible full-time and part-time associates. An associate’s length of service will determine the size of the bonus. Those with at least 20 years of experience will qualify for $1,000. “We are early in the stages of assessing the opportunities tax reform creates for us to invest in our customers and associates and to further strengthen our business, all of which should benefit our shareholders,” said Chief Executive Doug McMillon in a statement. Wal-Mart has also expanded paid maternity leave to 10 weeks and six weeks of parental leave for full-time hourly associates. Salaried employees will also get six weeks of paid parental leave. Finally, the retail giant will provide a benefit of $5,000 for full-time hourly and salaried associates to help with adoption fees. The cost of the wage increase is expected to be $300 million incremental to what’s included in the next fiscal year plan. And about $400 million will be applied to the current fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2018 for the bonus payments. Wal-Mart will provide additional details when quarterly results are released on Feb. 20. Wal-Mart shares are up 0.6% in premarket trading, and up 16.3% for the last three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average [S: djia] is up 11% for the past three months.

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