Category: Stock Market News

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics are exchanging stars, with Kyrie Irving going to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and a 2018 first-round draft pick, according to reports from ESPN and the Associated Press late Tuesday. The blockbuster NBA trade came weeks after Irving requested to be dealt, despite his team making the NBA Finals three years in a row, because he was reportedly tired of playing second fiddle to LeBron James. He’ll join prized free-agent acquisition Gordon Hayward in Boston, which will likely join the Cavaliers as the two dominant teams in the Eastern Conference. Last season, Irving averaged a career-high 25.2 points per game; Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game, third-best in the league. The trade is another step in the trend toward superstar-heavy lineups that teams are creating to compete with the two-time champion Golden State Warriors. Los Angeles Clippers executive Jerry West said this week that “everyone’s playing for second place right now.”

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President Donald Trump won’t take action Tuesday to pardon controversial former Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Sanders said that “there will be no discussion of that today,” ahead of a Trump rally in Phoenix. Trump told Fox News last weekend that he was “seriously considering” a pardon for Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court.

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Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. shares fell in the extended session Tuesday after the biotech company said a late-stage clinical trial for its severe muscle disease treatment did not reach its goals. Shares of Ultragenyx dropped 10% to $52.96 after hours following a brief halt. The company said its Phase 3 clinical trial for extended-release aceneuramic acid did not significantly improve strength in patients with GNE Myopathy, a rare disease where muscles cannot modify proteins and fats because of an enzyme deficiency.

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Oil prices edged lower late Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported that U.S. crude supplies fell 3.6 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 18, but gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly climbed by 1.4 million barrels, according to sources. The API data also showed that inventories of distillates rose nearly 2.1 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a decline of 3.7 million barrels in crude inventories. October crude was at $47.63 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the new front-month contract’s settlement of $47.83 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Shares of La-Z-Boy Inc. fell more than 15% late Tuesday after the furniture maker reported fiscal first-quarter 2018 earnings and sales below Wall Street expectations and Chief Executive Kurt L. Darrow said the company was “disappointed” with the results. La-Z-Boy said it earned $11.7 million, or 24 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $13.8 million, or 28 cents a share, in last year’s first quarter. Sales rose 5% to $357.1 million, from $340.8 million in last year’s first quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 29 cents a share on sales of $358 million. Much of the consolidated sales increase in the quarter “related to acquired sales which did not add volume to our upholstery manufacturing operations,” the company’s most profitable segment, Darrow said in a statement. “Lower volume throughout our plants made it difficult to absorb fixed costs and this, combined with the normal seasonal slowdown and continued investments across the business, impacted our upholstery operating margin for the period,” and expenses increased in the quarter, he said. Shares had ended the regular trading session up 0.3%.

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Shares of Cree Inc. fell nearly 6% late Tuesday after the Durham, N.C., lighting products maker reported fiscal fourth-quarter results above Wall Street expectations but called for lower per-share profits in the fiscal first quarter. Cree said it lost $6 million, or 6 cents a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $11 million, or 11 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. Adjusted for one-time items, Cree earned $4 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with $19 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue fell to $359 million, from $388 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 4 cents a share on sales of $350 million for the company. Cree said it expects fiscal first-quarter 2018 revenue in a range of $353 million to $367 million, and adjusted earnings of 2 cents to 6 cents a share in the quarter. The analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast adjusted earnings of 11 cents a share on sales of $361 million for Cree’s fiscal first quarter.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rallying Tuesday afternoon, with the blue-chip gauge on track to book its sharpest one-day rise in about four months. The Dow most recently was up about 200 points, or 0.9%, at 21,901, which would represent the average’s best single-session rise since April 25 when it climbed 232 points, or 1.1%, according to FactSet data. The price-weighted gauge’s advance was supported by early climbs in components Boeing Co. , Apple Inc. , and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. . Tuesday’s uptrend also appears to be bolstered by renewed enthusiasm in risk assets, like equities, following a tough past few weeks for stock benchmarks and worries about turmoil within President Donald Trump’s administration, which could undermine the president’s ability to push through previously pledged fiscal-stimulus legislation. Overall, the market was bucking higher, with the Nasdaq Composite Index surging 1.4% at 6,293 and on pace to snap its 4-session slump and book its best single-session advance since June 28, while the S&P 500 index was up 1% at 2,453 and on track to add to Monday’s climb. Some market participants were attributing the recent rally to a Politico report that said Trump’s policy team was making progress on a plan for changes to tax law.

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Oil prices settled higher Tuesday, getting a lift from expectations that U.S. government data set for release Wednesday will show an eighth weekly decline in a row for crude stockpiles. September West Texas Intermediate crude rose 27 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $47.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the contract’s expiration day. The new front-month October contract tacked on 30 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $47.83.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rallying Tuesday afternoon, with the blue-chip gauge on track to book its sharpest one-day rise in about four months. The Dow most recently was up about 180 points, or 0.8%, at 21,886, which would represent the average’s best single-session rise since April 25 when it climbed 232 points, or 1.1%, according to FactSet data. The price-weighted gauge’s advance was supported by early climbs in components Boeing Co. , Apple Inc. , and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. . Tuesday’s uptrend also appears to be bolstered by renewed enthusiasm in risk assets, like equities, following a tough past few weeks for stock benchmarks and worries about turmoil within President Donald Trump’s administration, which could undermine the president’s ability to push through previously pledged fiscal-stimulus legislation. Overall, the market was bucking higher, with the Nasdaq Composite Index surging 1.3% at 6,293 and on pace to snap its 4-session slump, while the S&P 500 index was up 0.9% at 2,450 and on track to add to Monday’s climb. Some market participants were attributing the recent rally to a Politico report that said Trump’s policy team was making progress on a plan for changes to tax law.

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Shares of media and publishing company Tronc Inc. rose as much as 8% on Tuesday after the company announced a broad management shake-up at its flagship newspaper the Los Angeles Times. Tronc said late on Monday that former interim Chief Executive at Yahoo! and President of Fox Interactive Media Ross Levinsohn would be the new chief executive and publisher of the L.A. Times. Levinsohn’s appointment is part of Tronc’s push to a digital transformation across its platforms and businesses, and the move in the stock suggests that investors are on board. Shares of Tronc are up more than 3% in the year to date, but have declined more than 10% in the last 12-month period. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up more than 9% in the year and more than 12% in the last 12 months.

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