Category: Stock Market News

President Trump is due to meet with Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen about serving a second term running the central bank, Politico reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Trump has previously said he was considering Yellen for the post. Other finalists include Fed Gov Jerome Powell, former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh, Stanford economist John Taylor and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.

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Allergan PLC shares dropped 5% in extremely heavy afternoon trade Monday after a Texas district court judge ruled against the company in a patent lawsuit regarding the company’s key billion-dollar dry eye medication Restasis. “There is no doubt that Allergan has invented a useful and successful pharmaceutical product. It has been richly rewarded for that invention,” Judge William Bryson said, adding, “the Court has concluded that Allergan is not entitled to renewed patent rights for Restasis in the form of a second wave of patent protection.” Allergan had previously made an unorthodox agreement with a New York state-based American Indian tribe in order to protect Restasis patents from challenges made through the U.S. Patent and Trade Office’s inter partes review process, which is separate from any court decisions. The company, which has been widely criticized for the move, including by lawmakers, has said that an district court ruling against it would allow a generic Restasis to “enter the market many years in advance of the listed patent expiry dates,” or 2024. Restasis, which is used for eye inflammation, brought in $1.4 billion in revenue last year, second only to Allergan’s top-selling Botox. Allergan shares have dropped 20.7% over the last three months, compared with a 3.9% rise in the S&P 500 .

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President Donald Trump repeated rhetoric from early in his presidency about drug prices being “out of control” and drugmakers “getting away with murder” on Monday, but said nothing about any possible drug pricing policies. Industry ETFs were largely undisturbed after the remarks, with the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF rising 0.5% in Monday morning trade, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF declining 0.2%, the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF rising 0.1% and the VanEck Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF declining 0.3%. Trump has previously made similar comments about drug pricing, and once vowed to bring prices down, but the only move from his administration so far has been a draft executive order that favored the drug industry. More movement is instead coming from the Food and Drug Administration, which does not handle drug pricing policy but does play a role through its approval of new drugs, especially cheap generics. The FDA has already approved more drugs in 2017 than it did for all of last year, and drugmakers have cited the regulator’s approval pace as a factor hurting their bottom lines. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has surged 9.8% over the last three months, compared with a 3.9% rise in the S&P 500 .

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President Donald Trump said Monday his administration is looking “very strongly” at welfare reform. “People are taking advantage of the system” while others aren’t getting what they need, Trump said in remarks at a cabinet meeting at the White House. Welfare reform would join an existing list of major policy items Trump is seeking action on, including a tax-policy overhaul, immigration and health care.

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Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. plunged 12% in active morning trade Monday, putting it on track to close at an 8-month low. The struggling department store chain said that Bruce Berkowitz, chief investment officer of investment advisor Fairholme Capital Management LLC, was stepping down from its board of directors at the end of the month. Fairholme Capital controlled 28.9 million Sears shares as of June 30, which would make it the second-largest shareholder with 26.9% of the shares outstanding. The stock has now erased virtually all the gains it has made since it announced a $1 billion restructuring in early February. The stock has now lost 26% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 0.4% and the S&P 500 has gained 3.9%.

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Shares of PG&E Corp. fell another 10% Monday, extended their Friday losses after the company acknowledged that it may face some liability stemming from the California wildfires. PG&E “has about $800 million in liability insurance for potential losses that may result from these fires. If the amount of insurance is insufficient to cover (PG&E’s) liability or if insurance is otherwise unavailable, PG&E Corporation’s and the Utility’s financial condition or results of operations could be materially affected,” the company said in a filing Friday. Possibly downed power lines are among the causes under investigation for the deadly fires in northern California counties. Shares have fallen 14% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 14%.

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Shares of TransEnterix Inc. rocketed 53% on heavy volume toward an 18-month high, after the medical device company received regulatory clearance to market its robotic surgery device. Volume spiked to more than 35 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 1.9 million shares, and enough to make the stock the most actively traded on the major U.S. exchanges. The company said late Friday that the Food and Drug Administration have marketing clearance to its Senhance System that gives surgeons a 3-D high-definition view of the surgical field and remote control of three robotic arms to perform procedures. The stock has now nearly tripled over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 3.9%.

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The Canadian dollar regained some strength against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, after the Bank of Canada published its autumn Business Survey Outlook. The BOC reported expectations for sustained sales growth in autumn, adding on from strong summer activity. That said, the survey’s indicator declined to 19 from 32 in the summer survey. Investment and employment indicators have softened, while pressures on the labor market have intensified. “Expectations for growth of input and output prices are stable, as an uptick in costs for labor and non-commodity inputs is offset by the recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar,” according to the report. Inflation, which is next due to be report at the end of this week, is expected to remain modest. One U.S. dollar bought C$1.2529 on Monday, off of its C$1.2558 intraday high, but up compared with C$1.2467 late Friday.

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Shares of Apple Inc. ran up 1.6% to a four-month high in morning trade Monday, to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gainers. The price gain of $2.44 was adding about 17 points to the Dow’s price, which was up 28 points. The second-biggest percentage gainer was J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s stock , which was rising $1.20, or 1.3%, to add 8 points to the Dow. The biggest loser was Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s stock , which fell $1.29, or 1.5%, to shave about 9 points off the Dow’s price.

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Shares of Nvidia Corp. rose 0.4% in morning trade Monday, and reached an all-time intraday high earlier in the session, after Mizuho raised its price target, citing strength in its GPU business and trends in the China data center market. Analyst Vijay Rakesh affirmed his buy rating, and boosted his price target to $220, which is 12% above Monday’s intraday high of $195.80. Rakesh said pricing for graphics processing units has been trending higher in recent months, given strong demand from the gaming and cryptocurrency markets, which should provide a tailwind for results. He said recent business deal wins in China should provide another tailwind, as should growing demand from the self-driving market. The stock has nearly tripled over the past 12 months, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index has climbed 51% and the S&P 500 has rallied 20%.

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