Category: Stock Market News

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. That’s a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, the report said. Legal experts quoted by the newspaper say the move suggests he believes he will need to subpoena records and take testimony from witnesses.

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U.S. traded oil settled sharply lower Thursday as downbeat sentiment drove futures into negative territory, ahead of a key OPEC meeting to discuss compliance with an agreement to curtail global output. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September finished the day off 56 cents, or 1.1%, at $49.03. Although there was no fundamental catalyst for the retreat, some market participants pointed to news that prominent oil trader Andy Hall was shuttering his energy-focused hedge fund after wrongway bets that oil prices would climb faster. Oil has been stuck in a range for the past several months. Some investors speculated that the unwind of Hall’s Astenbeck Master Commodities Fund II may result in more oil contracts hitting the market, driving prices lower. Still, traders and investors said that although the oil market is sensitive to news, it has mostly been in an uptrend. A coming two-day meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Abu Dhabi on Aug. 7-9 remained the main focus for investors, and could help the determine oil’s near-term future.

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President Donald Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney said he and the rest of the Trump administration support a “clean” increase in the debt ceiling, not one that ties such a hike to spending cuts, according to CNBC’s John Harwood. Mulvaney had previously pressed for cuts but ultimately agreed with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on demanding a clean debt-limit hike. Harwood said Mulvaney briefed a small group of reporters. The government has been relying on what are known as extraordinary measures to keep borrowing after the debt limit was hit in mid-March.

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Ubiquiti Networks Inc. shot more than 20% higher in Thursday trading after reporting earnings with a forecast that blew away projections, making Chief Executive Robert Pera more than $600 million richer. The networking company reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $60.7 million, or 74 cents a share, on sales of $228.6 million, up from $185.7 million a year ago. After adjustments for stock-based compensation and tax effects, the company claimed earnings of 75 cents a share, up from 69 cents in the year-ago quarter. Analysts on average expected Ubiquiti to report adjusted earnings of 74 cents a share on sales of $219 million, according to FactSet. For the 2018 fiscal year, which began July 1, Ubiquiti predicted its first year of $1 billion in revenue, forecasting earnings of $3.70 to $4.30 a share on sales of $1 billion to $1.15 billion. Analysts had been projecting annual earnings of $3.24 a share on sales of $938.7 million, according to FactSet. Ubiquiti stock moved as high as $67.80 in Thursday morning trading, crushing its previous intraday high of $64.62. Pera, the majority owner of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, holds more than 71% of the company’s stock, according to FactSet, a stake that increased to more than $3.7 billion with Thursday’s intraday gains. Ubiquiti stock had already gained 12.3% so far this year, ahead of the S&P 500 index’s 10.7% gain.

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Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp. erased earlier sharp gains to head toward a fourth-straight loss, as disappointing production data offset a profit and revenue beat. The stock was up as much as 3.5% in the opening minute, after the oil and gas exploration company reported second-quarter results, then pulled back to be down as much as 2.6% a little after 10 a.m. ET, before bouncing slightly to be down 1.2% in afternoon trade. Volume was 43.7 million shares, above the full-day average of about 32.2 million shares, and enough to make the stock the third-most active on major U.S. exchanged. Raymond James analyst John Freeman pointed out that reported production of about 528,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day was below his forecast of 543,000 and the Wall Street consensus of 538,000. He also noted that production costs of $2.92 per BOE was above his estimate of $2.40 per BOE> Freeman reiterated his underperform rating, which has been in place since Jan. 4, 2016. The stock has plunged 35% year to date, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has lost 13.1% and the S&P 500 has gained 10.4%.

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Gold prices settled lower for a second day in a row Thursday as investors awaited jobs data that could offer insights on the pace of inflation and possible interest-rate hikes this year. Gold for December delivery declined $4, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,274.40 an ounce, two days after touching a nearly eight-week high. Silver for September delivery settled lower for a third day in a row, finishing down 10 cents, or 0.6%, at $16.63 an ounce.

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Andy Hall, an oil trader referred by some as “God,” is closing down his main hedge fund following sizeable losses in the first half of the year, reported Bloomberg on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Hall recently told investors that crude prices may hover around $50 a barrel or even lower, according to the report. Hall’s Astenbeck Master Commodities Fund II has lost nearly 30% in the first six months of the year, Bloomberg said. West Texas Intermediate futures for delivery in September fell 16 cents, or 0.3%, to $49.42 a barrel on Thursday and is down 13% year to date. October Brent crude edged up 8 cents, or 0.2%, to $52.44. For the year, Brent is down 11% amid a continued global glut in crude supplies.

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General Motors Co. Chevrolet Bolt has set the mark for an all-electric vehicle range in Consumer Reports’ testing, reaching 250 miles on a single charge, the magazine said Thursday. The Bolt is estimated to go 238 miles between charges. “In our testing, electric vehicles tend to fall short of their EPA-estimated range,” including a Tesla Inc. Model S and a Tesla Model X, which achieved fewer miles than the estimate, the magazine said. The magazine pitched the Bolt against a Model S 75D, and the Tesla “ran out of juice” at 235 miles. A new Tesla Model S or Model X 100D would likely beat the Bolt, but consumers would have to pay upwards of $100,000 for those models, the magazine said. Overall the Bolt is Consumer Reports’ No. 2 recommendation among electric vehicles, behind No. 1 Model S. The GM car got dinged for an “overly squishy” brake-pedal feel, long charging time, choppy ride, and uncomfortable seats. The Bolt tested, a Premier trim, cost Consumer Reports $43.155 and its Tesla $85,670, including the cost to upgrade the car to the 75D.

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Shares of Snapchat parent Snap Inc. dropped 2.6% in active trade Thursday toward yet another record low, amid increasing concerns over competition and the impact of the recent lockup expiry. Volume of 17.5 million shares in morning trade was already more than the full-day average of 15.6 million shares. On Wednesday, Facebook Inc.’s rival to Snapchat, Instagram Stories, celebrated its one-year anniversary, by stating in its blog that it had 250 million daily users, and that those under the age of 25 spend more than 32 minutes a day on Instagram while those age 25 and older spend more than 24 minutes a day. In Snap’s first-quarter filing, the company said it had 166 million daily active users as of March 31, that users under the age of 25 spent “over 30 minutes” on Snapchat a day in quarter ending Dec. 31 and users 25 and older spent about 20 minutes on Snapchat a day. Snap’s stock, which was trading 28% below its $17 IPO price, has declined in 10 of the past 11 sessions, and 18 of the past 21 sessions. The lockup expiration, which came 150 days after the IPO, meant that about 957 million shares could be sold starting July 31, if the shareholders wished. Snap’s stock has plunged 43.6% over the past three months, while Facebook shares have climbed 11.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 10.5%.

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AmerisourceBergen Corp. shares plummeted 9% in extremely heavy morning trade Thursday after the company reported third-quarter profit beat but revenue miss. Shares of the drug distributor fell alongside other companies affected by generic price deflation on Thursday, after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. reported generics revenue that was below expectations and cut its 2017 adjusted EPS outlook. AmerisourceBergen said on its earnings call that generic deflation is a big headwind, hasn’t yet eased from high single digits and that the trend may continue into fiscal 2018. AmerisourceBergen earnings for the latest quarter declined to $50.35 million, or 23 cents per share, from $349.16 million, or $1.55 per share in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings-per-share were $1.43, above the FactSet consensus of $1.37. Revenue rose to $38.71 billion from $36.88 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $39.13 billion. The company expects generic drug deflation in the range of -7% to -9%, “but definitely towards the high end of that range,” Chief Executive Steven Collis said on the company’s earnings call, according to the FactSet transcript. AmerisourceBergen also raised its 2017 adjusted EPS guidance to $5.82 to $5.92 from $5.77 to $5.92. Company shares have risen 6.3% year-to-date, compared with a 10.5% rise in the S&P 500 .

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