Category: Stock Market News

An assailant attacked a soldier on a counter-terrorism patrol in Paris on Friday, France’s armed forces minister said, according to Reuters. The soldier was uninjured. French media reported the attacker was armed with a knife. The incident, at the heavily used Chatelet subway station, was the latest in a series of attacks on troops protecting transport hubs and tourist sites. The attacker was wrestled to the ground before being detained, according to the Reuters report. The soldier is part of Operation Sentinel, a force deployed in the wake of Islamist attacks. Meanwhile, an explosion Friday on a London Underground train has left passengers with burns and has been declared a terrorist incident by British authorities.

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An explosion Friday on a London Underground train left District Line passengers with burns, according to media reports. British Transport Police said officers were at Parsons Green station after an incident, the station was closed, and more information would be forthcoming. People suffered facial burns as a white container exploded toward the rear of the train, said a Metro story citing a reporter at the scene. The London Ambulance Service said it was on the scene alongside the police.

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U.S. stock futures regained composure on Friday, hours after North Korea fired another missile over Japan for the second time. Stock futures initially retreated late Thursday, as news broke of the missile firing, but were recently trading mostly flat. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures inched up 4 points to 22,175, while S&P 500 futures slipped 2 points to 2,492.25 and Nasdaq-100 futures eased 0.5 point to 5,970.50. The Dow industrials closed at a record for a third-straight session on Thursday. Gold futures , which tend to attract investors in times of geopolitical tension, pared gains from late Thursday, rising $4.10, or 0.3%, to $1,333.40 an ounce. Earlier on Thursday, North Korea threatened to reduce the U.S. to “ashes and darkness” and suggested Japan be “sunken into the sea” by a nuclear bomb. Asian stocks were mostly flat to lower, though the Nikkei 225 index [S: JP:NIK] rose 0.6%.

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Alphabet Inc. has held talks with ride-hailing giant Lyft Inc. about a potential $1 billion investment in the company, according to multiple media reports. The private talks may not lead to an investment, however, and the media reports did not give any additional details about the discussions or who at Alphabet is involved. Alphabet is an investor in Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft’s largest rival, but its self-driving car unit, Waymo, is currently involved in a legal battle with Uber. The litigation is set to go to trial in October. Alphabet stock is up 18.6% this year, with the S&P 500 index up 11.5%.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated Thursday evening in New York after Japan issued a temporary shelter-in-place alert following a North Korean ballistic missile firing, according to Japanese and South Korean news reports. Dow Jones Industrial Futures were down 41 points, or 0.2%, at 22,132, futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.3% at 2,487, while futures for the Nasdaq-100 were off 0.3%. The dip in futures trading comes after the the Dow closed at a record for a third session in a row in regular trading Thursday, while the broader market sagged on the back of weak retail shares. Gold futures , which tend to draw buyers during times of geopolitical distress, were up 0.6% at $1,336 an ounce in electronic trade. The latest missile firing from Pyongyang comes after it issued new threats, calling to “reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes” and saying Japan “should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb.” Overall, the market’s reaction has been relatively muted given the threat of escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula, which have previously been a source of market anxiety. Other assets perceived as havens were little changed, including the 10-year benchmark Treasury note , which was yielding 2.19% late Thursday in New York. Bond prices rise as yields fall.

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Japan has issued a shelter in place after North Korea fired another missile late Thursday, according to Japanese and South Korean news reports. The missile was reportedly launched from around the North Korean capitol, Pyongyang, and flew eastward over Japan. North Korea previously fired a ballistic missile over northern Japan on Aug. 28. This is the rogue nation’s 13th missile test this year. Earlier Thursday, North Korea issued new threats, calling to “reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes” and saying Japan “should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb.”

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Oracle Corp. stock flipped from a post-earnings gain to a decline in late trading Thursday after the software company’s guidance came in below analysts’ expectations. Oracle stock moved to levels that would have been all-time highs after revealing a first-quarter earnings beat Thursday afternoon, but shares dropped to a decline of about 5% when the company revealed its guidance on a conference call. Co-Chief Executive Safra Catz said Oracle expects adjusted profit of 64 cents to 68 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter, with year-over-year revenue growth of 2% to 4%, all in constant currency. Analysts on average were projecting adjusted earnings of 68 cents a share and revenue growth of about 4.7%, according to FactSet. Oracle stock fell close to $50 a share after closing at $52.79. Oracle set new record closing prices three straight days this week ahead of its earnings report, gaining 37.3% in 2017 through Thursday’s close, while the S&P 500 index gained 11.6% in that time.

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S&P Global Ratings cut the city of Hartford’s credit rating down four notches to B- on “potential payment interruption concerns,” after it had cut the grade of the city’s general-obligation municipal bonds by two notches to BB in July, relegating them to so-called junk status. Some large money managers, such as pension funds, are banned from purchasing credits that have earned a “junk” rating. The Connecticut city faces the prospect of defaulting on their debt obligations, with the city’s officials reportedly looking to hire bankruptcy lawyers.

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Shares of Manitowoc Co. Inc. fell more than 1% late Thursday after the crane manufacturer said it planned to undertake a reverse stock split. The reverse split, at a ratio of 1-for-4, will reduce the number of shares of the company’s common stock from 300 million shares to 75 million shares. It is “expected to increase the per share trading price of the common stock, which may improve marketability and facilitate its trading,” Manitowoc said in a statement. The reverse split is subject to shareholder approval and other considerations, the company said. Shares of Manitowoc ended the regular trading down 1%.

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Amgen Inc. and Allergan said Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration has approved their biosimilar version of Roche’s Avastin for five types of cancer. The drug, Mvasi, is the first anti-cancer biosimilar drug approved and the first biosimilar of Avastin, the companies said. Mvasi was approved for squamous non-small cell lung cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer, glioblastoma, metastatic renal cell carcinoma and persistent, recurrent, or metastatic carcinoma of the cervix. Biosimilar drugs essentially replicate existing treatments but at lower prices, and are expected to save the U.S. health care system as much as $250 billion. Roche shares rose 0.4% in afternoon trade, Allergan shares declined 1.1% and Amgen shares were nearly flat, compared with a 0.1% decline in the S&P 500 .

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