Category: Stock Market News

Micron Technology Inc.’s stock tumbled 7.3%, as it headed for a third-straight loss since closing at a 17-year high on Friday, amid some near-term concerns over memory chip pricing. KeyBanc Capital analyst Weston Twigg reiterated his sector weight rating on Micron ahead Thursday’s release of November monthly contract data pricing for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND memory chips. “Despite good long-term memory trends, we see neutral to negative dynamics in the near- to midterm for NAND, and neutral dynamics for DRAM,” Twigg wrote in a note to clients. The stock has shed 10.5% this week, which puts it on track to record just its third pullback since its current bull market began in May 2016. Many on Wall Street view a decline of 10% or more from a significant peak as an official pullback, while declines of at least 20% are bear markets. Micron’s other pullbacks were the 15.4% drop from June 26, 2017 to Aug. 10, and the 16.5% decline from June 23, 2016 to July 6, 2016. From the May 13, 2016 bear market bottom of $9.56, the stock had rocketed more than five-fold to Friday’s record close of $49.68. Over the past three months, Micron’s stock was still up 41%, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index has climbed 17% and the S&P 500 has gained 7.4%.

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

The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said a bill to stabilize Obamacare would not do much to counter the negative impact of repealing the individual mandate to buy health insurance. The Senate tax bill has such a repeal provision. The CBO previously estimated repealing the mandate would result in up to 13 million fewer people with insurance and a 10% increase in average nongroup market premiums in a decade. “If legislation were enacted that incorporated both the provisions of the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act and a repeal of the individual mandate, the agencies expect that the interactions among the provisions would be small; the effects on premiums and the number of people with health insurance coverage would be similar to those referenced above,” CBO Director Keith Hall wrote Sen. Patty Murray, the Oregon Democrat who is co-sponsor of the bipartisan stabilization bill.

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

The Dow Jones Transportation Average surged back above the 10,000 level Wednesday, as it approached its Oct. 12 record close, with all 20 components trading higher, led by airline stocks. The Dow transports shot up 260 points, or 2.7%, after running up 159 points, or 1.7% on Tuesday. The two-day gain of 4.4% would be the biggest since it climbed 4.5% in the two days ending June 29. The biggest gainer was JetBlue Airways Corp.’s stock , which hiked up 5.7% to a 3 1/2-month high, followed by shares of Southwest Airlines Co. , which rallied 5.6%. The Dow transports were just 0.2% away from the 10,038.13 record close. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 53 points, on track for a record close.

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

Viacom Inc. said on Wednesday that it has appointed executive Jose Tolosa to a newly created role as chief transformation officer. Tolosa will report directly to Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish in the role, which puts him in charge of a team that will be responsible for guiding Viacom’s agenda to transform its business, as well as developing and executing initiatives that support and accelerate the company’s strategic priorities. Viacom has struggled in recent years, only recently emerging from internal turmoil that resulted in the ousting of former CEO Philippe Dauman. The company has suffered viewership declines at its networks and poor performance at the box office. Tolosa was previously Viacom’s chief operating officer for international media networks. “At Viacom International Media Networks he played an instrumental role in evolving our international media business, including the launch of our highly successful Play Plex mobile apps and their ongoing expansion to the U.S.,” Bakish said in a statement. “As chief transformation officer, Jose will build on this strong track record by ensuring we are aligning our operations to meet our goals and best position Viacom for the future.” Shares of Viacom’s publicly-owned class B shares are down more than 20% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up 17% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up nearly 21%.

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

Shares of Nvidia Corp. sank 7.4% on heavy volume in midday trade Wednesday, as they suffered a third-straight loss following Friday’s record close. Volume swelled to 16.3 million shares, already more than the full-day average of 12.6 million shares. The stock has now plunged 10.1% during its losing streak, the biggest three-day selloff since it tumbled 10.6% during the three-day stretch ending Feb. 8, 2016. On Tuesday, shares of Nvidia and rival graphics chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. took a hit after Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh warned that the cryptocurrency market could become less meaningful for chip companies. AMD’s stock slid 3.2% on Wednesday. The stocks’ selloff comes amid broad weakness in the chip sector, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index shedding 4.4%. The chip sector tracker has now lost 5.7% since closing at a record high on 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

Susquehanna Financial Group analysts led by Bill Dreher have come to the conclusion that a problem with International Business Machines Corp. servers caused the credit card problems that Macy’s Inc. had on Black Friday. Analysts had a conference call with a credit card processing expert they call Tom P. that led Susquehanna to believe that the servers stopped working for cards that weren’t private label. “We believe that it is highly likely that this interruption will have a financial impact on the company’s business, but believe that sales could have been running ahead of conservative guidance provided prior to the interruption, preventing a miss but offsetting a gain,” analysts wrote. “While the specifics of the impact will not be detailed until post-holiday commentary from the company, we are increasingly confident that the processing issue will be a headwind during FQ4, possibly much worse if it affects core customer goodwill.” Macy’s said Friday that the problem was “due to a capacity-related issue that caused some transactions to take longer to process.” IBM did not comment on the problem by press time. Macy’s shares are up 6% in Wednesday trading, but down more then 34% for the year so far. IBM shares are down 8.1% for the year to date. And the S&P 500 index is up 17.3% for 2017 so far.

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

Retail stocks jumped in early Wednesday trading after data showing the long Thanksgiving weekend has gotten the holiday shopping season off to a good start. Macy’s Inc. shares spiked 5.7%, Target Corp. shares rose 5.6%, Nordstrom Inc. shares were up 5% and Kohl’s Corp. stock climbed 4.1% for the day so far. Adobe data shows that Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in history, with sales totaling $6.59 billion, up 16.8% year-over-year. Despite the steep increase in e-commerce activity, brick-and-mortar stores held their own, with ShopperTrak data showing that traffic declined just 1% on Black Friday, and for the week, from Sunday, Nov. 16 to Sunday Nov. 26, the rate of shopper visit decline was 2%, the same as 2016. This indicates, according to ShopperTrak’s general manager for the Americas, Bill McCarthy, “that the era of steep year-over-year declines in shopper visits around [Black] Friday may be coming to an end.” The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is up 12.3% for the past three months, but down 5% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 19.3% for the last 12 months.

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

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday showed that domestic crude supplies fell by 3.4 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 24. That was a bit higher than the forecast for a decline of 3 million barrels from analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday had reported an increase of 1.8 million barrels, according to sources. Gasoline stockpiles were up 3.6 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles added 2.7 million barrels, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast a supply rise of 1.1 million barrels for gasoline and an increase of 160,000 barrels for distillates. January crude fell 20 cents, or 0.3%, from Tuesday to $57.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, little changed from $57.77 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

Uber revealed on Wednesday that 2.7 million U.K. users were affected by a security breach that hit the ride-hailing app last year, but were only brought to light in early November. The ride-hailing service acknowledged on Nov. 21 that it had paid hackers a ransom of $100,000 in an effort to conceal a data breach that affected 57 million accounts. However, Uber — which now faces multiple investigations over the breach — did not disclose at that time how many drivers and customers in the U.K. were affected. “We do not believe any individual rider needs to take any action. We have seen no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident. We are monitoring the affected accounts and have flagged them for additional fraud protection,” Uber 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

Shares of Rite Aid Corp. rocketed on heavy volume Wednesday for a second-straight session, after the drugstore chain said it had completed the “pilot closing” of its amended asset purchase deal with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. . The stock shot up 14% to a 2-month high. Volume hit 39 million shares, enough to make it the most active stock on major U.S. exchanges, and already about double the full-day average. On Tuesday, after the stock shot up 16% on volume of 51.5 million shares. Rite Aid said late Monday that the pilot closing resulted in the transfer of 97 stores and related assets to Walgreens. Under the amended agreement announced in September, Rite Aid will sell a total of 1,932 stores, three distribution centers and related inventory for $4.38 billion in cash. Rite Aid expects to use the bulk of the proceeds from the deal to repay debt. Despite the stock’s surge this week, it was still down 73.9% year to date, while Walgreen shares have lost 11.5% and the S&P 500 has gained 17.4%.

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