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The Senate on Thursday confirmed Joseph Otting as comptroller of the currency, by a vote of 54-43. President Donald Trump nominated Otting, a former regional banker, for the post in June. Otting will oversee federally chartered banks in his role. Otting will replace Keith Noreika, who has held the post in an acting capacity.
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General Electric Co. stock was up 0.1% in morning trade, but pared earlier gains of as much as 1.2%. The industrial conglomerate’s long-term credit rating was cut one notch to A2 from A1 at Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the “severe deterioration” in GE’s Power business, that will last through at least 2019. Moody’s affirmed GE’s short-term rating of Prime-1, and said the ratings outlook was stable, but said GE’s credit metrics “are not expected to be consistent with expectations for the A2 rating over the next several years.” The stock, which closed at Tuesday at a near six-year low, has tumbled 11% since new Chief Executive John Flannery detailed GE’s turnaround plan on Monday, and has plunged 23% since the day after GE reported third-quarter results on Oct. 20. “Moody’s does not anticipate that GE will allocate a meaningful portion of any proceeds from planned asset disposals to debt reduction in the near term to help expedite the restoration of credit metrics,” Moody’s said in a statement. GE’s stock has plummted 42% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 19%.
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Shares of biotech Arsanis Inc. surged 40% in their first minutes of trade Thursday, after the company priced its initial public offering at $10, well below its price range of $15 to $17. The stock added more than $4 to trade above $14. Waltham, Mass. and Vienna, Austria- based Arsanis is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is focused on applying monoclonal antibody immunotherapies to address serious infectious disease. The company sold 4 million shares to raise $40 million. Proceeds will be used to fund operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments into mid 2019, including the completion of trials of its ASN100 treatment for the prevention of Staphylococcus aureus, or pneumonia in high-risk, mechanically ventilated patients, for which there is currently no approved treatment. The S&P 500 was up 0.8%.
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Data from the U.S.Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 18 billion cubic feet for the week ended Nov. 10. That was the first weekly decline since March. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a decrease of 14 billion. Total stocks now stand at 3.772 trillion cubic feet, down 271 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 101 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. December natural gas rose 1.6 cents, or 0.5%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.098 per million British thermal units, little changed from $3.092 before the data.
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Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 1.0% in morning trade Thursday, putting them on course for a fifth-straight loss to an 8-week low, after RBC Capital cut its stock price target on concerns over the potential for future share buybacks. Analyst Biraj Borkhataria, who rates Exxon Mobil sector perform, lowered his price target to $85, which is just 5.5% above current levels, from $90. Borkhataria said recent conversations with investors indicate many favor the stock given its relatively high dividend yield, but Borkhataria believes that argument fails to recognize that share buybacks have been a core part of shareholder returns in the past, and that’s not likely to see much growth. “We see limited scope for Exxon to raise the share buyback program materially going forward, with surplus cash likely to be utilized in asset acquisitions,” Borkhataria wrote in a note to clients. “On an all-in basis, we see Exxon trading in line with the market, and thus materially less attractive than in prior years.” At current share prices, Exxon’s dividend yield of 3.83% is above the implied yield of the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF of 3.19% and of the S&P 500 implied yield of 1.94%. Exxon Mobil’s yield puts it in the 92nd-percentile of S&P 500 components. The stock has slid 10.9% year to date, while the Energy ETF has lost 11.0% and the S&P 500 has gained 15.1%.
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NetApp Inc. shares rocketed 15% out of the gate Thursday, as analysts applauded better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings. D.A. Davidson analyst Mark Kelleher said the company has executed a ‘significant company realignment’ in the last two years as it moved into the Flash storage system market. “Strategic (growth) products continue to provide a strong revenue tailwind, while the headwind of Mature products is moderating,” Kelleher wrote in a note. “We continue to believe NTAP offers an attractive value investment opportunity. The company has a rejuvenated product line that now spans many new markets (including Cloud and Flash); it has strong cash flow, and a commitment to its stock buyback program.” Kelleher reiterated his buy rating on the stock and raised his price target to $56 from $53. Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold stuck with a market perform rating on the stock, but said the strong guidance was encouraging, as he had been cautious given strong comparisons starting in the January quarter. “We are incrementally positive around stable single digit y/y percentage growth, but continue to be cautious given the tough competitive environment, headwinds from ongoing cloud migrations, and late entry to the hyperconverged space,” he wrote. Shares have gained 50% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained about 15%.
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Arsanis Inc. priced its initial public offering at $10 late Wednesday, well below its $15 to $17 price range. The clinical-stage biotech sold 4 million shares to raise $40 million. Underwriters have the option to buy up to 600,000 additional shares at the offer price to cover over-allotments. The shares are expected to start trading later Thursday on Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol “ASNS”.
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U.S. stocks were trading higher shortly after the opening bell on Thursday, with the main indexes attempting a rebound after two sessions of losses. The S&P 500 opened 11 points, or 0.4%, higher at 2,576. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 132 points, or 0.6%, to 23,403. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index advanced 41 points, or 0.6%, to 6,747. Among the best performers on Wall Street, shares of Cisco Systems Inc. jumped after the maker of networking equipment late Wednesday delivered better-than-expected quarterly results and an encouraging outlook. Shares of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. also rallied, after earnings came in ahead of expectations.
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Demographic change in the U.S. will result in a slower-growing and older population and the Federal Reserve must be alert to the impact of this transition on economic growth and interest rates, said Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester on Thursday. In a speech to the Cato Institute in Washington, Mester said it was still not clear whether the coming demographic change would put upward or downward pressure on interest rates. People want to reduce their exposure to risk as they age so there would be downward pressure on low risk or risk-free rates. But there would also be upward pressure on interest rates from dissaving as people draw down their savings and sell assets to fund their retirement, and as the government boosts spending on retiree benefits.
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Hess Corp. announced Thursday a $500 million stock repurchase program, to be completed in 2018, as part of its plan for the use of proceeds from asset sales. The energy company also said it would reduce debt by $500 million, increase the number of Bakken rigs to six from four in 2018 and prefund oil development in Guyana. The company has announced this year $3.4 billion in asset sales and the release of $1.3 billion of asset retirement obligations. Hess made the share buyback and debt reduction announcement in a presentation at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Global Energy Conference. The stock, which edged up 0.3% in light premarket trade, has plunged 29.9% year to date through Wednesday, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has lost 10.6% and the S&P 500 has rallied 14.6%.
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