Category: Stock Market News

The Dow and S&P 500 finished the week in negative territory on Friday, but the Nasdaq Composite managed to mark a fresh record after a key jobs report showed that the U.S. economy posted its first monthly decline in jobs in about seven years in September. However, the effect of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast and Florida obscured long-sought gains in wages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed little changed at 22,773, the S&P 500 index finished slightly lower, off 0.1%, snapping an eight-day win streak to close at 2,549. The broad-market benchmark also halted its streak of record closes, the longest in 20 years, at six in a row. The Nasdaq Composite Index , meanwhile, booked a gain of less than 0.1%, but enough to post its 55th all-time high of 2017. For the week, the Dow rose 1.7%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2%, while the Nasdaq logged a weekly return of 1.5%. Nonfarm payrolls shrank by 33,000 in September, undercut by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 75,000 increase in nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 4.2% from 4.4%, while wages increased by 0.5% to an average of $26.55 an hour, the Labor Department said Friday. In corporate news, data-center operator Switch Inc. jumped 23% in its debut as a public company.

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

Flexion Therapeutics Inc. shares surged 18% in afternoon trade Friday on news that the company’s non-opioid injection for osteoarthritis knee pain has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The injection, Zilretta, provides pain relief for 12 weeks. The company expects it will be available in the U.S. by the end of the month, with a full commercial launch in mid-November, at a price of $570 a dose (the figure refers to the injection’s wholesale acquisition cost, which is the price a drugmaker offers middleman wholesalers). Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, is a painful joint disease. Zilretta uses microscopic spherical particles to deliver a combination of a common, short-acting corticosteroid with a poly lactic-co-glycolic acid, the company said. Though there is an urgent need for new non-opioid pain medications, startlingly little progress has been made, MarketWatch reported this summer. Zilretta “may avoid the disruptive blood glucose spikes that can be seen with corticosteroid use in patients coping with both knee OA and type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Steven Russell, assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital Diabetes Research Center. Flexion shares have surged 40% over the last three months, compared with a nearly 6% rise in the S&P 500 .

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

Oil fell Friday, building on a loss for the week as energy operations in the Gulf of Mexico prepared for Tropical Storm Nate, which is expected to become a hurricane this weekend. Many energy companies have evacuated offshore oil and gas platforms, prompting a slowdown of oil production, but traders are also weighing the likelihood that OPEC-led production cuts will be extended through next year. November West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.50, or 3%, to settle at $49.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost about 4.6% for the week.

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

Gold prices rose Friday, finding support from some weakness in the U.S. dollar, but the precious metal posted a loss for the week as traders gauge the likelihood for a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike before the end of the year. December gold rose $1.70, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,274.90 an ounce. Prices lost about 0.8% from the week-ago finish after declines in each of the last three weeks.

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

Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell by 2 to 748 this week after posting a climb of 6 rigs last week. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also declined by 4 to 936, according to Baker Hughes. November West Texas Intermediate crude was down $1.50, or 3%, from Thursday to $49.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from the $49.25 it traded at before the 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

MongoDB Inc. , a database-software company valued at $1.6 billion by private investors, is looking for a valuation of less than $1 billion in its initial public offering. The company updated its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday morning and said that it expects to sell 8 million shares at a price of $18 to $20 a share. At the top of that range, the company would take in $160 million at a market capitalization of about $980 million. MongoDB, which has raised more than $300 million in private investment, was valued at $1.6 billion in December 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company, which originally filed for an IPO last month, plans to list under the ticker symbol “MDB” on the Nasdaq.

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 U.S. Treasury Department on Friday said parts of the Dodd-Frank Act should be repealed, among other steps, to promote economic growth and capital formation. “By streamlining the regulatory system, we can make the U.S. capital markets a true source of economic growth which will harness American ingenuity and allow small businesses to grow,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in remarks accompanying a report on regulation and markets. The report also recommends increasing the amount that can be raised in a crowdfunding offering from $1 million to $5 million. Among the Dodd-Frank recommendations are repealing disclosure requirements regarding conflict minerals.

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 data-center operator Switch Inc. surged 44% in their trading debut Friday, after the company priced its initial public offering above the price range. The shares rose $7.42 to $24.42 in the first five minute of trade. The Las Vegas-based company, which owns three large data centers and is developing a fourth, sold 31.25 million shares at $17 apiece to raise $531.25 million. The company has said it will use the proceeds to buy out investors in Switch Ltd. and take control of that company though Switch Inc., which was just incorporated in 2017. A multi-class share structure will allow founder and Chief Executive Rob Roy to maintain control, as his shares will have 10 times the voting rights of common shares.

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

GoPro Inc. rebounded Friday morning from a two-day downturn that began when Alphabet Inc.’s Google introduced a wearable camera seen as a potential competitor to GoPro’s core products. After falling 13% in two days, GoPro stock moved as much as 5% higher in early trading Friday after Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that the sell-off was overdone and played down the threat from Google. The Google Clips camera is “not designed as a [point-of-view] camera, not wearable, not ruggedized, lacking sound, image stabilization, high frame-rate and a host of other features,” the analysts noted. “In short, Google Clips appears to address a subset of the needs of the smart-home market and not GoPro’s traditional active-lifestyle market, so the sell-off seems a bit over-done to us.” Morgan Stanley has an overweight rating on the stock with a $15 price target, the highest tracked by FactSet. GoPro stock has fallen 39.7% in the past year, as the S&P 500 index has gained 18.1%.

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

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, after the September payroll report came in below expectations, although the report was viewed as an imperfect snapshot of the labor market given the impact of two recent hurricanes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, or 30 points, to 22,745. The S&P 500 fell 5 points, or 0.2%, 2,547. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 18 points, or 0.3%, to 6,567. Major indexes have been in a strong uptrend of late; the Dow and the S&P 500 are set to end seven-day rallies while the Nasdaq has gained for five straight sessions. All three have been hitting records. The U.S. workforce shrank by 33,000 jobs in September, worst than average economists estimates, as employment was undercut by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 75,000 increase in nonfarm jobs, but estimates were all over the map because of uncertainty about the effects of the storms. Despite the decline on the day, indexes remain on track for a week of solid gains. The Dow is up 1.7% while the S&P is up 1.3%. Both are on track for their fourth straight positive week. The Nasdaq is up 1.4% in its second straight positive week. In company news, Switch Inc priced its initial public offering at $17 a share, above a previously stated range.

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