Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Agilent Technologies Inc. rose more than 4% late Tuesday after the Santa Clara, Calif., company beat fiscal third-quarter earnings and sales expectations. Agilent said it earned $175 million, or 54 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $124 million, or 38 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 59 cents a share, compared with 49 cents a year ago. Sales reached $1.1 billion, compared with $1 billion in the corresponding 2016 quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 52 cents a share on sales of $1.09 billion in the quarter. Agilent said it expects fourth-quarter 2017 revenue in the range of $1.15 billion to $1.17 billion, and fourth-quarter 2017 non-GAAP earnings in the range of 60 cents to 62 cents a share, which contrasts with expectations of adjusted per-share earnings of 60 cents a share on sales of $1.15 billion, according to the analysts surveyed by FactSet. The company forecast revenue of $4.43 billion to $4.45 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $2.29 a share to $2.31 a share for full fiscal year 2017, versus Wall Street expectations of adjusted per-share earnings of $2.23 on sales of $4.41 billion for the year, according to FactSet.

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Shares of Urban Outfitters, Inc. rose more than 17% late Tuesday after the retailer reported fiscal second-quarter 2018 sales and per-share earnings above Wall Street expectations. Urban Outfitters said it earned $50 million, or 44 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $77 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Total net sales reached $873 million, down 2% from $891 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $862 million. Comparable retail segment net sales fell 4.9%, which the company attributed to “negative retail store sales,” offset in part by continued sales growth in direct-to-consumer sales. Wholesale segment net sales rose 10%. The shares had ended the regular session down 5.1%.

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U.S. stocks closed generally flat on Tuesday after two days of gains as investors awaited fresh catalysts before making big bets on equities as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which had overshadowed the market recently, took a backseat. The S&P 500 slipped 1 point to close at 2,464 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 5 points to end at 21,999. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 8 points, or 0.1%, to close at 6,333.

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MoviePass, a movie theater subscription service, on Tuesday unveiled plans to lower the cost of its subscription to $10 a month from $30-and-up. Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. , which have already been beaten up recently, fell as much as 5.8% during the day. It was followed down by shares of Imax Corp. , which fell 2.4%, Regal Entertainment Group’s 1.9% drop, Marcus Corp.’s 1.5% fall, while Cinemark Holdings fell as much as 1%. MoviePass allows members to see a movie a day for just $10 a month. B. Riley analyst Eric Wold wrote in a note to investors that he believed investors were misinterpreting the MoviePass news as a negative for the box office and film exhibitors. “The key thing to keep in mind is that MoviePass cannot do this in a bubble — they needed the approval of both studios and exhibitors, who would not sign off on anything that was detrimental to their financial outlook,” Wold wrote. “Studios and exhibitors are not taking a discount under the MoviePass model. We understand that MoviePass is absorbing the ticket discount and hoping to make up the discount through monetizing the data and the breakage.” Wold said this is a positive for the cinema group as well as box office and concession results, though he believes it will be a small benefit. Shares of AMC have declined nearly 61% in the year to date, while Imax shares are down nearly 41%, Regal Entertainment and Marcus Corp shares are both down almost 19% and shares of Cinemark are down 6%. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up more than 10%.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Doug McMillon said in a memo published on the retailer’s website that President Trump’s response to the violence and racist protests in Charlottesville, VA over the weekend was a missed chance at creating unity. “As we watched the events and the response from President Trump over the weekend, we too felt that he missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacists,” the memo said. However, McMillon said the latest remarks were “a step in the right direction.” McMillon said he represents a company with “the largest and one of the most diverse groups of associates in the U.S.” and a large and diverse customer base. As a result, the company should stay engaged and urge elected officials to “promote a more just, tolerant and diverse society.” Wal-Mart recently offered suggestions for improving U.S. manufacturing. Wal-Mart shares are up 17.3% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up 10.2% for the period.

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Withholding the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing reduction payments, which President Donald Trump has threatened to do, would increase federal deficits and increase gross premiums for certain ACA plans, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released Tuesday. It would also mean that about 5% of people would be living in areas with no individual market insurers in 2018, the CBO found, but people in “almost all areas” would likely have access to individual market plans by 2020.
The cost-sharing reduction payments pay back health insurers for the increased cost of certain plans on the ACA’s marketplaces. The payments being withheld would mostly affect silver ACA plans, increasing gross premiums by 20% in 2018 and 25% by 2020, according to the report. Other people buying individual market plans might face slight increases over the next two years but net premiums would largely be similar to or less than what they would otherwise be, the report said. The federal deficit would increase by $194 billion between 2017 and 2026, the CBO said, due to changes in government spending that withholding the payments would prompt. The number of uninsured people would be slightly higher next year but slightly lower beginning in 2020. The CBO added a substantial caveat to all of its findings, noting that “those effects are uncertain and would depend on how the policy was implemented.”

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Oil prices finished a few cents lower Tuesday, giving up the bulk of their earlier losses. Concerns over growing U.S. shale-oil production weighed on the market, but prices found some support from the latest U.S. crude-supply forecasts. Analysts expect Wednesday’s Energy Information Administration report to show a seventh-straight weekly decline for U.S. crude inventories. September West Texas Intermediate crude fell 4 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $47.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Gold prices fell for a second-straight session Tuesday, marking their largest one-day dollar and percentage loss in nearly six weeks. Upbeat U.S. economic data provided support for the dollar, pressuring prices for dollar-denominated gold, while easing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea dulled haven demand for the yellow metal. December gold fell $10.70, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,279.70 an ounce.

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Netflix Inc. said on Tuesday that it’s renewed its TV series “Ozark” for a second season, with 10 new episodes. The series, written and created by “The Accountant” writer Bill Dubuque, stars Jason Bateman as a financial planner laundering money for a Mexican cartel. When the cartel learns that Marty Byrd’s (Bateman) operation has been skimming money off the top, he’s forced to move the business and his family to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Netflix’s news release says that rather than skyscrapers and trading floors, “Ozark” explores capitalism, family dynamics and survival through the eyes of ordinary Americans. Netflix doesn’t give insight into how shows on the platform are performing, but “Ozark” had generated a good deal of positive buzz. Netflix has recently committed to cutting shows it deems not worth the cost of producing, so renewing “Ozark” is a sign of the show’s popularity. Bateman directs “Ozark” and his production company Aggregate Films produces the show along with Media Rights Capital, which is also responsible for Netflix’s hit drama “House of Cards.” Shares of Netflix have gained more than 36% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 10%.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up slight gains to trade negative on Tuesday, as shares of Home Depot pressured the equity gauge. Home Depot’s stock was down $4.35, or 2.8%, and slicing about 30 points from the price-weighted Dow . A price move of about $1 in any of its 30 components equates to a roughly 6.85-point tilt in the Dow. A slide in shares of United Technologies Corp., falling in line with crude-oil prices , and Nike Inc. weighed on the average, combining to exert a roughly 45-point weight on the Dow. On the upside, shares of Apple Inc. were contributing about 14 points to the benchmark, up 1.4% and the best performer in the average. Home Depot’s share decline came even as the home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. raised its outlook for the second time this year as it reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. Overall, the Dow was down 7 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,986, while the S&P 500 index was off 0.1% at 2,463, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 0.1% lower at 6,334. All three major benchmarks had opened slightly higher and were on track to book their third straight gain as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea ease and as a batch of economic reports, including retail sales, came in better than expected.

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