Category: Stock Market News

Dover Corp. said Tuesday it was exploring strategic alternatives to separate its upstream energy businesses within its energy unit, which are collectively known as its Wellsite business. The alternatives include a potential spinoff, sale or a strategic combination. In 2017, the Wellsite business, which includes Dover Artificial Lift, Dover Energy Automation and U.S. Synthetic, is expected to record revenue of $1 billion and a profit of $250 million. The diversified manufacturing company said it expects to complete the assessment of alternatives by the end of the year. “Today’s announcement continues our strategy of streamlining our portfolio to focus and invest in our core platforms of market-leading businesses competing in attractive industrial markets that offer lower volatility and strong growth prospects,” said Chief Executive Robert Livingston. The stock, which was inactive in premarket trade, has rallied 6.1% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.4%.

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U.K. Culture Secretary Karen Bradley will make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday regarding the proposed takeover of pay-TV group Sky PLC by 21st-Century Fox Inc. , according to the House of Commons Twitter account. Fox is seeking to buy the 61% of Sky that it doesn’t already own in a $15 billion bid. Bradley received additional guidance on broadcast regulator Ofcom on the proposed deal last week, saying she’d make a decision soon. Roughly two months ago, Bradley said she was considering sending the deal to the Competition and Markets Authority for a full investigation, which could take several months. Rupert Murdoch and his family are major shareholders of Fox and News Corp. , which is the parent company of Marketwatch, were part of the same company until a split in 2013.

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The U.K. pound surged to a one-year high of $1.3257, after spiking to $1.3283 after the Office for National Statistics said British inflation rose to 2.9% in August. That was above the 2.8% reading expected in a FactSet survey of analysts and compares with an annual rate of 2.6% in July.

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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken to U.S. President Trump about a trade dispute that could result in job losses for a Belfast Bombardier Inc. plant, the BBC reported Tuesday. The dispute involves an order won by the Canadian firm Bombardier in 2016 to supply CSeries planes to Delta Air Lines Inc. . Boeing Inc. complained to the U.S. authorities that its rival got unfair subsidies from Canada to secure the deal. A ruling is expected later this month by the U.S. Department of Commerce, which could hit Bombardier with punitive tariffs if it rules in favor of Boeing, threatening hundreds of jobs in Belfast, where the wings for the CSeries planes are made.

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Some of President Donald Trump’s top lawyers thought his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, should step down from his post as senior White House adviser in recent months because he posed legal problems related to the Russia election-meddling investigation, according to a Wall Street Journal report late Monday. Kushner’s past contacts with Russian officials and business people and his initial failure to disclose those contacts were especially worrisome, the report said. The lawyers reportedly voiced their concerns to Trump in June and even drafted a statement explaining Kushner’s departure, but their arguments did not persuade Trump. John Dowd, who leads Trump’s legal team, said he did not agree that Kushner needed to go, and argued against it, the Journal reported. Kushner is married to Trump’s oldest daughter, Ivanka.

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Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s announced Monday that in the wake of the Equifax Inc. breach which put 143 million Americans’ data at risk, it is revising its outlook on the company to negative from stable. The ratings agency did not alter its “BBB+” rating on Equifax’s corporate debt. “The negative outlook reflects substantial uncertainty surrounding the eventual impact of this incident,” Standard and Poor’s said in a news release. While Equifax’s core business is strong and will be able to ride out the attack, Standard and Poor’s said that “substantial litigation and potential finds” coupled with an unknown cost to repair the damage will likely mean debt leverage would remain “above 2x over the next two years.” On Friday, Moody’s Investors Service said that the criminal hack will hurt the company’s earnings growth for the next three to four quarters, as well as its reputation. Moody’s did not change its rating on Equifax debt. Investors continued the selloff of Equifax stock Monday, cutting another 8.2% off its price to $113.12. Equifax stock has declined 4.3% this year, with the S&P 500 index rising 11.1%.

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First Data Corp. shares slipped in the extended session Monday after the payment-processing firm announced a large shareholder plans to sell shares in a secondary offering. First Data shares fell 2.9% to $18.31 after hours. The company said New Omaha Holdings LP plans to sell 85 million shares in deal that includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and KKR as bookrunners. First Data will receive no proceeds from the sale. First Data has about 923 million shares outstanding.

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Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. said late Monday Chief Executive James Hooke is joining the company’s board and plans to step down as CEO in January. Macquarie has appointed Christopher Frost president and chief operating officer of the company, and anticipates Frost will be appointed CEO after Hooke’s resignation, the company said in a statement. Shares of Macquarie were flat in the late session and ended the regular trading day up 1.2%.

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Federal investigators are poised to recommend that Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot, the car maker’s suite of advanced driver-assistance systems, be declared a contributing factor in a fatal crash in May 2016, according to a Bloomberg report that cited a person briefed on the findings. The system allowed the driver of a Model S that drove itself into the side of a truck to go for long periods without steering or looking at the road, the report said. According to Bloomberg, the National Transportation Safety Board is meeting on Tuesday to issue final findings on the crash, and its conclusions could be revised. Tesla in June was found not at fault in the accident.

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Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. said late Monday it is selling its Paragard IUD product to Cooper Cos. for $1.1 billion cash. Paraguard had sales of about $168 million for the 12 months ending June 30. The deal includes Teva’s plant in Buffalo, N.Y., which makes the Paragard. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Teva said it will continue to divest the remaining assets in its women’s health business, and in its oncology and pain relief businesses in Europe. Cooper said it expects the deal to add 70 cents to 75 cents a share to earnings in the first year. U.S.-traded Teva shares rose 1.1% to $18.72 after hours, while Cooper shares gained 0.2% to $254. On Monday, Teva shares had their biggest one-day gain since 1984 following the naming of a new chief executive.

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