Category: Stock Market News

The Nasdaq Composite Index on Friday retook an all-time high in intraday trade for the first time in about six weeks, highlighting a relatively speedy recover for the technology-laden index following its downturn in early February. The Nasdaq Composite Index touched a level at 7,511.73, according to FactSet data, representing its first intraday record since Jan. 26 when it closed at at record 7,505.77. The U.S. stock market broadly suffered a sharp downturn that saw the Nasdaq, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index slip at least 10% from their recent peaks in late January, registering what most define as a correction. However, stocks have mostly recovered from that nadir, even as Wall Street wrestles with turmoil in the White House over the implementation of tariffs, which some critics fear could spark a global trade war. Friday’s leg higher, however, was aided by a better-than-expected jobs report, with 313,000 jobs created in February and muted signs that wage pressures were building in the system. Fears of rapidly rising inflation or wages cropping up in the January labor-market report sparked the selloff in equities last month.

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Shares of Acacia Communications Inc. are down 4.1% in Friday trading after analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight from equal weight. The analysts, led by Meta Marshall, worry about the company’s data communications exposure. “While [data communications] demand remains strong, headwinds include push for lighter weight equipment and architectural alternatives, meaning profit pool for systems vendors likely to only grow modestly if at all,” Marshall wrote. She also initiated coverage of several other optical names, including overweight-rated II-VI Inc. , which she likes for its “exposure to industrial, telecom, and 3D sensing.” Marshall began coverage of Oclaro Inc. and Finisar Corp. with equal weight ratings. Finisar shares are down 9.9% after reporting a weak outlook Thursday afternoon and down 48% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up 17%.

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Shares of AutoWeb Inc. plummeted 38% toward a near 5-year low in morning trade Friday, enough to pace the Nasdaq-listed decliners, after the provider of marketing services to the automotive industry reported disappointing fourth-quarter results and said its chief executive officer and chief financial officer were leaving the company. B. Riley analyst Sameet Sinha followed by downgrading the stock to neutral from buy and by slashing the price target to $4.90 from $12.00, as the company said high media prices prevented traffic acquisition, which led to a revenue miss and gross margin pressure. Management departures and the lack of guidance leaves visibility low, Sinha said. The company reported late Thursday adjusted earnings per share and revenue that missed expectation, according to FactSet. The stock has tumbled 68% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 17%.

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Shares of Qualcomm Inc. are up 0.8% in Friday morning trading after the company announced that Paul Jacobs would be stepping down as executive chairman. The company said in a release that Jacobs “will continue to serve on the Qualcomm Board, but will no longer serve in an executive management capacity.” Qualcomm said it would be discontinuing the executive chairman position and replacing it with an independent chairman role. Jeffrey Henderson, a Qualcomm board member, will be the board’s non-executive chairman. Broadcom Ltd. is seeking seats on Qualcomm’s board as part of its hostile takeover bid. Though the vote has been delayed until April while the government looks into security issues surrounding the deal, Bloomberg reported earlier this week that early vote counts suggest Broadcomm is on pace to win all six seats that it fielded nominees for. Jacobs and Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf were at risk of losing their seats, the Bloomberg story added. Qualcomm shares are up 7.7% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up 17% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is up 45%.

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U.S. equity markets opened higher on Friday and were headed for weekly gains, as investors welcomed a strong February jobs report. The U.S. economy added 313,000 jobs last month, while prior figures were revised higher. The details of the report showing wage growth was only moderate were perceived as good news, as it would suggest inflation will remain contained. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 150 points, or 0.6%, to 25,044. The S&P 500 index rose 15 points, or 0.6% to 2,754, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 52 points, or 0.7% to 7,479. Among the best performers on the S&P 500, Wynn Resorts which rallied nearly 5%.

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The Federal Reserve announced Friday it will not object to the capital plan resubmitted by Capital One Financial Corp. The revised plan came after the Fed found deficiencies with the credit-card focused lender during last year’s stress tests. In June, the Fed required Capital One to resubmit its plan to address deficiencies in its capital planning processes. These included weaknesses in the way the firm shared key capital planning information with its board of directors and senior managers, identified risks and forecast losses and balances under stressful scenarios.

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Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson raised his 12-month price target for Netflix Inc. on Friday to $360 from $319. After analyzing Google search trends for Netflix through the first quarter of 2018, Olson wrote in a note to investors that the streaming giant could add more international subscribers in the quarter than expected. Shares of Netflix were up 1.5% during premarket trade on Friday. “We believe that by 2020 there is potential for international market penetration to be higher than current estimates,” Olson wrote. Olson warned, however, that with only two months of data, his search index is likely less accurate than it has been historically. He instead suggested investors see it as a directional indicator. The runway for international subscriber growth is much longer now than for domestic additions. “Consensus calls for 10.1% year-over-year domestic subscriber growth in the first quarter and our search index points to 13.4% growth,” Olson wrote. “For international, consensus is at 40.1% year-over-year subscriber growth and our index points to 52.0% growth.” Netflix shares have gained close to 126% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 16%.

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At least 10 analysts have lowered their price targets on shares of optical communications company Finisar Corp. , according to FactSet, after the company reported stalled growth and projected weaker-than-expected earnings for the ongoing quarter. Finisar shares are down 9.6% in premarket trading Friday. Needham analyst Alex Henderson downgraded the stock to hold from buy, citing the company’s “dismal” results and outlook, and arguing that the company’s “tone was worse than the guide.” In particular, he’s concerned about weak gross margins and a lack of confidence from management that there will be improvement on this metric in the near future. “We would like to say the business has troughed, but the company doesn’t offer that description,” Henderson wrote. Shares are off 42% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up 16%.

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Shares of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s components turned broadly higher in premarket trade Friday, after the release of better-than-expected jobs data, with the only one of 30 stocks not rising because it was still inactive. Dow futures surged 159 points, after trading slightly lower ahead of the data. Among the biggest gainers, shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. rallied 1.1%, Caterpillar Inc. climbed 1.0%, Boeing Co. advanced 1.0% and Intel Corp. rose 0.9%. The most active Dow stock was Apple Inc.’s , which tacked on 0.6%. Travelers Companies Inc.’s stock was still inactive.

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The U.S. dollar briefly pared previous gains and even fell into negative territory following an initial jump higher on the February jobs report on Friday, which which showed the U.S. economy added a larger-than-expected 313,000 jobs. However, beyond the headline number, wage growth moderated in February, dampening the outlook for U.S. inflation. The wage measure only showed a 0.1% uptick in February, compared with the MarketWatch consensus forecast of 0.2%, and 0.3% previously. Inflation, both in wages and consumer prices, is a key indicator for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates later this month, completing the first of at least three expected hikes this year. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% in February. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index retraced its losses as traders digested the data, and was last up 0.2% at 90.350.

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