Category: Stock Market News

Facebook Inc. said Tuesday that it will record advertising revenue in countries where it sells ads instead of at its Dublin, Ireland, headquarters. The company said in a blog that it aims to complete the transition by the first half of 2019 and anticipates that it will require significant resources to implement around the world. “We believe that moving to a local selling structure will provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world who have called for greater visibility over the revenue associated with locally supported sales in their countries,” Facebook Chief Financial Officer Dave Wehner said in the blog post. While it’s unclear from the blog exactly how much revenue Facebook is talking about, the company records 47% of its revenue in the U.S., according to FactSet. The change would significantly boost Facebook revenue recorded in 27 countries including Germany, Japan and Argentina likely increasing the tax bill in those countries, according to The Wall Street. Facebook shares have gained 54% this year, with the S&P 500 index gaining 19%.

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The American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies dropped by 7.4 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 8, according to sources. The API data showed a rise of 2.3 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles, while inventories of distillates rose 1.5 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a decline of 4 million barrels for crude inventories. They also forecast a rise of 1.6 million barrels for gasoline and an increase of 500,000 barrels for distillate supplies. January crude was at $57.50 a barrel in electronic trading, up from the settlement of $57.14 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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MongoDB Inc. shares walked back some of Tuesday’s gains in the extended session after the database company’s first quarterly results and outlook as a public company topped Wall Street estimates. MongoDB shares declined 4.1% to $27.81 after hours, following an 8% run-up in the regular session. To date, shares have risen 21% above their IPO pricing of $24 in late October. The company reported a third-quarter loss of $24.2 million, or $1.39 a share, compared with a loss of $19.5 million, or $1.57 a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted loss for the recent quarter was 44 cents a share. Revenue rose to $41.5 million from $26.3 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a loss of 49 cents a share on revenue of $37.2 million. For the fourth quarter, MongoDB estimates an adjusted loss of 43 cents to 42 cents a share on revenue of $42 million to $42.5 million. Analysts expect a loss of 44 cents a share on revenue of $41.3 million.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Tuesday the appointment of William D. Duhnke III, an attorney and currently the staff director and general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, as the new chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the independent audit industry regulator. The SEC also named four new board members: J. Robert Brown, a professor of law at the University of Denver, Kathleen M. Hamm, currently the global leader of securities and fintech solutions and senior strategic advisor on cyber solutions at Promontory Financial Group, James G. Kaiser, a partner and 38-year veteran of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Duane M. DesParte, a former audit partner at Deloitte & Touche and, prior to that, Arthur Andersen.

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Shares of Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. fell more than 8% in the late session Tuesday after the company said it plans to sell 7 million shares of its common stock. Underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy up to 1.05 million additional shares, the company said. Proteostasis on Monday announced positive results on three trials of drugs aimed at cystic fibrosis treatments, lifting shares earlier Tuesday. Proteostasis’ shares ended the regular Tuesday session up 161%. The shares are down 50% this year, compared with gains of 19% for the S&P 500 index.

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House and Senate negotiators are settling on a corporate rate of 21% in a final tax bill, up from the 20% passed by each chamber, the Washington Post reports. The Post’s story also said congressional Republicans are in advanced talks to lower the top tax rate for individuals from 39.6% to 37% as they finalize a tax package. The House-Senate tax conference committee is scheduled to meet in open session on Wednesday to discuss a bill.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Tennessee-based Provectus , a biopharmaceutical company, with allegedly failing to properly report millions of dollars in perks provided to its then-CEO and then-CFO as compensation. The company allegedly lacked sufficient controls surrounding the reporting and disclosure of travel and entertainment expenses submitted by its executives, including Provectus’ former CEO, Dr. H. Craig Dees, who obtained millions of dollars from the company using limited, fabricated, or non-existent expense documentation, according to the SEC. Provectus’ former CFO, Peter R. Culpepper, also allegedly obtained $199,194 in unauthorized and undisclosed perks and benefits. The SEC said Dees treated the company “as his personal piggy bank,” using falsified records to obtain $3.2 million in cash advances and reimbursements to allegedly pay for personal expenses such as cosmetic surgery for female friends, restaurant tips, and personal travel. The SEC settled with the company, which did not include any fines based on its proactive remediation and the cooperation of its new leadership. Provectus also fired the alleged wrongdoers. The company and Culpepper consented to separate orders, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Culpepper agreed to pay $152,376 in disgorgement and interest, a civil penalty, and to be suspended from appearing and practicing before the SEC as an accountant for three years.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday raised its price forecasts on West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil for this year and next. In its monthly energy outlook report, the government agency forecast WTI prices at $50.56 a barrel for this year, up from $49.70 in the October forecast. For 2018, it forecast $52.77–up from $51.04 in the previous outlook. The EIA also upped its 2017 forecast on Brent crude to $53.88 from $53.01 and its 2018 outlook to $57.26 from $55.61. It modestly raised its 2018 output view to 10.02 million barrels a day from 9.95 million. That would be “the highest average annual production rate of crude oil in U.S. history,” said EIA Acting Administrator John Conti. January WTI crude continued to trade lower, down 1.5% at $57.12 a barrel. February Brent lost 1.7% at $63.59.

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MoviePass, the film-theater subscription service owned by Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. , and Fandor, a streaming service with a database of independent films, documentaries, international features and shorts, are teaming up with Costco Wholesale Corp. to offer a special one-year plan for $89.99 that will give subscribers access to Fandor’s library as well as to MoviePass’ cinema plan. The offer will be available online for just one week from Dec. 12 to Dec. 18, the companies said in a statement. “those who sign up for the one year subscriptions will receive digital codes providing instant access to Fandor’s library of over 5,000 films, as well as a year’s worth of the latest and greatest in-theater experiences through MoviePass,” the statement said. MoviePass has grown its subscriber base to more than 600,000 since launching a $9.95 a month plan in August. Helios and Matheson shares were trading up 17.5% Tuesday, while Costco shares were down 0.6%. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%.

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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp. fell 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively, in Tuesday morning trading, after analysts at Susquehanna suggested that application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) could become more important than graphics processing units (GPUs) for 2018. “Nvidia was in the right place at the right time,” wrote the analysts, led by Christoper Rolland, as its GPUs made for gaming purposes proved useful for complex artificial-intelligence tasks as well. “However, our discussions with numerous thought leaders in the industry suggest ASICs may replace much of today’s GPU infrastructure over time,” he added. Plus, GPUs could become less useful for the mining of cryptocurrencies in 2018, according to Rolland. AMD shares have fallen 12% so far in 2017, compared with an 80% gain for Nvidia shares. The S&P 500 is up 19% this year, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained 37%.

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