Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Boeing Co. sank 4.6% in midday trade Wednesday, putting them on course to suffer their first official correction in nearly two years, amid continued worries over the impact of President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. The stock, which easily paced the 29 of 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average components that were declining, has now shed 11.4% since the Feb. 27 record close of $364.64. Many on Wall Street define a correction as a decline of at least 10% from a significant peak. The aerospace and defense contractor’s stock last entered correction territory in June 2016. On Wednesday, the price decline of $15.71 shaved about 108 points off the price of the Dow, which was down 313 points.The stock was still up 81% over the past 12 months, while the Dow has gained 19%.

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An afternoon downdraft for U.S. equities on Wednesday wiped out the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 2018 gains. The Dow was most recently down 316 points, or 1.3%, enough to put it down 0.1% for the first three months of 2018, according to FactSet data. The slide in the Dow came as Boeing Co.’s shares , one of the most influential Dow component’s, were convulsing lower. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was off a more subdued 0.6% at 2,748, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.4%. The S&P 500 boasts a year-to-date gain of 2.8%, while the Nasdaq is on pace for a 2018 return of 8.3%.

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The Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday it is reorganizing into four business segments as part of a strategic overhaul aimed at boosting growth. The entertainment giant said the new structure comprises a new direct-to-consumer and international segment, a combined parks, experiences and consumer products segment, a media networks segment and a studio entertainment segment. The reorganization is effective immediately. “We are strategically positioning our businesses for the future, creating a more effective, global framework to serve consumers worldwide, increase growth, and maximize shareholder value,” Chief Executive Robert Iger said in a statement. The company has named Kevin Mayer, currently chief strategy officer, as head of the new direct-to-consumer and international business. That business will house the international media businesses, as well as the coming streaming service, the company’s stake in Hulu and its soon to-be-launched ESPN-plus streaming service. The company expects to transition to financial reporting under the new structure by the beginning of fiscal 2019. Shares were slightly lower Wednesday, and are down 8% in the last 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained about 19% and the S&P 500 has gained about 16%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded firmly lower on Wednesday, amid a broad downturn in U.S. equities led by selling in financials and industrials. Most recently, the Dow was down 271 points, or 1%, at 24,751, led by a selloff in industrials giant and Dow component Boeing Co. , which was down 4%, or nearly $14, and shaving about 100 points from the blue-chip index. A $1 move in any one of the Dow’s 30 components equates to a 6.89-point swing in the average.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said Wednesday that its chief marketing officer, Mark Crumpacker, will resign, effective Thursday. Crumpacker will receive cash severance totaling 26 weeks of his base salary and 12 months to exercise vested stock-only stock appreciation rights. Chipotle shares are down 1.8% in Wednesday trading, and down 20.4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 16.6% for the last 12 months.

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Oil prices moved slightly lower Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude supplies rose by 5 million barrels for the week ended March 9. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a climb of 2.5 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a rise of nearly 1.2 million barrels, according to sources. Gasoline stockpiles, however, dropped 6.3 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles lost 4.4 million barrels, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast supply declines of 500,000 barrels for gasoline and 1.6 million barrels for distillates. April crude fell 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $60.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from $60.95 before the supply data.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced civil and criminal insider trading charges against Jun Ying, who allegedly used confidential information entrusted to him by the company to conclude that Equifax had suffered a serious breach. The SEC alleges that before Equifax’s public disclosure of the data breach, Ying exercised all of his vested Equifax stock options and then sold the shares, reaping proceeds of nearly $1 million. According to the complaint, by selling before public disclosure of the data breach, Ying avoided more than $117,000 in losses. Despite the breach, shares of Equifax have risen by 4.7% so far in 2018, compared with a gain of 0.9% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a rise of 3.4% for the S&P 500 index over the same period, according to FactSet data.

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Denny’s Corp. said Wednesday that it has partnered with Amazon.com Inc.’s to expand its Denny’s on Demand digital ordering to Amazon Alexa. The restaurant chain launched Denny’s on Demand last May and has since delivered 1.3 million orders. Denny’s shares are nearly flat in Wednesday trading, and up 21% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 3.4% for the period.

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Business inventories in the U.S. rose 0.6% in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Inventories in December were also revised up to a 0.6% gain from the prior estimate of 0.4%. Sales fell 0.2% in the month after a 0.5% gain in December. The rise in inventories and the drop in sales brought up the ratio of inventories to sales to 1.34 in January from 1.33 in the prior month. That’s how many months it would take to sell all the inventory on hand. One year ago, the ratio was 1.37. Auto inventories jumped 1.7% in January after falling 0.3% in December.

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S&P Global Ratings downgraded Ann Taylor parent Ascena Retail Group Inc.’s rating to B from B-plus on Wednesday, after the women’s apparel retailer reported declines in same-store sales and margins in its recent fiscal second-quarter earnings. “We expect Ascena’s operating performance to remain challenged because of the company’s lack of operating capabilities to effectively adapt to the sustained structural changes in the specialty apparel industry,” S&P analyst Mathew Christy wrote in a note. The outlook on the rating is negative, meaning the agency could downgrade it again in the medium term. S&P is expecting operating trends and credit metrics to remain negative, even though it expects Ascena to pay down some debt with repatriated cash. Ann Taylor and Dressbarn are expected to continue to post negative same-store sales, which will weigh against “modestly positive” trends at Justice and Lane Bryant. “Although the company continues to execute on its operating initiatives, such as product procurement and back-office function consolidation, we believe its omnichannel capabilities, store experience, and loyalty programs lag behind peers’,” said Christy. “As such, the company will likely continue to be reliant on discounting to drive traffic, which we expect to further pressure margins.” Shares were up 1% on Wednesday, but have fallen 50% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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