Category: Stock Market News

Gold prices ended sharply higher Wednesday, getting a boost as the U.S. dollar weakened, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index trading near the session’s lows as gold trading settled. Prices for the metal then held ground near their settlement level after minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting earlier this month showed the central bank viewed a near-term increase in interest rates as likely. Officials, however, also expressed more alarm about persistently low inflation, a sign that the bank may not be as aggressive in 2018 as previously expected. In electronic trading, December gold was at $1,292 an ounce, after settling with a gain of $10.50, or 0.8%, at $1,292.20 an ounce.

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U.S. stocks were little changed after the Fed minutes from the latest policy meeting underlined expectations for a rate hike in December. The minutes show that top officials also expressed more alarm about persistently low inflation in a sign the bank might not be aggressive in 2018 as previously expected. The S&P 500 was off by a point at 2,597.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 57 points, or 0.2%, to 23,533. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was flat at 6,865.87.The ICE U.S. Dollar index held on to earlier losses, trading 0.5% lower at 93.454.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The Federal Reserve in early November viewed a “near-term” increase in interest rates as likely, but top officials also expressed more alarm about persistently low inflation in a sign the bank might not be aggressive in 2018 as previously expected. The language from the Fed’s Oct. 31-Nov. 1 meeting was softer than in the September discussions, reflecting worries that low inflation might also be a result of “developments that could prove more persistent,” according to the Fed minutes released Wednesday. Despite the nagging doubt the Fed still appears on the cusp of raise interest rates again soon. The benchmark fed funds rate, now between 1% and 1.25%, is likely to be raised a quarter-point at the bank’s Dec. 12-13 meeting, Wall Street predicts. The big question is whether the Fed will stick to three planned rate increases in 2018 if inflation remains low. The outlook is also clouded by the pending departure of Chairwoman Janet Yellen, who’ll be replaced by board member Jerome Powell early next year.

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Baker Hughes on Wednesday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil was up 9 at 747 this week. The report was issued ahead of the usual Friday release because of Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, climbed by 8 to 923, according to Baker Hughes. January West Texas Intermediate crude was up 93 cents, or 1.6%, from Tuesday, to $57.76 a barrel. Prices traded at $57.73 shortly before the rig data.

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Shares of Cerner Corp. ran up 5.3% in afternoon trade Wednesday, to top the S&P 500’s gainers list, after CNBC reported that health care information technology company will be partnering with Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud business. The partnership is expected to be announced at Amazon Web Services’ “re:Invent 2017” conference in Las Vegas next week, the CNBC report said, citing sources familiar with the matter. The partnership would help Amazon with a foothold to enter the health care industry. Amazon’s stock jumped 1.3% toward a record close. Year to date, Amazon shares have soared 54.0%, while Cerner’s stock has rallied 48.2%, the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 18.3% and the S&P 500 has advanced 16.0%.

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Nutanix Inc. shares rallied Wednesday after another analyst initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating, citing the enterprise-computing company’s disruptive offerings that stand to benefit from secular changes in how businesses are buying data center services. Nutanix shares surged 7.7% to $32.53 on volume of more than 3.7 million shares midday, compared with a 52-week average daily volume of 2.8 million shares. Shares, which are up 22% this year, are on track for their highest close since mid-February. In comparison, the Nasdaq Composite Index is up nearly 28% for the year. Needham analyst Jack Andrews started coverage with a $45 price target, citing the company’s scalable data center services, history of strong revenue growth, and the gravitation of businesses toward cloud computing. Andrews said that investors perceive Nutanix as a commodity hardware company rather than a data-center operating systems company. “In our view, significant longer term upside exists if investors begin to revalue NTNX as a pure-play software company, which we believe is likely given the true value proposition of its product portfolio and vision,” Andrews said in a research note. Earlier in the month, shares rallied after Raymond James raised their rating on the stock. Nutanix is scheduled to report quarterly earnings Nov. 30. With the addition of Needham, 19 analysts cover Nutanix, and of those, 14 have buy or overweight ratings and five have hold ratings, with an average price target of $32.25, according to FactSet. The next highest price target is $40 from Wells Fargo Securities analyst Aaron Rakers.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 46 billion cubic feet for the week ended Nov. 17. The data were released a day early because of Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a decrease of 54 billion. Total stocks now stand at 3.726 trillion cubic feet, down 319 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 121 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. December natural gas fell 5 cents, or 1.7%, to $2.967 per million British thermal units, little changed from $2.972 before the data.

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General Electric Co.’s stock rallied 1.9% in morning trade Wednesday, enough to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gainers, as it bounced sharply off the previous session’s six-year closing low. GE disclosed Tuesday that board member Francisco D’Souza, who is the chief executive of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. , bought 55,000 GE shares at $17.94, valued at $986,700, on Monday, when the stock traded within intraday range of $17.83 to $18.13. That increased D’Souza’s stake to 91,500 shares, filings show. D’Souza’s purchase comes just a few days after Chief Executive John Flannery bought 60,000 shares at $18.27, for a value of $1,096,200. GE’s stock has tumbled 26.1% over the past three months and 42.5% year to date, while the Dow has climbed 19.3% this year.

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday showed that domestic crude supplies fell by 1.9 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 17. That was just under the forecast for a decline of 2.1 million barrels from analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday had reported a drop of 6.4 million barrels, according to sources. Gasoline stockpiles were unchanged for the week, while distillate stockpiles edged up by 300,000 barrels, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast a supply rise of 1 million barrels for gasoline and a decline of 1.8 million barrels for distillates. January crude rose 74 cents, or 1.3%, from Tuesday to $57.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $57.69 before the supply data.

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Shares of Salesforce.com Inc. fell 2% in morning trade Wednesday, as a downbeat fourth-quarter outlook offset a third-quarter profit and sales beat, but the customer relationship management company received a flood of price target increases by Wall Street analysts. Of the 46 analysts surveyed by FactSet, 27 raised their price targets, lifting the average target to $120.86 from $109.10 at the end of October. Canaccord Genuity’s Richard Davis, who raised his target to $130 from $120, went as far as saying, “we do not know how anyone can reasonably argue that Salesforce is not one of, if not the highest quality software companies on the planet.” Regarding Salesforce’s downbeat outlook, J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Murphy said that it “follows the recent pattern of under promising and over delivering.” Murphy kept his target at $120, and his rating at overweight, saying the companies beat of billings guidance was the biggest in a year and a half. Analyst Brent Bracelin at KeyBanc Capital boosted his target to $124 from $108, saying the company is trending toward a doubling in revenue to $20 billion by fiscal 2022. The stock has soared 55.8% year to date, and closed at a record high on Tuesday, while the iShares North American Tech-Software ETF has rallied 45.5% and the S&P 500 has climbed 16.0%.

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